In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Election Watch

ELECTION RESULTS (March-June 2011)

Benin: In the March 13 presidential election, incumbent Thomas Boni Yayi won 53 percent of the vote, defeating opposition leader and former prime minister Adrien Houngbédji. In April 30 elections to the 83-seat National Assembly, the Cauri Forces for an Emerging Benin, which supports President Yayi, won 41 seats. The Build the Nation Union, which supports Houngbédji, won 30 seats. Six other parties won 2 seats each.

Central African Republic: According to preliminary results following the March 27 runoff in districts where no candidate had received a majority, President François Bozizé's National Convergence "Kwa Na Kwa" party had 61 seats in the 105-seat National Assembly; other candidates supporting the president had 11 seats; and independents had 26 seats. The Central African People's Liberation Movement and the Central African Democratic Rally had 1 seat each. Opposition parties, denouncing the first round as fraudulent, called for a boycott of the runoffs. There will be a special by-election for 13 seats after the Constitutional Court invalidated those results. EU ambassador to the CAR, Guy Samzun, said that independent experts found fraud, malfunctions, and irregularities that marred the electoral process.

Chad: In the April 25 presidential election, incumbent Idriss Déby, who has been in power since a 1990 coup, won 89 percent of the vote. The three main opposition candidates boycotted the election after their demands to improve the electoral process (in particular to print new voter cards) were not met.

Djibouti: In the April 8 presidential election, incumbent Ismail Omar Guelleh was reelected with 81 percent of the vote. Mohamed Warsama [End Page 173] Ragueh, former president of the Constitutional Council, won 19 percent. Opposition groups boycotted the election following the arrests of opposition leaders in recent months. A month before the vote, the government declared Democracy International, a USAID-funded election monitoring group, "illegal" and ordered it to leave the country. In 2010, the National Assembly had amended the constitution to allow Guelleh to run for a third term.

Estonia: In March 6 elections to the 101-seat Parliament (Riigikogu), Prime Minister Andrus Ansip's Estonian Reform Party won 29 percent of the vote and 33 seats. Its coalition partner, the Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (IRL), led by Mart Laar, won 21 percent and 23 seats. The opposition Estonian Center Party, led by Edgar Savisaar, won 23 percent and 26 seats; and the Social Democratic Party, led by Sven Mikser, won 17 percent and 19 seats. No other party passed the 5 percent threshold needed to gain a seat. The Reform Party maintained its governing coalition with IRL following the elections.

Haiti: In the March 20 presidential runoff, musician Michel Martelly of the Farmers' Response party won with 68 percent of the vote, defeating former first lady Mirlande Manigat of the Rally of Progressive National Democrats. Following concurrent parliamentary runoffs for the 99-seat Chamber of Deputies (in districts where no candidate had received a majority), the ruling Unity party of former president René Préval had 33 seats; the Alternative for Progress and Democracy party had 14 seats; the Ansanm Nou Fò party had 9 seats; Haiti in Action had 8 seats; and the Lavni Organization had 7 seats. No other party won more than 4 seats.

Kazakhstan: According to the Central Election Commission, incumbent Nursultan Nazarbayev (who has been in power since 1991) won the April 3 presidential election with 95.6 percent of the vote. None of the three other candidates won more than 2 percent.

Macedonia: Parliamentary elections were scheduled for June 5; results will be reported in a future issue.

Micronesia: In March 8 elections to Congress, all 14 seats were won by independents, as no parties exist in Micronesia.

Niger: In the presidential runoff on March 12, Mahamadou Issoufou of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism won with 58 percent of the vote, defeating Seini Oumarou of former president Mamadou Tandja's National Movement for a Developed Society. Tandja was ousted in a February 2010 coup. [End Page 174]

Nigeria: In the April 16 presidential election, incumbent Goodluck Jonathan of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), who...

pdf

Share