Election Watch

Election Results
(September-December 2000)

Azerbaijan: Parliamentary elections were held on November 5 to fill the 125 seats in the National Assembly. According to official results, the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, led by Ilham Aliev, son of President Heydar Aliev, won 62.5 percent of the popular vote. The Azerbaijan Popular Front got 10.8 percent, and the New Muslim Democratic Party (YMP) won only 4.9 percent, falling below the threshold needed to win any seats allocated by proportional representation. Opposition parties claimed that the voting was rigged. The YMP said that it had won the most votes and refused to recognize the results. International observers reported that the elections were seriously flawed and did not meet minimum standards for free and fair elections.

Belarus: In October 15 parliamentary elections boycotted by the opposition, the ruling Belarusan Patriotic Movement of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka won an overwhelming majority. The international community refused to recognize the legitimacy of the elections.

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Elections were held on November 11 for the House of Representatives, which consists of 42 seats, 28 allocated to the Muslim-Croat Federation and 14 to the Serb Republic. The multiethnic Social Democratic Party won 9 seats; the Party for Democratic Action (the main Muslim party) won 8 seats; the Serbian Democratic Party, founded by Bosnian Serb wartime leader and indicted war criminal Radovan Karad-Ïiç, won 6 seats; the nationalist Croatian Democratic Union won 5 seats; and the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, a mainly Muslim party headed by former Prime Minister Haris SilajdÏiç, won 4 seats. A candidate from KaradÏiç's party was elected president of the Serb Republic.

Côte d'Ivoire: Two days after the October 22 presidential election, incumbent Robert Guéi, who had come to power in a 1999 military coup, declared himself the victor and dismissed the electoral commission. Supporters of Laurent Gbagbo of the Ivorian Popular Front, who appeared to be leading in the returns, took to the streets in a popular uprising that turned violent, resulting in an estimated 200 deaths. Guéi fled into hiding on October 25, and Gbagbo was inaugurated as president the following day. On November 13, Guéi finally acknowledged Gbagbo as the winner. The final numbers put Gbagbo at 59.4 percent and Guéi at 32.7 percent. Three other candidates split the remainder of the vote. Gbagbo was the only serious contender after several opposition candidates, including former prime minister Alassane Ouattara, were disqualified by the Supreme Court. Parliamentary elections were held on December 10, and results will be reported in a future issue.

Egypt: In three rounds of legislative elections, held on October 18, October 29, and November 8, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of President Hosni Mubarak won 353 of the 444 seats contested in the 454-member People's Assembly. (The remaining ten members are appointed by the president.) Thirty-five independent candidates joined the NDP after the elections, raising the party's official total to 388 seats. Of the remaining seats, 37 went to independent candidates (of whom 17 were backed by the banned Muslim Brotherhood) and 17 went to opposition parties. Though marred by outbreaks of violence resulting in the deaths of 10 people and charges of government interference, the elections were praised as being fairer than others Egypt has held in recent years.

Ghana: Presidential and legislative elections took place on December 7. In the presidential contest to succeed Jerry Rawlings of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Kuffour of the opposition New Patriotic Party led with 48 percent of the vote to 45 percent for Vice President John Atta Mills of the NDC, triggering a runoff. More complete results will be reported in a future issue.

Haiti: Former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide of the Lavalas Family party won the November 26 presidential election with 91.6 percent of the vote. (Incumbent René Préval, also of the Lavalas Family party, who succeeded Aristide in 1996, was barred from running by a law banning a second consecutive term.) All...