Election Watch

Election Results
(March-June 2004)

Algeria: On April 8, the country's first civilian president, Adbelaziz Bouteflika of the National Democratic Rally, won reelection with 85 percent of the vote. Former prime minister Ali Benflis of the National Liberation Front won 6 percent, and Islamist candidate Abdallah Djaballah of the Movement for National Reform won 5 percent. While international observers noted that the election was peaceful and relatively transparent, Bouteflika's rivals accused him of monopolizing the state-run media. The Socialist Forces Front, one of the country's main political parties, boycotted the election.

Dominican Republic: In a presidential election held on May 16, Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Liberation Party won 57 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent president Hipólito Mejía of the Dominican Revolutionary Party, who received 33 percent. Rafael Estrella of the Social Christian Reformist Party received 9 percent. Turnout was 73 percent.

El Salvador: On March 21, Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) candidate Antonio Saca won the presidential election with 58 percent, defeating Schafik Handal of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, who won 36 percent. Turnout was 65 percent, up from the usual 40 to 45 percent.

Equatorial Guinea: In elections held on April 25, President Teodoro Obiang's Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea won 68 of 100 contested seats in the House of People's Representatives. The Democratic Opposition, an alliance of other political groups closely tied to the president, followed with 30 seats. The remaining two seats went to the Convergence for Social Democracy, the only true opposition party that did not boycott the elections. While election officials claimed that turnout was at 96 percent, European Union monitors noted that the elections were marred by fear and intimidation, proclaiming the final results "not very credible." Obiang has been president since 1979, when he seized power in a military coup.

Georgia: In parliamentary elections held on March 28, the National Movement-Democrats, backed by newly elected president Mikheil Saakashvili, won 135 of 150 contested seats in the 235-seat Supreme Council. The remaining 15 seats went to the Rightist Opposition bloc. The elections were held after the Supreme Court declared invalid the results of the November 2003 balloting, which stimulated popular protests that led to the resignation of then-president Eduard Shevardnadze.

Guinea-Bissau: In the first elections since last September's bloodless ousting of former president Kumba Yala, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde won 45 seats in the 100-seat unicameral National People's Assembly. Yala's Social Renewal Party (PRS) won 35 seats, and the United Social Democratic Party won 17. The PRS protested the results, citing balloting irregularities, but international observers judged the elections to be free, fair, and transparent.

India: In parliamentary elections that lasted from April 20 to May 10, Sonia Gandhi's Indian National Congress won 145 of the 539 contested seats in the House of the People, defeating the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which won 138 seats. The Communist Party of India-Marxist won 43 seats, the Samajwadi Party won 36 seats, the National People's Party won 21 seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party won 19 seats, the Dravidian Progressive Federation won 16, and the Communist Party of India won 10. The new governing coalition will be led by the Congress party, which together with its allies holds 217 seats, compared to the 185 seats held by the BJP and its allies. Voter turnout was 56 percent.

Indonesia:In April 5 elections to the 550-seat, unicameral House of Representatives, former dictator Suharto's Golkar party won 128 seats, surpassing President Megawati Sukarnoputri's ruling Indonesian Democracy Party of Struggle, which won 109 seats. The United Development Party received 58 seats; the Democrat Party, 57; the National Awakening Party and the National Mandate Party, 52 seats each; and the Prosperous Justice Party, 45 seats. The makeup of the governing coalition will be determined by the outcome of the presidential election scheduled for July 5.

Macedonia: Early elections were called in order to replace former president Boris Trajkovski, who died in a plane crash on February...