ELECTION RESULTS (July–September 2012)
Angola: On August 31, Angola held elections for the 220-seat National Assembly. President José Eduardo dos Santos’s Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola won 72 percent of the vote, and the opposition National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) won 19 percent. The Broad Convergence for Angola’s Salvation (CASA), a newly formed political coalition, won 6 percent. UNITA called the elections unfair and fraudulent and filed a legal challenge with the national elections commission. CASA also filed a challenge.
Belarus: Parliamentary elections were scheduled to be held on September 23; results will be reported in a future issue.
Congo (Brazzaville): In elections held on July 15 and August 5 for the 139-member National Assembly, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso’s Congolese Labor Party won 89 seats. The Congolese Movement for Democracy and Integral Development and former president Pascal Lissouba’s Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS) each won 7. Independent candidates won 12 seats, and ten parties split the remaining 21 seats. Three seats remained vacant. Following the elections, UPADS issued a statement calling them illegitimate and part of an effort to pack the Assembly with enough Sassou-Nguesso supporters to amend the constitution to allow for his reelection in 2016.
Egypt: In the June 16–17 presidential runoff, Mohamed Morsi, chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, won with 52 percent of the vote, defeating Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander who was briefly prime minister in early 2011. [End Page 177]
Hong Kong: In elections on September 9 for the 70-member Legislative Council, prodemocracy parties won 21 of the 40 seats decided by popular vote. Pro-Beijing parties won the remaining 19 popularly elected seats. Of the 30 seats determined by “functional constituencies,” prodemocracy parties won 6 seats, preserving their ability to veto changes to the constitution.
Libya: In July 7 elections for the 200-member General National Congress, the National Forces Alliance (led by Mahmoud Jibril, former chairman of the National Transitional Council’s executive board) won 39 of the 80 seats chosen from local party lists. The Muslim Brotherhood–affiliated Justice and Construction party won 17 seats, and nineteen other parties divided the remaining 24. For the 120 seats allotted to a mix of single- and multi-member districts, candidates were required to run as independents.
Mexico: In July 1 presidential election, Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) won with 38 percent of the vote. Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), received 32 percent of the vote. Josefina Eugenia Vázquez Mota of incumbent president Felipe Calderón’s National Action Party (PAN) received 25 percent of the vote. Elections for the 500-seat Chamber of Deputies and 128-seat Senate were also held on July 1. In the Chamber, the PRI won 208 seats, the PAN won 114, and the PRD won 100. The Mexican Green Ecologist Party (PVEM), which supported Nieto’s candidacy, won 33 seats. The Labor Party (PT) and the Citizens’ Movement (MC), both of which joined the PRD in Obrador’s Alliance for the Good of All, won 19 and 16 seats respectively. The New Alliance Party (PANAL) won 10 seats. In the Senate, the PRI won 52 seats, the PAN won 38, the PRD won 22, the PVEM won 9, the PT won 4, the MC won 2, and PANAL won 1.
Mongolia: In June 28 elections for the unicameral 76-seat State Great Hural, President Tsakhiagiyn Elbegdorj’s Democratic Party won 35 percent of the vote and 31 seats, the Mongolian People’s Party of incumbent prime minister Sükhbaatar Batbold won 31 percent and 25 seats, the Justice Coalition won 22 percent and 11 seats, and the Civil Will–Green Party won 6 percent and 2 seats. Independents won 3 seats, and 4 seats were unfilled.
Papua New Guinea: In elections for the 111-member unicameral National Parliament that began on June 23 and lasted more than three weeks, the People’s National Congress Party, led by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, won 27 seats. The Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party [End Page 178] won 12 seats, and the Papua New Guinea Party won 8. The National Alliance Party of former prime minister Michael Somare (whose ouster and subsequent return helped fuel a political crisis) and the United Resources Party each won 7 seats, and the People’s Party and People’s Progress Party each won 6. Independent candidates won 16 seats, and fourteen parties split the remaining 22 seats. O’Neill was subsequently named prime minister with the support of 94 members of parliament.
Senegal: In July 1 elections for the 150-member National Assembly, the Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition, which includes newly elected President Macky Sall’s Alliance for the Republic party, won 53 percent of the vote and 119 seats. The Senegalese Democratic Party of former president Abdoulaye Wade won 15 percent and 12 seats. Eleven other parties split the remaining 19 seats.
Timor-Leste: In July 7 elections for the 65-member National Parliament, Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão’s National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction won 37 percent of the vote and 30 seats. Former president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient José Ramos-Horta’s FRETILIN won 30 percent and 25 seats, the Democratic Party won 10 percent and 8 seats, and the National Reconstruction Front of Timor-Leste won 3 percent and 2 seats.
UPCOMING ELECTIONS (October 2012–September 2013)
Albania: parliamentary, by June 2013
Armenia: presidential, February 2013
Bhutan: parliamentary, by April 2013
Bulgaria: parliamentary, July 2013
Burkina Faso: parliamentary, 2 December 2012
Cambodia: parliamentary, July 2013
Cameroon: parliamentary, February 2013
Djibouti: legislative, February 2013
Ecuador: presidential/legislative, 17 February 2013
Georgia: parliamentary, 1 October 2012
Ghana: presidential/legislative, 7 December 2012 [End Page 179]
Iran: presidential, 14 June 2013
Kenya: presidential/parliamentary, 4 March 2013
Lebanon: parliamentary, June 2013
Lithuania: parliamentary, 14 October 2012
Madagascar: presidential, 8 May 2013; parliamentary, 3 July 2013
Malaysia: parliamentary, by April 2013
Maldives: presidential, July 2013
Mongolia: presidential, May 2013
Montenegro: parliamentary, 14 October 2012; presidential by April 2013
Pakistan: parliamentary, by June 2013
Paraguay: presidential/legislative, 21 April 2013
Philippines: legislative, 13 May 2013
Romania: parliamentary, 9 December 2012
Rwanda: parliamentary, September 2013
Sierra Leone: presidential/legislative, 17 November 2012
Slovenia: presidential, 11 November 2012
South Korea: presidential, 19 December 2012
Togo: parliamentary, October 2012
Tunisia: parliamentary, 20 March 2012 (tentative)
Ukraine: parliamentary, 28 October 2012
Vanuatu: parliamentary, 30 October 2012
Venezuela: presidential, 7 October 2012
Zimbabwe: parliamentary, by June 2013
Election Watch provides reports of recently decided and upcoming elections in developing nations and the postcommunist world. Some of the data for Election Watch come from IFES, a private, nonprofit education and research foundation that assists in monitoring, supporting, and strengthening the mechanics of the electoral process worldwide. For additional information, visit www.ifes.org. [End Page 180]