Election Watch

Issue Date July 2009
Volume 20
Issue 3
Page Numbers 175-179
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ELECTION RESULTS (March–June 2009)

Albania: Parliamentary elections were scheduled for June 28; results will be reported in a future issue.

Algeria: In presidential elections on April 9, incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika was reelected to a third term with 90 percent of the vote. Louisa Hanoune of the Trotskyist Workers’ Party, who in 2004 was the country’s first female presidential candidate, won 4 percent, and Moussa Touati of the Algerian National Front won 2 percent.

Argentina: Legislative elections were scheduled for June 28; results will be reported in a future issue.

Ecuador: In the April 26 presidential election, incumbent Rafael Correa of the Alianza PAIS won 52 percent of the vote, while former president Lucio Gutiérrez of the January 21 Patriotic Society Party, who was ousted in 2005, won 28 percent. According to preliminary results of the concurrent legislative elections for the 124-seat National Congress, the PAIS Movement won 46 percent of the vote and 58 seats, the January 21 Patriotic Society Party won 15 percent and 19 seats, the Social Christian Party won 14 percent and 11 seats, and the Institutional Renewal Party of National Action won 6 percent and 8 seats.

El Salvador: In the presidential election on March 15, Mauricio Funes of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) won with 51.3 percent of the vote to the Nationalist Republican Alliance’s (ARENA) Rodrigo Ávila’s 48.7 percent. See the article by Forrest D. Colburn on pp. 153–67 above for further details.

Guinea-Bissau: Following the assassination of President João Bernardo [End Page 175] Viera on March 2, presidential elections were scheduled to be held on June 28; results will be reported in a future issue.

India: In elections for the 543-seat Lok Sabha, held between April 16 and May 13, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Indian National Congress– led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won 262 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party–led National Democratic Alliance won 158 seats. The Third Front alliance led by the Left Front, of which the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is a part, won 79 seats. The Fourth Front alliance, composed of former UPA parties, won 27 seats. Independent candidates or nonaffiliated parties won the remaining 17 seats.

Indonesia: In April 9 legislative elections for the 560-seat People’s Representative Council, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party won 21 percent of the vote and 148 seats, while Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s Golkar Party won 14 percent and 108 seats. Former president Megawati Sukarnoputri’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle won 14 percent and 93 seats; the Prosperous Justice Party won 8 percent and 59 seats; the National Mandate Party won 6 percent and 42 seats; the United Development Party won 5 percent and 39 seats; the National Awakening Party won 5 percent and 26 seats; the Great Indonesia Movement Party won 4 percent and 30 seats; and the People’s Conscience Party won 4 percent and 15 seats.

Iran: The presidential election was scheduled for June 12; results will be reported in a future issue.

Kuwait: The National Assembly elected in May 2008 was dissolved by the Emir and new elections were held on May 16. Political parties are illegal, but of the 50 elected seats it appeared that independent candidates won 24 seats, Islamists won 16 seats, liberal candidates won 7 seats, and the Popular Action Bloc won 3 seats. Four women were elected, becoming the first successful female parliamentary candidates in Kuwait’s history.

Lebanon: Parliamentary elections were held on June 7; results will be reported in a future issue.

Lithuania: In the May 17 presidential election, Dalia Grybauskaite, the European Union’s budget chief and an independent candidate, won 69 percent of the vote and will be the first female president of Lithuania. Algirdas Butkevièius of the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania won 12 percent, while the other five candidates each received less than 7 percent.

Macedonia: In the April 5 presidential runoff, Gjorgje Ivanov of the VMRO DPMNE party defeated former internal-affairs minister Ljubomir Frèkoski of the SDSM party with 63 percent of the vote. Turnout was at 42 percent, just over the 40 percent requirement for the results to be [End Page 176] valid. In the first round on March 22, Ivanov had won 35 percent and Frèkoski 20 percent; none of the other five candidates received more than 15 percent of the vote.

Malawi: In the May 19 presidential election, incumbent Bingu wa Mutharika of the United Democratic Front (UDF) won 66 percent of the vote, while John Tembo of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) won 30 percent. The head of the EU observer mission said that the election was an important step toward consolidating democracy, but that the use of state resources by the incumbent and the failure of the country’s main broadcasters to provide balanced campaign coverage caused the election to “fall short of international standards.” In concurrent legislative elections for the 193-seat National Assembly, the Democratic Progressive Party won 113 seats, the MCP won 27 seats, and the UDF won 17 seats. Independent candidates won 32 seats.

