Election Watch

ELECTION RESULTS (October 1990-December 1990)

Brazil: Brazilians elected 503 deputies and 31 of 81 senators in legislative elections on 3 October 1990. Candidates from 19 parties won seats in the Chamber of Deputies, and those from 11 parties won in the Senate. The once-dominant centrist Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) slipped from about 130 deputies to 107 and won 8 senatorial seats, the center-right Liberal Front Party (PFL) elected 86 deputies and 8 senators, and various other parties accounted for the rest.

Côte d'Ivoire: In presidential elections on 28 October 1990, President Félix Houphouët-Boigny won 81.7 percent of the vote; Laurent Gbagbo, the leader of the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), won 18.3 percent. (Three other parties declined to participate.) The first contested presidential election in Côte d'Ivoire was marred by violence and allegations of extensive fraud; Gbagbo unsuccessfully appealed to the Supreme Court to annul the election. In legislative elections on 25 November, Houphouët-Boigny's Democratic Party of Ivory Coast-African Democratic Rally won 163 of 175 seats. Voter turnout was 35 to 40 percent, compared to 60 percent for the presidential election.

Egypt: A referendum called by President Hosni Mubarak on October 11 to dissolve the People's Assembly passed with 94 percent of the vote. New elections were held November 29, with runoffs on December 6. The main opposition parties boycotted the election after their demands for judicial supervision of the polls and repeal of emergency laws were not met. Although some opposition candidates ran as independents, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) won 348 seats in the 454-seat People's Assembly.

Gabon: In the first multiparty elections in Gabon, the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) and its allies won 62 of the 120 seats in the National Assembly. The National Recovery Movement-Lumberjacks (MORENA-Bucherons) won 20 seats and the Gabonese Party for Progress 18. Fifty-eight seats were decided in the first round on September 16, but results were canceled in 32 districts after opposition parties protested massive fraud, and another first round was held on October 21. Father Paul Mba Abessole, leader of MORENA-Bucherons, called on his party to boycott the second round (October 28) because of continuing election irregularities.

Guatemala: Jorge Serrano Elias of the Solidarity Action Movement (MAS) won 24.2 percent of the vote in the November 11 first round of presidential elections and is favored to win the January 6 runoff. Serrano was only slightly behind frontrunner Jorge Carpio (25.7 percent) of the Union of the National Center (UCN), and he is expected to pick up the votes of Alvaro Arzu of the National Advancement Party (PAN), who won 17 percent of the vote and is a rival of Carpio. The incumbent Christian Democratic Party's (DCG) candidate, Alfonso Cabrera, came in third with 17.5 percent. In the National Congress elections, the UCN won 41 seats, the DCG 28, MAS 18, and PAN 12.

Haiti: On 16 December 1990, Haitians went to the polls to elect a new president and members of the bicameral legislature. Results will be reported in our next issue.

Malaysia: In parliamentary elections on October 20-21, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed's ruling Barisian Nasional (National Front) coalition won 127 of 180 seats in the lower house (Dewan Rakyat), followed by the Democratic Action Party with 20 and the Parti Bersatu Sabah with 14. Opposition parties won all of the seats in two states-Kelantan and Sabah-but very few elsewhere. The opposition claims they were denied access to the mainstream media and that the campaign period of nine days was too short. Commonwealth observers, however, concluded that despite concerns about "imperfections" the elections "were free in accordance with Malayan law and circumstances."

Pakistan: Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) suffered a sharp defeat in parliamentary elections on October 24, three months after her government was dismissed. The PPP won only 44 seats while the Islamic Democratic Alliance (IJI), backed by the military and the caretaker government, won 104 of 207 contested seats in the 237-seat National Assembly...