Zambia:
After ten years of campaigning at the head of his Patriotic Front party, veteran politician Michael Sata finally won the presidency, replacing the incumbent Rupiah Banda of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy, in historic elections on 20 September. Sata had promised a new constitution and rapid action on several fronts, including a redistribution of Zambia’s mining wealth and an end to corruption. He took 43 percent of the vote, against 36 percent for Banda, and his party was especially successful across the Copperbelt. Since the elections, investigations have begun into allegations of irregularities and corruption under Banda’s government. Modifying his earlier criticism of Chinese companies in Zambia, President Sata has set about establishing an atmosphere of cooperation with Chinese diplomats and business people.
Argentina
Buoyed by Argentina’s satisfactory economic performance, the presidential and legislative elections of 23 October went well for incumbent President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her Front for Victory (FPV) – the party founded by her late husband, Nestor Kirchner. She secured 54 percent of the presidential vote, with her closest challenger, Hermes Binner, winning only 17 percent. In the congress, the FPV won back the majority it lost in 2009. The government also won the support of most of the provincial governors – with only Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Corrientes and San Luis still governed outright by the opposition.
Tunisia
Constituent assembly elections were held on 23 October, nine months after the overthrow of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The turnout of voters was well above 75 percent, but the large number of participating parties caused confusion for organisers and voters alike. The Islamic party, Ennahda, took 90 of the 217 seats with at least 37 percent of the popular vote. The Congress for the Republic (CPR), led by formerly exiled opposition leader Moncef Marzouki, took 30 seats and seemed set to become the focus of liberal opposition to Ennahda. The CPR could play a key role in the debates over the drafting of the new constitution.
Switzerland
National assembly elections took place on 23 October, comprising all 200 seats of the National Council and all 46 of the Council of States. Together, these two chambers make up Switzerland’s federal legislature. The right-wing populist SVP, which pursues an anti-immigration line, had won 29 percent in 2007 but slipped back a little to 27 percent, while the Socialists scored 19 percent, its lowest in 100 years.
Ireland
The 27 October election for the largely ceremonial post of president proved to be politically contentious, mainly because of the participation of Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness who, although he is first minister of Northern Ireland, was clearly seeking political acceptance in the south. Following much popular debate, especially after the withdrawal of an initial overwhelming favourite, David Norris, the election finally gave victory to Michael D. Higgins of the Labour Party, who won 39.6 percent of the votes. Businessman Sean Gallagher secured 28.5 percent, with only 13.7 percent going to McGuinness.
Kyrgyzstan
More than a year after ethnic riots between Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities in 2010, presidential elections were held on 30 October to replace interim President Roza Otunbayeva. The government’s candidate was Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev, who won with ease, taking 63 percent of the votes. Foreign observers noted a few irregularities but not enough to affect the end result. Atambayev is credited with carrying out reforms and introducing the country’s new constitution.
Guatemala
A presidential run-off election was held on 6 November, with President Otto Perez Molina – a former senior military officer – winning with the support of 54 percent of voters. His opponent, Manuel Baldizon, took 46 percent, reflecting his appeal to traditional left-wing voters and his support in the north and east of the country. Guatemala currently faces high levels of corruption and violent crime.
Nicaragua
A general election on 6 November reaffirmed the continuing rule of Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista National Liberation Front – which not only dominates in the national assembly but controls many institutions and media outlets. Ortega polled 63 percent of votes, and the Sandinistas 61 percent, which should allow the party to carry through any revisions it might wish to make to the 1987 constitution.
Liberia
Two rounds of elections in October and November produced a predictable victory for President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She turned her 44 percent approval rating in the first round to 91 percent in the second, although this also reflected the very low turnout of only 39 percent of voters in the final poll of 8 November, after a boycott by supporters of her rival, Winston Tubman. Despite the obvious weaknesses of the exercise, the election process was seen as an important milestone by the UN Mission in Liberia. Other international partners also viewed it as a key test for the restoration of peace and order, and for a gradual economic recovery after the long and debilitating civil war of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Spain
Elections on 20 November swept the centre right People’s Party (PP) to power, as voters deserted the Socialist Party (PSOE), which was held responsible for Spain’s grave economic situation and high level of unemployment. The PP won the biggest majority for any party in the last 30 years, taking 186 seats in the 350-seat lower house, while the PSOE saw its previous tally of 169 seats collapse to 111, its worst showing since the restoration of democracy in Spain in 1982. PP leader Mariano Rajoy was expected to push through tough austerity measures to prevent Spain being sucked further into the debt crisis affecting the whole eurozone. Spain’s borrowing costs continued to rise ahead of the election. Before the crisis, Spain had ridden a construction boom fuelled by cheap interest rates, soaring demand for property and large public infrastructure projects. In response to the economic collapse, tens of thousands of young people took to the streets in the indignados (‘outraged’) movement, calling for complete political change. During the election, these protesters sought to register dissatisfaction with the choices on offer, with many choosing to spoil their ballot papers.
