ELECTION RESULTS (June-September 2001)
Albania: Two rounds of voting for parliamentary elections were held on June 24 and July 8. The ruling Socialist Party of Prime Minister Ilir Meta retained control with 73 seats (down from 101), while the opposition coalition Union of Victory, headed by former president Sali Berisha and his Democratic Party, increased its total to 46 seats, double its previous number.
Belarus: A presidential election was held on September 4-9. According to the state-controlled Central Election Commission, President Alyaksandr Lukashenka won 75.6 percent of the vote, while his opponent, Vladimir Goncharek, a trade-union activist, won 15.4 percent. The opposition claimed fraud, and the election has not been recognized as free and fair by international monitors from the United States, the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Union, and the OSCE.
Bulgaria: In June 17 parliamentary elections, the Simeon II National Movement, a coalition led by former King Simeon II, won 120 of the 240 seats in the National Assembly. The formerly ruling United Democratic Forces, led by outgoing prime minister Ivan Kostov, won 51 seats; the socialist For Bulgaria coalition got 48; and the ethnic-Turk Movement for Rights and Freedoms won 21, later joining the Simeon II National Movement to form a coalition government.
East Timor: On August 30, in the first elections since the 1999 independence referendum, the Revolutionary Front of Independent East Timor won 55 seats in the new 88-member constituent assembly, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve constitutional changes. The Democratic Party, founded by student-movement leaders, came in second with 7 seats, while the Social Democratic Party (led by Mario [End Page 179 Carrascalao, who had been governor during the Indonesian occupation) and the Timorese Social Democratic Association won 6 seats each. The remaining seats were divided among eight other parties.
Fiji: On August 25-September 1, the first parliamentary elections were held since the May 2000 coup led by George Speight (ousting the country’s first ethnic-Indian prime minister, Mahendra Chaudhry). The Fiji United Party of interim prime minister Laisenia Qarese won 31 seats; Chaudhry’s Fiji Labor Party, supported largely by ethnic Indians, won 27 seats; and Speight’s Conservative Alliance Party won 6 seats.
Poland: Parliamentary elections were scheduled for September 23. Results will be reported in a future issue.
São Tomé and Príncipe: A presidential election was held on July 29 to select a successor to Miguel Trovoada of Independent Democratic Action. Fradique de Menzes, a wealthy businessman from the same party, won with 56 percent of the vote, while parliament speaker Manuel Pinto da Costa of the ruling Movement for Liberation of SaÐo Tomé and Príncipe-Social Democratic Party got 38 percent. Three other candidates split the remainder of the vote.
Seychelles: On August 31-September 2, in the island’s closest presidential election since independence 25 years ago, incumbent president France Albert René of the Seychelles People’s Progressive Party (SPFF) won with 54 percent of the vote, while Wavel Ramkalawan of the Seychelles National Party trailed with 45 percent. Ramkalawan disputed the outcome, accusing the SPFF of bribing and intimidating voters.
Uganda: Parliamentary elections were held on June 26 for 214 seats in the 292-member assembly. All candidates are officially independents, as political parties are barred from campaigning, but supporters of President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement clearly won the majority of seats, thereby retaining control of parliament.
UPCOMING ELECTIONS
(October 2001-September 2002)
Algeria: parliamentary, June 2002
Argentina: legislative, October 2001
The Bahamas: parliamentary, March 2002
Bangladesh: presidential/parliamentary, October 2001 (latest) [End Page 180
Bolivia: presidential/legislative, June 2002
Bosnia-Herzegovina: presidential, September 2002
Bulgaria: presidential, November 2001
Chad: parliamentary, March 2002
Chile: legislative, December 2001
Colombia: legislative, March 2002; presidential, May 2002
Costa Rica: presidential/legislative, 2 February 2002
Czech Republic: parliamentary, June 2002
Dominican Republic: legislative, May 2002
Eritrea: parliamentary, December 2001
Gabon: parliamentary, January 2002
The Gambia: presidential, 18 October 2001; legislative, December 2001
Honduras: presidential/legislative, 25 November 2001
Hungary: parliamentary, Spring 2002
Jamaica: parliamentary, March 2002
Lesotho: parliamentary, 2001 (undetermined date)
Mali: presidential, May 2002 (latest)
Nicaragua: presidential/legislative, 5 November 2001
Papua New Guinea: parliamentary, June 2002
Sierra Leone: presidential/parliamentary, 14 May 2002
Slovakia: parliamentary, September 2002
Solomon Islands: parliamentary, November 2001
Taiwan: legislative, December 2001
Togo: parliamentary, 14 and 28 October 2001
Zambia: presidential/legislative, November 2001
Zimbabwe: presidential, March 2002
Election Watch provides reports of recently decided and upcoming elections in developing nations and the postcommunist world. Elections in nondemocratic nations are included when they exhibit a significant element of genuine competition or, in the case of upcoming elections, when they represent an important test of progress toward democracy. Much of the data for Election Watch is provided by the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), a private, nonprofit education and research foundation that assists in monitoring, supporting, and strengthening the mechanics of the electoral process worldwide. For additional information, contact: IFES, 1101 15th Street, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005; (202) 828-8507; www.ifes.org.