Vanuatu
Baldwin Lonsdale has begun his term as President of Vanuatu after seven rounds of indirect election. He replaces Philip Boedoro, the house speaker who had assumed the role of acting President after Iolu Abil’s five-year term ended on 2 September. Vanuatu’s president is appointed by an electoral college consisting of local governors and members of parliament, and requires a two-thirds majority. Disputes between Prime Minister Joe Natuman’s government and the opposition divided votes between 13 candidates. The early rounds were lead by Barak Sopé, Sethy Regenvanu and Lino Bulekuli, before Lonsdale emerged as the favourite. Lonsdale has been a civil servant and Anglican priest, and as President vacates the office of secretary-general of Torba province. He was finally elected and sworn in on 22 September.
Sweden
The general election held in September saw the Social Democratic Party gain a majority with 113 of 349 seats (31 per cent). Stefan Löfven became Prime Minister after forming a minority coalition with the Green Party (25 seats, 6.9 per cent), replacing the Alliance for Sweden coalition that had governed for two consecutive terms. The Alliance consisted of the Moderate Party (winning 23.3 per cent and second place), the Liberal People’s Party (5.4 per cent), the Centre Party (6.1 per cent) and the Christian Democrats (5.6 per cent). With 12.9 per cent, the right-wing, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats doubled their support, taking third place. Voter turnout was 85.8 per cent.
Fiji
The September 2014 elections were the first in Fiji since the military coup in 2006. Elections had been repeatedly delayed, resulting in strong international condemnation, in particular from New Zealand. The leader of the coup, and variously interim President and Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, stood for the Fiji First Party and garnered 59.2 per cent of the vote, or a total of 32 seats. This gave Fiji First a comfortable majority, well ahead of the Social Democratic Liberal Party and the National Federation Party, which achieved 28.2 and 5.5 per cent respectively. Voter turnout was 83.9 per cent. International observers reported the results as largely credible, though Amnesty International criticised the intimidation of journalists and censorship of the press.
Latvia
No clear winner emerged from the parliamentary elections held in Latvia in early October. The Social Democratic ‘Harmony’ Party, which has led coalitions since 2005, saw its support shrink five points to 23 per cent and 24 seats. This is likely to be due to the party’s close ties with, Vladimir Putin’s government in Moscow. Harmony, led by Nils Usakovs, retained the largest portion of the public vote, but no one coalition partner could help it cross the 51-seat majority threshold. The Union Party became its strongest rival with 21 per cent, followed by the Union of Greens and Farmers, which netted 19.5 per cent. The latter two parties formed a coalition and Laimdota Straujuma – leader of Unity – assumed her second term as Prime Minister on 5 November. Total turnout was 58.8 per cent.
Brazil
Incumbent President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party (PT) was narrowly returned to office in a second round run-off held in Brazil on 26 October, following the general election on 5 October. With 51.6 per cent of the vote, she defeated Aécio Neves of the Social Democratic Party (PSDB), who garnered 48.4 per cent on a voter turnout of 78.9 per cent. In the concurrent elections for the National Congress, the Rousseff-led coalition, dubbed With the Strength of the People, took 304 of 513 seats (55.7 per cent) in the lower house, with its closest competitor, the coalition Change Brazil, far behind with 128 seats (25.5 per cent). In the Senate, the former coalition won 15 of the elected seats, bringing its total to 53 seats, with Change Brazil winning nine, for a total of 19 seats. The Brazilian Socialist Party and the United for Brazil coalition, led by Marina Silva, took third place with 11.2 per cent, totalling 56 seats.
Bolivia
With 61 per cent of the vote, Evo Morales and his Movement Towards Socialism party won an easy majority in Bolivia’s general election held on 12 October. This marks only a slight decrease in popularity for Morales’ third term in office, with a loss of four seats, bringing the party down to 84 seats in the chamber and down one to 25 in the senate. The Democratic Unity Party and the Christian Democratic Party came in second and third place with 24.5 and 9.1 per cent, respectively. The Movement Without Fear and the Green Party of Bolivia each won one seat in the lower house. Turnout was 89 per cent. This was Bolivia’s first election supervised by the Plurinational Electoral Organ, established under the 2009 constitution. The single-term limit on the presidency was also removed, allowing Morales to stand again.
Japan
Shinzō Abe was returned as Prime Minister of Japan on 24 December after emerging as a clear winner among the House of Representatives with 328 votes to Katsuya Okada’s 73. In parliamentary elections, Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party secured a large majority with 291 of 475 seats. The other arm of the ruling coalition, Komeito, secured 35 seats, while Okada’s Democratic Party of Japan secured just 73. Voter turnout was 53 per cent.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided along ethnic lines, with one Serb representative, one Bosniak and one Croat. The presidential elections in October returned all three incumbents to office. Bakir Izetbegović of the Party for Democratic Action got 32.9 per cent of votes, followed by Fahrudin Radončić (Union for a Better Future of BiH – 26.8 per cent) and Emir Suljagić (Democratic Front) 15.2 per cent. Voter turnout was 56.5 per cent. The Party of Democratic Action also won a majority in the elections for the House of Representatives, with 18.7 per cent, ahead of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (15.6 per cent) and the Serb Democratic Party (13 per cent).