New Zealand
In the wake of New Zealand’s success on home soil in the Rugby World Cup, the general elections on 27 November brought a narrow victory for the incumbent National Party and its leader, John Key. The party’s share of the vote was 48 percent, taking 60 seats in the 120-seat parliament. The Labour Party performed poorly, retaining only 34 seats. The third party by size is the Greens, with 13 seats, followed by Winston Peters’ New Zealand Front, which won 8 seats. The National Party prefers to work primarily with the right-wing United Front and the ACT Party (each has only one seat) in the hope that they will support it through the next round of economic reforms, including curbs on spending and the sale of shares in state-owned energy companies.
Morocco
All 395 seats in the national assembly were up for re-election on 25 November under a revised system that would require the king to choose a prime minister from the political party with the most seats. With the Islamic Justice and Development Party (PJD) taking 107 seats, King Mohammed VI named Abdelillah Benkirane as prime minister. Seven other parties of different political hues are strongly represented in the new assembly.
Egypt
By contrast with Tunisia’s display of enthusiasm for democracy, a fairly low turnout of 52 percent was registered in the long-awaited first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections that started at the end of November – eight months after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. A fresh bout of protests in Tahrir Square against the provisional military government in mid-November resulted in many of the younger democracy activists boycotting the polls. Successive rounds of voting were due to continue into January.
When the new parliament convenes, probably in March, it will be expected to select a 100-member panel to amend Egypt’s constitution. Islamic parties, led by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), took the lead in the first round. The FJP secured 35.6 percent of votes cast and the Nour Party, which wants to impose its strict interpretation of Islamic law, scored nearly 25 percent. The FJP has indicated that it wants Islamic law without sacrificing personal freedoms. The Nour Party, composed of ultra-conservative Salafis, envisages legislating for laws similar to those prevailing in Saudi Arabia. The liberal politician, Mohamed el-Baradei, said he hoped the moderate Islamists could rein in the extremists. “The outcome so far is not the greatest one,” he said, summing up the mood of the country’s educated elite as “angst”.
Democratic Republic of Congo
There was tension in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, following the release of election results, of doubtful accuracy, which gave President Joseph Kabila 49 percent of the votes against 32 percent for his main rival, Etienne Tshisekedi. Observers said there were discrepancies in the final results of the 30 November and that in some districts the official returns had claimed 100 percent support for Kabila and 100 percent turnout. Such claims lent some credibility to Tshisekedi’s claims to have won 52 percent of the votes across the country. The disputed outcome has made it difficult for the government to operate with credibility at home and with full acceptance by the country’s foreign partners and investors.
Slovenia
Legislative elections on 4 December, triggered by a vote of no confidence in Borut Pahor’s Social Democratic (SD) government, brought a surprise result as the left-leaning Positive Slovenia (PS) won most seats, followed by the centrist Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS). The SDS, which had promised “urgent austerity” to help the economy, had been expected to take the lead but it was damaged by the accusations of bribery levelled at its leader, Janez Jansa. The PS is led by the Mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Jankovic, and it promises “a safe and successful welfare state”. Turnout at the polls was 65 percent, much higher than in the last elections of 2008. The PS was considered likely to suggest a coalition or alliance with the outgoing SD as it tried to work out a strategy for lifting the economy out of its recent slump.
Russia
All 450 seats in the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, were up for re-election on 4 December. Amid widespread accusations of government-sponsored fraud and corruption, Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party took 238 seats with 49 percent of the votes, which was nearly 15 percent less than in the previous elections of 2007. The largest opposition group in the new Duma is the Communist Party, which took a total of 92 seats as well as 19 percent of votes across the country. The results were greeted by rowdy protests in Moscow against the continuing hold on Russia of Putin, who intends to stand in the presidential election later this year.
