Election Watch

ELECTION RESULTS (June–September 2011)

Bahrain: Parliamentary by-elections were scheduled to be held on September 24 to replace eighteen Shia lawmakers who had resigned over the crackdown on antigovernment protesters; results will be reported in a future issue.

Cape Verde: In the August 21 presidential runoff, Jorge Carlos Fonseca of the opposition Movement for Democracy won with 54.5 percent of the vote, defeating Manuel Inocêncio Sousa of the ruling African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV). In the first round on August 7, Fonseca, a former foreign minister, won 37 percent; Sousa won 33 percent; and Aristides Lima, former speaker of the National Assembly, won 27 percent. Incumbent president Pedro Pires of PAICV was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.

Guatemala: Presidential and legislative elections were scheduled to be held on September 11; results will be reported in a future issue.

Latvia: Parliamentary elections were scheduled to be held on September 17; results will be reported in a future issue.

Macedonia: In June 5 elections for the 123-seat Assembly, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE won 39 percent of the vote and 56 seats, while the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) won 33 percent and 42 seats. The Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) won 10 percent and 15 seats; the Democratic Party of Albanians won 6 percent and 8 seats; and the National Democratic Revival won 3 percent and 2 seats. VMRO-DPMNE formed a governing coalition with DUI.

Madagascar: Presidential and parliamentary elections had been scheduled to be held in September.

São Tomé and Príncipe: In the August 7 presidential runoff, former president Manuel Pinto da Costa, who ran as an independent, defeated former prime minister Evaristo de Carvalho of the Independent Democratic Action party with 53 percent of the vote. Formerly of the Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe, da Costa, a Marxist economist, led a one-party socialist state from independence in 1975 until 1990, when a multiparty system was adopted. The citizens’ median age is 17.5, so many do not remember da Costa’s 15-year rule before multiparty elections arrived in 1991. In the first round on July 17, da Costa won 36 percent and Carvalho won 22 percent. Incumbent president Fradique de Menezes was constitutionally prohibited from seeking a third term.

Singapore: In a nonpartisan election on August 27 for the largely ceremonial presidency, Tony Tan, a former deputy prime minister backed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, won with 35.2 percent of the vote. Tan Cheng Bock won 34.9 percent; Tan Jee Say, formerly of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party, won 25 percent; and businessman Tan Kin Lian won 5 percent. Three of the candidates were former longtime members of the ruling People’s Action Party. This was the country’s most competitive presidential election since 1993.

Thailand: In July 3 elections for the 500-seat House of Representatives, the Pheu Thai Party (PPT), led by Yingluck Shinawatra, won 265 seats, while the Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, won 159 seats. The Thai Pride Party won 34 seats, and the Chart Thai Pattana Party won 19 seats. No other party won more than 7 seats. The PPT formed a coalition with Chart Thai Pattana and four other parties for a total of 300 seats. Shinawatra, the sister of exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is the country’s first female prime minister.

Turkey: In June 12 elections to the 550-seat Grand National Assembly, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won 50 percent of the vote and 327 seats, just below the three-fifths supermajority needed to unilaterally amend the constitution. The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), led by Kemal Kιlιçdaroğlu, won 26 percent and 135 seats. The National Action Party (MHP) won 13 percent and 53 seats. Independents, including pro-Kurdish politicians of the Peace and Democracy Party, won 36 seats, one of which was later assigned to the AKP by the Supreme Election Board.

Zambia: Presidential and legislative elections were...