Election Watch

Belize: In March 7 elections for the 31-seat House of Representatives, Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s United Democratic Party (UDP) won 50 percent of the vote and 17 seats. The opposition People’s United Party (PUP) won 48 percent and 14 seats. No other party won more than one percent.

Burma: In April 1 parliamentary by-elections for 46 vacant seats, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) contested elections for the first time since 1990. Six of the contested seats were in the upper house (the National Assembly, which has a total of 168 directly elected seats), and 40 were in the lower house (the People’s Assembly, which has a total of 330 directly elected seats). The NLD won 4 seats in the National Assembly and 37 seats in the People’s Assembly. The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party, led by president Thein Sein, won one seat in the National Assembly. The Shan Nationalities [End Page 178] Democratic Party also won one seat. Three seats in the People’s Assembly remain unfilled.

Dominican Republic: In the May 20 presidential election, Danilo Medina of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) won 51 percent of the vote, while former president Hipólito Mejía of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD) won 47 percent. Four other candidates won less than 2 percent each. Incumbent Leonel Fernández of the PLD was constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term.

Egypt: In the May 23–24 first round of the presidential election, Mohamed Morsi (chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party) won 25 percent of the vote, and Ahmed Shafiq (former commander in the Egyptian Air Force who was briefly prime minister in early 2011) won 24 percent. Hamdeen Sabahi (leader of the Dignity Party and a former member of parliament who was an opposition leader during the Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak eras) won 21 percent; Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh (formerly of the Muslim Brotherhood) won 17 percent; and Amr Moussa (former foreign minister and secretary-general of the Arab League) won 11 percent. Eight other candidates won one percent or less. As no candidate received a majority of the votes cast, a runoff between Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq was scheduled for June 16–17; results will be reported in a future issue.

El Salvador: In March 11 elections for the 84-seat Legislative Assembly, the Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA), led by former president Alfredo Cristiani, won 40 percent of the vote and 33 seats, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) of President Mauricio Funes won 37 percent of the vote and 31 seats. The Grand Alliance for National Unity won 10 percent and 11 seats. The National Coalition party (previously known as the National Conciliation Party) won 7 percent and 7 seats. The Party of Hope (the successor to the disbanded Christian Democratic Party) and the Democratic Change party won one seat each.

Lesotho: In May 26 parliamentary elections for the 120-seat National Assembly, incumbent prime minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s newly created Democratic Congress won 40 percent of the vote and 48 seats, failing to win an absolute majority. The All Basotho Convention (ABC), led by Thomas Thabane, won 25 percent and 30 seats; and the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), led by Mothejoa Metsing after Mosisili split from the party in 2011, won 22 percent and 26 seats. The Basotho National Party (BNP) won 4 percent and 5 seats, and eight other parties won 3 seats or fewer. ABC, LCD, BNP, and two smaller parties formed a governing coalition, and Thabane will become prime minister, replacing Mosisili, who had been prime minister since 1998. [End Page 179]

Libya: Elections for a constituent assembly (the National Public Conference) were scheduled for June 19 but were delayed until July 7. Results will be reported in a future issue.

Mongolia: Parliamentary elections were scheduled for June 28; results will be reported in a future issue.

Papua New Guinea: Parliamentary elections were scheduled for June 23; results will be reported in a future issue.

Senegal: In the March 25 presidential runoff, Macky Sall of the Alliance for the Republic won with 66 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent president Abdoulaye Wade of the Senegalese Democratic Party. See the article by Catherine Lena Kelly on pp. 121–31 in this issue.

Serbia: In the May 20 presidential runoff, Tomislav Nikolić of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won with 49.5 percent of the vote, defeating incumbent Boris Tadić of the Democratic Party (DS), who won 47.3 percent. In the first round on May 6, Tadić won 25.3 percent, and Nikolić (a onetime ally of Slobodan Milošević) won 25.1 percent. Ivica Dačić of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS, Milošević’s former party) won 14 percent. Nine other candidates won less than 8 percent each. In concurrent parliamentary elections for the 250-seat National Assembly, the Let’s Get Serbia Moving coalition led by SNS won 24 percent and 73 seats. The Choice for a Better Life coalition led by DS won 22 percent and 67 seats. The SPS, in coalition with the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia and the United Serbia party, won 16 percent and 44 seats. The Democratic Party of Serbia won 7 percent and 21 seats; the Turnaround (Preokret) coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party won 6.5 percent and 19 seats; and the United Regions of Serbia coalition won 5.5 percent and 16 seats. Five other parties and coalitions each won 5 seats or fewer. The Serbian Radical Party (Nikolić’s former party), which had held 78 seats in the outgoing parliament, failed to reach the 5 percent threshold.

South Korea: In April 11 elections for the 300-seat National Assembly, President Lee Myung Bak’s Saenuri Party (formerly the Grand National Party) won 43 percent of the vote and 152 seats. The opposition Democratic United Party won 37 percent and 127 seats. The Unified Progressive Party won 10 percent and 13 seats, and the Liberty Forward Party won 3 percent and 5 seats. Independent candidates won the 3 remaining seats.

Timor-Leste: In the April 16 presidential runoff, former military commander Taur Matan Ruak (an independent candidate supported by the [End Page 180] National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction) won with 61 percent of the vote, defeating Francisco Guterres of FRETILIN. In the first round on March 17, Guterres won 29 percent; Taur Matan Ruak won 26 percent; incumbent José Ramos-Horta, who ran as an independent, won 17.5 percent; and Fernando de Araújo of the Democratic Party won 17.3 percent. Eight other candidates won less than 4 percent each.