Election Watch

Election Results
(March-June 2000)

Dominican Republic: In presidential balloting held on May 16, Hipólito Mejía of the Dominican Revolutionary Party received 49.9 percent of the votes, Danilo Medina of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party collected 24.9 percent, and former president Joaquín Balaguer (of the Social Christian Reformist Party) finished third with 24.6 percent. Medina conceded defeat and declined to challenge Mejía, thus avoiding a runoff.

El Salvador: Balloting for the 84 seats in the Asamblea Legislativa was held on March 12. The leftist opposition Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) won the most seats, with 31; the governing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena) won 29; the National Conciliation Party (PCN), 14; the Christian Democratic Party, 5; and the United Democratic Center, 3.

Ethiopia: Elections to the Council of People's Representatives were held on May 14. Results will be reported in a future issue.

Georgia: In presidential balloting on April 9, President Eduard Shevardnadze of the Citizens' Union of Georgia secured a second five-year term in office, winning 79.8 percent of the vote. Dzhumber Patiashvili, former first secretary of the Georgian Communist Party, received only 16.7 percent, while none of the remaining candidates finished with more than one percent. Seventy percent of the electorate was reported to have taken part in the election, a figure disputed by many international observers, who also noted other violations of fair electoral practices.

Haiti: Preliminary results from the elections of May 21 showed the Lavalas Family party of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide winning 14 of the 19 seats being contested in the 27-member Senate, thereby securing a majority. In the Chamber of Deputies, most seats remained to be decided in the June 25 runoff. Complete results from both rounds will be reported in a future issue.

Iran: In runoff parliamentary elections held on May 5, the reformist coalition backing President Mohammad Khatami secured an overwhelming majority. After winning 52 of the 66 remaining contests, the reformists finished with 222 of the 290 seats in the Majlis-e-Shoura, while conservatives obtained a total of 55.

Peru: Both legislative and presidential elections were held on April 9. President Alberto Fujimori's Perú 2000 party received 52 of the 120 seats in the Democratic Constituent Congress, Perú Posible won 29, and the Independent Moralizing Front and the Somos Perú party tied for third place, with 9 seats each. In the presidential contest, Fujimori received the most votes (49.9 percent), but not enough to avoid a runoff. Alejandro Toledo of Perú Posible finished second, with 40.2 percent. Predicting electoral fraud in the May 28 runoff, Toledo dropped out of the race. Official results gave Fujimori 51.2 percent of the votes cast in the runoff, thereby gaining him a third five-year term as president. Toledo received 17.7 percent, and 29.9 percent of the ballots were spoiled. International and domestic observers voiced serious concerns about the fairness of the campaign and the elections.

Russia: After the resignation of Boris Yeltsin on December 31, presidential balloting was moved up to March 26. Acting president Vladimir Putin won a majority of the vote (52.9 percent), thus avoiding the need for a runoff. Gennady Zyuganov of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation finished second with 29.2 percent and Yabloko's Grigory Yavlinsky received 5.8 percent. Of Russia's 109 million registered voters, 68.6 percent took part in the election.

Senegal: In a presidential runoff held on March 19, Abdoulaye Wade of the "Alternance 2000" bloc defeated longtime president Abdou Diouf of the Socialist Party, 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent. Wade is Senegal's first president from outside the Socialist Party.

South Korea: In April 13 elections to the 299-member National Assembly, the Grand National Party won 133 seats, 17 short of a major-ity. President Kim Dae-jung's Millennium Democratic Party finished second with 115 seats, and the United Liberal Democrats of Kim Jong Pil finished third, dropping from 52 to...