Election Watch
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ELECTION RESULTS (March 1994-June 1994)
Belarus: A presidential election was scheduled to take place on June 23, and results will be reported in our next issue.
Colombia: A first-round presidential election held on May 29 ended in a virtual tie between Liberal Party candidate Ernesto Samper Pizano and Conservative Party candidate Andrés Pastrana Arango, with less than one-half of one percent separating the two contenders. Antonio Navarro Wolff, the candidate of the Alianza Democrática M-19, trailed with less than 5 percent of the vote—a sharp decline from the 13 percent he won in the 1990 presidential elections. Since no candidate won a majority, a second-round vote is scheduled to take place on June 19, and results will be reported in our next issue. Only 30 percent of the electorate turned out for legislative elections on March 13, giving the Liberal Party 89 of 163 seats in the House of Representatives and 52 of 102 seats in the Senate. The Conservative Party trailed with 56 seats in the lower house and 21 in the Senate. These elections also dealt a serious blow to the Alianza Democrática M-19, which secured only 2 seats in the lower house and lost 8 of its 9 seats in the senate.
Dominican Republic: In a presidential election on May 16 tainted by irregularities and accusations of fraud, preliminary results showed President Joaquín Balaguer maintaining a slim lead with 42 percent of the vote to defeat challenger José Francisco Peña Gómez, who secured 41 percent. Former president and longtime Balaguer rival Juan Bosch trailed with 13 percent. Because the opposition is contesting these figures, the Central Electoral Board will reveal all of its records from the vote-tallying process before declaring official results. Legislative elections were also held on May 16, and results will be reported in our next issue. [End Page 129]
Ecuador: Preliminary results from legislative elections held on May 1 to fill 65 of the 77 seats in the National Congress showed the center-right Social Christian Party finishing with 22 seats, followed by the populist Ecuadorian Roldosist Party (PRE) with 10 seats. The center-right Conservative Party, the leftist Popular Democratic Movement (MPD), and the center-left Democratic Left each secured 7 seats. The remaining 12 seats were distributed among eight parties, including the Popular Democratic Party (3), the leftist Ecuadorian Revolutionary Popular Alliance (2), and the centrist and populist Alfarist Radical Front (2).
El Salvador: Armando Calderón Sol of the ruling Republican Nationalist Alliance (ARENA), who barely failed to win an absolute majority in a first-round presidential election on March 20, won a runoff election on April 24 with 68 percent of the vote. Rubén Zamora, the candidate representing a three-party coalition that included former Marxist guerrillas of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), finished with 32 percent. ARENA also dominated legislative elections held on March 20, taking 39 seats in the 84-member National Assembly. The FMLN secured 21 seats, followed by the centrist Christian Democratic Party and the National Conciliation Party, which secured 18 and 4 seats, respectively. These were the first peacetime elections in 64 years.
Hungary: The Hungarian Socialist Party—the successor to the former Communist Party—emerged victorious in two rounds of parliamentary elections on May 8 and 30, winning 209 of the 386 contested seats. The liberal Alliance of Free Democrats was the closest runner-up with 70 seats, followed by the former ruling Hungarian Democratic Forum with 37 seats. Gyula Horn, the current Socialist leader and the last Communist foreign minister, has been named prime minister of the new government, although the Socialists have secured a parliamentary majority, they have decided to enter negotiations on forming a coalition government with the Alliance of Free Democrats.
Malawi: On May 17, voters went to the polls for the first time in 30 years and ousted Kamuzu Banda, the nation's self-proclaimed life president and Africa's longest-ruling dictator. Winning only slightly more than 33 percent of the vote, Banda was defeated by one of his former cabinet ministers, Bakili Muluzi, who took 47 percent. Chakufwa...