Mozambique
Both presidential and assembly elections were held in Mozambique on 15 October 2014. The Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) was returned to parliament with 55.9 per cent of the vote and its candidate Filipe Nyusi was elected with 57 per cent in the presidential poll. He replaces FRELIMO’s Armando Guebuza, who was not permitted to run for a third term. The Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) took second place in the assembly, netting 32.5 per cent, followed by the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) in distant third with 8.4 per cent. Their presidential candidates were placed similarly – RENAMO’s Afonso Dhlakama received 36.6 per cent of votes and MDM’s Daviz Simango 6.4 per cent. On a turnout of 48.5 per cent, no other party crossed the five-per-cent threshold required to sit in parliament.
Uruguay
General elections held in Uruguay on 26 October saw the centre-left Broad Front returned to government with 49.5 per cent of the popular vote. The party was able to hold all of its 50 seats in the lower house and lost a single seat in the senate. The conservative National Party made up the biggest opposition party, having won 31.9 per cent of the vote and 32 seats, with the Colorado Party’s 13.3 per cent placing it in distant third. As no single party crossed the 50-per-cent threshold, a presidential run-off was held on 30 November, contested between former President Tabaré Vázquez for the Broad Front and Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou for the National Party, in which Vázquez replaced incumbent José Mujica who had reached his maximum eligible terms. Vázquez was elected with a total of 56.6 per cent of votes, with Lacalle Pou trailing at 43.4 per cent. Turnout of registered voters totalled 90.5 per cent in the first round and 88.6 per cent in the run-off.
Romania
Both rounds of Romania’s presidential elections were held in November. The first round of voting, held on 2 November, narrowed 14 candidates down to two – acting Prime Minister Victor Ponta of the Social Democratic Party and Klaus Iohannis of the National Liberal Party. Ponta was favoured in opinion polls and received 40.4 per cent of the vote to Iohannis’s 30.4 per cent. Both rounds were marked by scandals, notably problems with diaspora voting as long queues found the polls closing early in several European cities. In London, Paris and Vienna, frustrated voters clashed with police, their anger aimed at Ponta, who they perceived as responsible. The second round on 16 November saw Iohannis elected with 54.5 per cent of votes, with Ponta receiving 45.5 per cent (turnout was 64.1 per cent), a result that came as a surprise both nationally and internationally.
Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands has a history of fragmentation, leading to the election of independent candidates who form unstable coalitions. The general elections on 19 November were no exception: 32 of 50 parliamentary seats went to unaffiliated candidates. Most significantly, incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, who had served since 2011, lost his constituency seat, with it instead going to his nephew, Jimson Tanangada. The Democratic Alliance Party emerged as the strongest single entity, but lost a significant portion of its support, seeing its allocation reduced from 12 seats to just seven. The United Democratic Party and the People’s Alliance party won five and three seats respectively, with three further parties winning one seat each. Negotiations over coalitions and possible partners began immediately, but are likely to take some time. The election tested a biometric registration system that has been received positively, with voter turnout estimated to be between 80 and 90 per cent.
Namibia
The South West Africa People’s Party (SWAPO) has been in power since Namibia’s independence in 1990 and won a landslide in the general election held on 28 November. The party took 86.7 per cent of the public vote, or 77 of 96 seats, on a 72 per cent turnout. The closest competitor, the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) won 4.8 per cent, or five seats, while the Rally for Democracy and Progress came in third, having lost five seats and returned just three. The concurrent presidential elections told a similar story: incumbent President Hifikepunye Pohamba was barred from running for a third term, but SWAPO party colleague Hage Geingob won 86.7 per cent of the popular vote, with a minuscule five per cent going to his nearest rival, DTA’s McHenry Venaani. Electronic voting was used for the first time during the election and international observers, including the African Union, agreed that the elections had been carried out peacefully.
Moldova
The main differentiator between the parties contesting the Moldovan general elections, held on 30 November, was the question of pro-Russian or pro-European alignment. Of the popular vote, a new party, the pro-Russian Party of the Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, won 20.5 per cent or 25 seats, marginally ahead of the pro-European Liberal Democratic Party, which achieved 20.2 per cent and 23 seats. The Communist Party saw its elected candidates halved from 42 to 21, making up 17.5 per cent of the vote. Voter turnout was 55.9 per cent.
Liberia
Senate elections were held in Liberia in December after a two-month delay caused by the Ebola epidemic. All political rallies were banned in an attempt to stop the virus from spreading. The Congress for Democratic Change got the largest share of the vote, a total of 29.8 per cent. The Liberty Party and current Prime Minister Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Union Party followed in second and third places, with 11.5 per cent and 10.3 per cent of the vote respectively. Nearly a quarter of voters chose independent senators. Turnout was low at 25.2 per cent.
Tunisia
Tunisia held its first presidential and parliamentary elections since the ousting of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who had ruled the country since 1989, and the adoption of a new constitution earlier in 2014. Parliamentary elections were held in October, with Nidaa Tounes (the Call of Tunisia Party) emerging as the strongest contender. The party, which consists largely of the moderate and secular left, won a total of 86 seats, or 37.6 per cent of the vote. The Ennahda movement, a party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, took second place with 69 seats, or 27.8 per cent. Voter turnout totalled 69 per cent. Presidential elections followed on 23 November, with a second round run-off held in December. Béji Caïd Essebsi of Nidaa Tounes was elected with 55.7 per cent of the run-off vote, defeating Moncef Marzouki, who represented the centre-left Congress for the Republic Party. Of the 64.6 per cent turnout, voting was divided on north–south lines, the country’s north voting for Essebsi, the south for Marzouki.