Maldives: In May 9 legislative elections for the 76-seat People’s Assembly, former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Maldivian Peoples Party (DRP) won 37 percent of the votes and 28 seats, while President Mohamed Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) won 33 percent and 25 seats, and independent candidates won 17 percent and 13 seats.

Mauritania: Following a military coup in August 2008, presidential elections were scheduled for June 6; results will be reported in a future issue.

Micronesia: In March 3 legislative elections for the 14-seat Congress, independent candidates won all 14 seats; the country has no political parties.

Moldova: In April 5 elections for the 101-seat Parliament, official results gave the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova 50 percent of the vote and 60 seats; the Liberal Party, 13 percent and 15 seats; the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova, 12 percent and 15 seats; and the Our Moldova Alliance, 10 percent and 11 seats. See the article by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi and Igor Munteanu on pp. 136–42 for further details.

Mongolia: In the May 24 presidential election, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj of the Democratic Party won with 51 percent of the vote, while incumbent Nambaryn Enkhbayar of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party received 47 percent.

Montenegro: In March 29 parliamentary elections for the 81-seat Assembly, the Coalition for European Montenegro, which includes incumbent prime minister Milo Ðukanoviæ’s Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro, won 52 percent of the vote and 48 seats; the Socialist People’s Party of Montenegro, led by Srðan Miliæ, won 17 percent and 16 seats; the New Serbian Democracy won 9 percent and 8 seats; Movement [End Page 177] for Changes–We Can won 6 percent and 5 seats; and Albanian minority parties won 4 seats.

Panama: In the May 3 presidential election, Ricardo Martinelli of the Democratic Change Party (CD) won with 60 percent of the vote, and Balbina Herrera of the Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) received 38 percent. According to preliminary results for concurrent legislative elections for the 71-seat Legislative Assembly, the Alliance for Change, led by the CD, won 52 percent of the vote and 37 seats, while the A Country For All alliance, led by the PRD, won 32 percent and 23 seats.

Slovakia: In the April 4 presidential runoff, incumbent Ivan Gašparović won 55.5 percent of the vote, defeating former labor minister Iveta Radičová of the Slovak Democratic and Christian Union. In the first round on March 21, Gašparović had received 47 percent and Radičová, 38 percent.

South Africa: In April 22 elections for the 400-seat Parliament, the African National Congress (ANC) won 66 percent of the vote and 264 seats. Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party, won 17 percent and 67 seats, while the Congress of the People (Cope), created by former ANC members in 2008, won 7 percent and 30 seats. The Inkatha Freedom Party won 5 percent and 18 seats, and the remaining 21 seats went to parties which won less than 1 percent each. On May 6, the Parliament elected ANC leader Jacob Zuma as President of the Republic.

UPCOMING ELECTIONS (July 2009–June 2010)

Afghanistan: presidential, 20 August 2009

Angola: presidential, September 2009

Bolivia: presidential/legislative, 6 December 2009

Botswana: legislative, October 2009

Bulgaria: parliamentary, 5 July 2009

Chile: presidential/legislative, 11 December 2009

Colombia: legislative, March 2010; presidential, May 2010

Congo (Brazzaville): presidential, July 2009

Costa Rica: presidential/legislative, February 2010

Côte d’Ivoire: presidential/parliamentary, by 30 November 2009

Croatia: presidential, January 2010 [End Page 178]

Czech Republic: parliamentary, June 2010

Dominican Republic: legislative, May 2010

Equatorial Guinea: presidential, December 2009

Ethiopia: parliamentary, May 2010

Guinea: parliamentary, 11 October 2009

Haiti: parliamentary, April 2010

Honduras: presidential/legislative, November 2009

Hungary: parliamentary, April 2010

Indonesia: presidential, 8 July 2009

Iraq: parliamentary, 30 January 2010

Kyrgyzstan: presidential, 23 July 2009

Mexico: legislative, 5 July 2009

Mozambique: presidential/parliamentary, 28 October 2009

Namibia: presidential/parliamentary, November 2009

Niger: presidential/parliamentary, November 2009

Philippines: presidential/legislative, May 2010

Qatar: parliamentary, June 2010

Romania: presidential, November 2009

São Tomé and Príncipe: parliamentary, March 2010

Slovakia: parliamentary, June 2010

Solomon Islands: parliamentary, April 2010

Sri Lanka: legislative, April 2010

Sudan: presidential/legislative, February 2010

Suriname: legislative, May 2010

Tajikistan: parliamentary, February 2010

Togo: presidential, by 5 March 2010

Tunisia: presidential/parliamentary, October 2009

Ukraine: presidential, 17 January 2010

Uruguay: presidential/legislative, 25 October 2009

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 179]