ELECTION RESULTS (July–September 2018)
Cambodia: In July 29 elections for the 125-seat National Assembly, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won 114 seats, up from 68. The opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) was dissolved by the Supreme Court of Cambodia in November 2017, and CNRP leader Kem Sokha was arrested, leaving the CPP with no significant challengers. The CNRP leaders, many of whom are in exile abroad, called for a boycott of the elections, prompting the government to announce that anyone who failed to vote would be considered a traitor. While turnout was 82 percent, a record 8.4 percent of the ballots cast were invalid, compared to 1.6 percent in 2013. Invalid ballots outnumbered the votes received by any party other than the CPP. The United National Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC) won 6 seats and the League for Democracy Party (LDP) won 5. Human Rights Watch and other international observers have condemned the elections as unfree.
Maldives: The presidential election was scheduled to be held September 23. Results will be reported in a future issue.
Mali: In a first-round presidential election on July 29, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta of Rally for Mali (RPM) won 41 percent of the vote, Soumaïla Cissé of the Union for the Republic and Democracy (URD) won 17 percent, independent Aliou Boubacar Diallo won 8 percent, and Cheick Modibo Diarra won 7 percent. In the second-round poll held on August 12, Keïta was reelected with 67 percent of the vote. Turnout for the second round, which was marred by violence, was reported at 34 percent.
Mauritania: The second round of legislative elections was scheduled for September 15. Results will be reported in a future issue. [End Page 177]
Mexico: In the July 1 presidential election, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) won with 53 percent of the vote. Ricardo Anaya of the National Action Party (PAN), received 22 percent of the vote, and José Antonio Meade of incumbent president Enrique Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) received 16 percent. Elections for the 500-seat Chamber of Deputies and the 128-seat Senate were also held on July 1. In the Chamber, MORENA won a majority with 254 seats and its allies in the Together We Will Make History coalition, the Labor Party (PT) and the Social Encounter Party (PES), won 29 and 30 seats, respectively, giving MORENA’s coalition a majority. The PAN won 79 seats; the PRI, 47; the Citizens’ Movement (MC), 28; the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), 20; and the Mexican Ecologist Green Party (PVEM), 11. In the Senate, MORENA won 59 seats, while its allies the PT and the PES won 6 and 5 seats, respectively, together comprising a majority. The PAN won 24; the PRI, 14; the PRD, 6; the MC, 7; and the PVEM, 5. For more on Mexico’s election, see the article by Kenneth Greene and Mariano Sánchez-Talanquer on pp. 31–42 above.
Pakistan: In July 25 elections for the 342-seat National Assembly, the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI), led by Imran Khan, won 32 percent of the vote and 151 seats. The Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) of jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif won 24 percent and 81 seats; the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won 13 percent and 54 seats; and the Muttahida Majilis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance won 4 percent and 15 seats. Smaller parties won the remaining seats. Imran Khan was elected prime minister by a coalition of his PTI and seven small parties. Pakistani and international observers, including EU monitors, questioned the fairness of the election. About 180 people were reported killed in election-related violence.
Rwanda: In September 2 elections for the 53 popularly elected seats in the House of Deputies, President Paul Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) won 40 seats. The Social Democratic Party (PSD) won 5 seats, the Liberal Party (PL) won 4, the Social Party Imberakuri won 2, and the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda (PDVR) won 2. This was the first time that the PDVR, which is considered the closest thing to a genuine opposition party, has earned enough votes to win seats in the House of Deputies.
Swaziland: Legislative elections were scheduled to be completed by September 21. Results will be reported in a future issue.
Turkey: In the June 24 presidential election, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) won 52 percent of the vote, narrowly avoiding a runoff. Muharrem İnce of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) won 30 percent, Selahattin Demirtaş of the Kurdish-dominated People’s Democratic Party (HDP) won 8 percent, and [End Page 178] Meral Akşener of the İyi Party (İYİ) won 7 percent. Elections for the 600-seat unicameral parliament were also held on June 24. The AKP won 42 percent of the vote and 295 seats, and its ally, the Nationalist Action Party (MHP), won 11 percent and 49 seats, together forming a majority. The CHP won 22 percent and 146 seats, and İYİ, a CHP ally, won 9 percent and 43 seats. The HDP won 11 percent and 67 seats. This was the first presidential election since the powers of the presidency were expanded following a referendum in April 2017. Turnout was reported to be 86 percent, up from 74 percent in the last presidential election.
Zimbabwe: In the July 30 presidential election, Emmerson Mnangagwa of former president Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party won 50.8 percent of the vote, narrowly avoiding a runoff. Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won 44.3 percent. Elections for the 270-seat House of Assembly and the 80-seat Senate were also held on July 30. In the House, Zanu-PF won 179 seats, the MDC won 88, and the National Patriotic Front (NPF), the Movement for Democratic Change– Tsvangirai (MDC–T), and an independent candidate each won a single seat. In the Senate, ZANU–PF won 34 seats, MDC won 25, MDC–T won a seat, and the rest of the seats were allocated for chiefs elected by provincial assemblies. The election was the first since a November 2017 military coup overthrew longtime dictator Robert Mugabe, ending his 37-year reign as president. Chamisa and other opposition leaders disputed the results, and in the days following the election there were protests and incidents of police violence resulting in seven deaths in the capital. Various MDC leaders have been arrested. The MDC challenged the results in court, but on August 24 the Supreme Court upheld Mnangagwa’s victory.
UPCOMING ELECTIONS (October 2018–September 2019)
Afghanistan: legislative, 20 October 2018
Bahrain: legislative, 30 November 2018
Bangladesh: parliamentary, by December 2018
Bhutan: parliamentary, by December 2018
Bosnia-Herzegovina: presidential/legislative, 7 October 2018
Brazil: presidential/legislative, 7 October 2018
Cameroon: presidential, 7 October 2018 [End Page 179]
Chad: legislative, by December 2018
Democratic Republic of Congo: presidential, 23 December 2018
El Salvador: presidential, 3 February 2019
Equatorial Guinea: parliamentary, by December 2018
Estonia: parliamentary, 3 March 2019
Gabon: Parliamentary, 6 October 2018
Georgia: presidential, 28 October 2018
Guinea: parliamentary, by December 2018
Guinea-Bissau: parliamentary, 18 November 2018
Indonesia: presidential/legislative, 14 April 2019
Latvia: parliamentary, 7 October 2018
Libya: presidential/legislative, 10 December 2018
Madagascar: presidential/legislative, 6 November 2018
Malawi: presidential/legislative, 21 May 2019
Mali: legislative, by December 2018
Moldova: parliamentary, by December 2018
Nigeria: presidential/legislative, 16 February 2019
Panama: presidential, 5 May 2019
Philippines: legislative, 13 May 2019
Senegal: presidential, 3 March 2019
Sierra-Leone: parliamentary, by December 2018
Togo: parliamentary, by December 2018
Ukraine: presidential, 31 March 2019
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.
Copyright © 2018 National Endowment for Democracy and Johns Hopkins University Press