ELECTION RESULTS: (June–September 2009)
Afghanistan: The presidential election was held on August 20; results will be reported in a future issue.
Albania: In elections for the 140-seat Assembly of the Republic on June 28, the Alliance for Changes, led by the Democratic Party of Albania, won 47 percent of the vote and 70 seats, enabling Prime Minister Sali Berisha to retain his position. The Unification for Changes alliance, led by the Socialist Party of Albania, won 45 percent and 66 seats. The Socialist Alliance, led by the Socialist Movement for Integration, won 6 percent and the remaining 4 seats. The OSCE said that there were improvements and fewer irregularities than in previous elections, but that observers “noted procedural violations.”
Argentina: In June 28 elections for 127 of the 257 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the Justicialist Party–Victory Front alliance led by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Néstor Kirchner suffered an electoral setback, winning only 31 percent of the vote and 47 seats (a loss of 19 seats). The Civic Coalition, led by Elisa Carrió, won 29 percent and 41 seats, and the Republican Proposal won 18 percent and 20 seats.
Bulgaria: In July 5 elections for the 240-seat National Assembly, the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, led by new prime minister Boyko Borisov, won 40 percent and 116 seats, and the Coalition for Bulgaria, led by outgoing prime minister Sergei Stanishev’s Bulgarian Socialist Party, won 18 percent and 40 seats. The Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms won 14 percent and 38 seats; the Ataka party won 9 percent and 21 seats; and the Blue Coalition, led by the United Democratic Forces and the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, won 7 percent and 15 seats. [End Page 174]
Congo (Brazzaville): According to official results for the July 12 presidential election, incumbent Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Congolese Labour Party (who has been in office for a total of 25 years, the last 12 consecutively) won 79 percent of the vote. Independent candidate Joseph Kignoumbi Kia Mboungou won 7.5 percent, and Nicéphore Antoine Fylla de Saint-Eudes of the Republican and Liberal Party won 7 percent. Opposition parties had called for a boycott, and opposition supporters protested in the streets after the results were announced. While the African Union called the election free and fair, the nongovernmental Congolese Observatory for Human Rights declared that “given the low participation rate, irregularities, and frauds that attended the presidential polls, they were neither free nor fair.”
Gabon: Following the June 8 death of President Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had been in power for 41 years, a presidential election was held on August 30; results will be reported in a future issue.
Guinea-Bissau: Following the assassination of President João Bernardo Vieira on March 2, a presidential election was held on June 28. Former interim president Malam Bacai Sanha of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde won 40 percent of the vote, while former president Kumba Yala of the Social Renewal Party won 29 percent. Independent candidate Henrique Rosa won 24 percent. In a runoff between Sanha and Yala on July 26, Sanha was elected with 64 percent of the vote.
Indonesia: In the July 8 presidential election, incumbent Susilo Bam-bang Yudhoyono of the Democrat Party was elected with 61 percent of the vote. Former president Megawati Sukarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle won 27 percent, and former vice president Muhammad Jusuf Kalla of the Golkar party won 12 percent.
Iran: According to official results of the June 12 presidential election, incumbent Mahmoud Ahmedinejad won 63 percent of the vote and reformist candidate Mir Hosein Musavi won 34 percent. Losing candidates charged fraud, and protests broke out following the elections. See the articles on pp. 5–20 for further details.
Kyrgyzstan: According to official results of the July 23 presidential election, incumbent Kurmanbek Bakiyev won 76 percent. Former prime minister Almazbek Atambayev, who was the most prominent opposition candidate and who dropped out of the race on election day saying that the contest was rigged, won 8 percent. Tamir Sariev, chair of an opposition group, won 7 percent, and no other candidate won more than 2 percent. The OSCE said that the election “fell short of [End Page 175] key standards Kyrgyzstan has committed to as a participating state of the OSCE.”
Lebanon: In June 7 parliamentary elections for the 128-seat National Assembly, the March 14 Alliance, led by Saad Hariri’s Future Movement party, won 60 seats. The Hezbollah-led March 8 Alliance won 30 seats. The Change and Reform bloc, allied with the March 8 Alliance, won 27 seats (19 of which were won by Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement). Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) won 11 seats. Jumblatt, who originally allied his party with the March 14 Alliance, announced at the beginning of August that the PSP would remain neutral.
Mauritania: Following a military coup in August 2008, a presidential election was held on July 18. According to official results, the coup’s leader, Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz of the Union for the Republic, won 53 percent of the vote. Massaoud Ould Boulkheir of the Popular Progressive Alliance and the National Front for the Defense of Democracy won 16 percent, and Ahmed Ould Daddah of the Rally of Democratic Forces won 14 percent. The opposition claimed that the election was not free and fair, and the president of Mauritania’s Independent National Electoral Commission resigned, voicing doubts about “the reliability of the election.”
Mexico: In July 5 legislative elections for the 500-member Chamber of Deputies, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) won 37 percent of the vote and 241 seats, besting the National Action Party (PAN) of President Felipe Calderón, which won 28 percent and 147 seats. The Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) won 12 percent and 72 seats.
Moldova: After the new Communist-dominated Parliament chosen in April 5 elections failed to secure the 61 votes (out of 101) constitutionally required to elect a new president, it was dissolved and new elections were held on July 29. This time the Communists failed to gain a majority, winning 45 percent of the vote and 48 seats. The Liberal Democratic Party won 17 percent and 18 seats; the Liberal Party, 15 percent and 15 seats; the Democratic Party, 13 percent and 13 seats; and the Our Moldova Alliance, 7 percent and 7 seats.
UPCOMING ELECTIONS: (October 2009–September 2010)
Bolivia: presidential/legislative, 6 December 2009
Botswana: legislative, 9 October 2009
Burundi: legislative, July 2010
Chile: presidential/legislative, 11 December 2009 [End Page 176]
Colombia: legislative, March 2010; presidential, May 2010
Costa Rica: presidential/legislative, February 2010
Côte d’Ivoire: presidential, 29 November 2009
Croatia: presidential, January 2010
Czech Republic: parliamentary, by June 2010
Dominica: parliamentary, August 2010
Dominican Republic: legislative, May 2010
Ethiopia: parliamentary, May 2010
Guinea: presidential, 31 January 2010; parliamentary, 16 March 2010
Haiti: parliamentary, April 2010
Honduras: presidential/legislative, 29 November 2009
Hungary: parliamentary, April 2010
Iraq: parliamentary, 30 January 2010
Mauritius: parliamentary, July 2010
Mozambique: presidential/parliamentary, 28 October 2009
Namibia: presidential/parliamentary, November 2009
Niger: parliamentary, 20 October 2009; presidential, 14 November 2009
Philippines: presidential/legislative, May 2010
Romania: presidential, November 2009
Rwanda: presidential, September 2010
São Tomé and Príncipe: parliamentary, March 2010
Slovakia: parliamentary, June 2010
Solomon Islands: parliamentary, April 2010
Sri Lanka: parliamentary, April 2010
Sudan: presidential/legislative, February 2010
Suriname: legislative, May 2010
Tajikistan: parliamentary, February 2010
Togo: presidential, by 5 March 2010
Tunisia: presidential/parliamentary, 25 October 2009
Ukraine: presidential, 17 January 2010
Uruguay: presidential/legislative, 25 October 2009
Uzbekistan: parliamentary, December 2009 [End Page 177]
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.