ELECTION RESULTS (June-September 1996)
Armenia: Presidential voting was scheduled for September 22. Results will be reported in a future issue.
Bangladesh: In voting on June 12, Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s Awami League won 147 of the 300 directly elected seats in the 330-member National Parliament, allowing her to accede to the premiership. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia won 116, and the National Party won 32, with the remaining 5 seats to be decided in by-elections. The June 12 balloting followed the troubled elections of February 15, which took place in a context of opposition boycotts, very low turnout, and civil strife and resulted in a BNP-dominated parliament that was dissolved on March 30 in favor of a neutral caretaker government.
Bosnia: Presidential and legislative elections were scheduled for September 14. Results will be published in a future issue.
Chad: Final results indicate that incumbent Idriss Deby of the Patriotic Salvation Front received 47 percent of the vote to defeat 13 other candidates in the country’s first multiparty presidential election. The next-closest finisher was Lt. Col. Wadal Abdelkader Kamougue of the Union for Renewal and Democracy, who received 11 percent.
Dominican Republic: In the June 30 presidential runoff, Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Liberation Party narrowly defeated José Peña Gómez of the Dominican Revolutionary Party by fewer than 72,000 votes out of the more than 2.8 million cast. Fernández succeeds Joaquín Balaguer of the Social Christian Reformist Party.
Ecuador: Abdalá Bucaram of the Ecuadorian Roldosist Party was elected president with 54 percent of the vote in a July 8 runoff. His opponent, Jaime Nebot of the Social Christian Party, garnered 45 percent.
Gambia: Presidential voting was scheduled for September 26. Results will be reported in a future issue.
Lebanon: Parliamentary elections went forward in five stages from August 18 through September 18. Each stage was held for a different region and constituency in Lebanon. Final results will be reported in a future issue.
Mongolia: Seventy-five years of communist rule came to an end as a result of the June 30 balloting for the 76-seat Great Hural, Mongolia’s unicameral parliament. The ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party fell from 71 to 23 seats, while the opposition Democratic Union Coalition, composed primarily of the National Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party, won 50 seats. RadnaasÜmbereliyn Gonchigdorj was named chairman of the Great Hural. Turnout was 87.3 percent.
Russia: Boris Yeltsin won the second and final round of the Russian presidential election on July 3, capturing 53.8 percent of the vote. His leading challenger, Communist Gennadi Zyuganov, received 40.3 percent. Turnout for the runoff was 68.9 percent. Yeltsin and Zyganov were the top vote-getters in the first round of elections on June 16, receiving 35.3 and 32 percent of the vote, respectively. Aleksandr Lebed finished third with 14.5 percent, followed by Grigory Yavlinsky at 7.3 percent and Vladimir Zhirinovsky at 5.7 percent.
São Tomé & Príncipe: On July 21, incumbent Miguel Trovoada of the Independent Democratic Action party won the presidential runoff over former president Manuel Pinto da Costa of the Social Democratic Party. Pinto da Costa had been the top vote-getter with about 40 percent in the first round, which took place on June 30. Pinto da Costa protested the second-round result, but has since withdrawn his complaint.
Uganda: Less than two months after incumbent Yoweri Museveni won 74 percent of the vote in a controversial “nonparty” presidential election, parliamentary elections were held on June 27. Out of 276 seats available, candidates linked to Museveni’s National Resistance Movement won 156. Opposition was weak in part because Museveni had banned opposition political parties, claiming that they aggravate tribal rivalries. International observers reported few irregularities in the voting itself.
Upcoming Elections (October 1996-September 1997)
Argentina: legislative, September 1997
Bolivia: legislative, May 1997; presidential, 1 June 1997
Bulgaria: presidential, 27 October 1996
Cameroon: presidential/legislative, April 1997
Chad: legislative, 24 November and 22 December 1996
Croatia: legislative, February 1997; presidential, August 1997*
Czech Republic: senatorial, 15 November 1996
El Salvador: legislative, 16 March 1997
Gabon: legislative, October 1996
Gambia: legislative, 11 December 1996
Ghana: presidential/legislative, 7 December 1996
Haiti: legislative, December 1996
Indonesia: legislative, June 1997
Kuwait: parliamentary, October 1996
Lithuania: parliamentary, 20 October 1996
Mali: legislative, January-February 1997; presidential, April 1997
Mauritania: parliamentary, 11 October 1996*
Mexico: legislative, August 1997
Moldova: presidential, 17 November 1996
Mongolia: presidential, June 1997*
Nicaragua: presidential/legislative, 20 October 1996
Romania: presidential/parliamentary, 3 November 1996
Slovenia: parliamentary, 10 November 1996
Yugoslavia: legislative, 3 November 1996
Zaire: presidential/parliamentary, May 1997 *
Zambia: presidential/legislative, November-December 1996
*tentative
Election Watch provides reports of recently decided and upcoming elections in postcommunist and developing countries. Elections in nondemocratic nations are included when they exhibit a significant element of genuine competition or, in the case of upcoming elections, when they represent an important test of progress toward democracy. This information is current as we go to press; however, election dates are often moved due to changing circumstances. The data in Election Watch are provided by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (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, contact: IFES, 1620 1 Street, N.W., Suite 611, Washington, DC 20006; (202) 828-8507.