Election Watch

Election Results

(October–December 2012)

Belarus: Belarus held elections on September 23 for the House of Representatives. Leading opposition parties, including the United Civic Party and the Belarus Popular Front, boycotted the election, and parties associated with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka won all 110 seats. Election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) issued a statement saying that “citizens’ rights to associate, to stand as candidates, and to express themselves freely were not respected.”

Burkina Faso: In December 2 elections for the 127-seat National Assembly, President Blaise Compaoré’s Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) won 70 seats. The Union for Progress and Change (UPC), a recently formed opposition group, won 19 seats. The Alliance for Democracy and Federation–African Democratic Rally won 18 seats. Ten other parties split the remaining 20 seats. While international observers, including the African Union, largely praised the elections, the UPC alleged fraud in the populous district of Kadiogo.

Georgia: In October 1 elections for the 150-seat Parliament, Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition won 55 percent of the vote and 85 seats. President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement won 40 percent of the vote and 65 seats. No other party cleared the 5-percent threshold required to earn seats in Parliament. For an in-depth analysis of political developments in Georgia by Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr., and Alexi Gugushvili, see p. 117 above.

Ghana: In the December 7 presidential election, the National Democratic Party’s John Dramani Mahama, who succeeded President John Atta Mills upon his death in July, won with 51 percent of the vote, defeating the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo, who won 48 percent of the vote. By winning a majority, Mahama avoided a runoff. While international observers, including the African Union and Economic Community of West African States, praised the election, the NPP, citing evidence of fraud, pledged to legally contest the results. The results of the parliamentary elections, also held on that day, will be reported in a future issue.

Kuwait: On December 2, Kuwait held elections to fill the 50-seat National Assembly. In June, the constitutional court had dissolved the recently elected (and Islamist-led) Assembly, and restored its predecessor. With much of the opposition boycotting the new election due to a contentious amendment to the electoral law, most seats were won by candidates supporting the government (including 17 Shias). Following the elections, protesters clashed with riot police.

Lithuania: In elections held on October 14 and 28 for the 141-seat Parliament, the Social Democratic Party (LSDP) won 38 seats, the Home-land Union–Lithuanian Christian Democrats coalition of outgoing prime minister Andrius Kubilius won 33, and the Labor Party won 29. Former president Rolandas Paksas’s For Order and Justice won 11 seats; the Liberals’ Movement, 10; the Lithuanian Poles’ Electoral Action, 8; and the Way of Courage Party, 7. Algirdas Butkevičius of the LSDP was chosen as prime minister.

Montenegro: In October 14 elections for the 81-seat Assembly, the European Montenegro coalition won 46 percent of the vote and 39 seats, returning Milo Đukanović to the prime ministership. The recently formed opposition coalition, the Democratic Front, won 23 percent and 20 seats. The Socialist People’s Party of Montenegro won 11 percent of the vote and 9 seats, and Positive Montenegro won 8 percent and 7 seats. Smaller parties won the remaining 6 seats.

Romania: In elections held December 9 for the bicameral Parliament, Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s Social Liberal Union (USL) won a majority in both houses. In the Senate, according to preliminary results, USL won 60 percent of the vote, while President Traian Băsescu’s Right Romania Alliance (ARD) won 17 percent, the People’s Party (PP-DD) won 15 percent, and the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) won 5 percent. In the Chamber of Deputies, USL won 59 percent, ARD won 17 percent, PP-DD won 14 percent, and UDMR won 5 percent. No other parties cleared the 5-percent threshold required to earn a seat in either house.

Sierra Leone: In a presidential election held on November 17, incumbent Ernest Bai Koroma...