Election Watch

Issue Date January 1993
Volume 4
Issue 1
Page Numbers 130-34
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ELECTION RESULTS (September 1992-December 1992)

Angola: Results announced by UN officials two weeks after Angola’s September 29-30 presidential elections gave incumbent José Eduardo dos Santos of the ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) 49.57 percent of the vote (just shy of the 50 percent needed to avert a runoff) and his main rival, Jonas Savimbi of the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), 40.07 percent. In elections for the country’s 223-seat parliament, the MPLA won 129 seats and UNITA 70. Smaller parties divided 21 seats, and 3 remain open. UNITA alleged that there had been electoral fraud, and the elections were followed by violent clashes and the threat of renewed civil war. The presidential runoff has not yet been scheduled.

Cameroon: In the country’s first multiparty presidential elections on October 11, official government figures gave incumbent Paul Biya of the Cameroonian People’s Democratic Movement a 39.98 percent plurality and his third five-year term as head of state. Runner-up John Fru Ndi of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) polled 35.97 percent, and Mai’gari Bello Boúba of the National Union for Democracy and Progress won 19.22 percent. The SDF accused the government of electoral fraud, releasing results showing Fru Ndi to be the winner, and international observers questioned the validity of the official outcome. Nonetheless, Biya was inaugurated on November 3.

Central African Republic: Presidential elections held on October 25 were riddled with irregularities and then declared invalid when it became apparent that incumbent General André-Dieudonné Kolingba had lost badly. Though his term expired on November 28, Kolingba extended his [End Page 130] tenure for three months, and presidential and legislative elections were rescheduled for February 14.

Djibouti: Presidential and legislative elections were scheduled for December 18. Results will be reported in our next issue.

Estonia: In elections on September 20, the Fatherland coalition won 29 of 101 parliamentary seats and dominates the new government. Fatherland presidential candidate, former foreign minister Lennart Meri, placed second in the popular vote but became the country’s new president after winning a runoff ballot in the parliament on October 5. For a fuller accounting of the presidential and legislative results, see pp. 118-20 above.

Georgia: Nine months after armed rebels drove out president Zviad Gamsakhurdia, former Soviet foreign minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze was elected by popular vote to the office of chairman of parliament on October 11. Shevardnadze, who ran unopposed, received over 90 percent of the vote. According to preliminary results, 25 of 36 competing parties won at least one seat in the 234-member parliament, and no party won more than 29 seats.

Ghana: In presidential elections on November 3, incumbent Jerry Rawlings of the National Democratic Congress Party claimed 58.6 percent of the vote, besting challenger Albert Adu Boahen of the New Patriotic Party, who won 30.1 percent. Allegations of unfairness were made by many Ghanaians, but some international observer groups pronounced the elections free and fair. Parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for December 8, were postponed to December 29, and results will be reported in our next issue.

Guinea: Legislative elections were scheduled for December 27, but were expected to be postponed until the spring of 1993.

Guinea-Bissau: Presidential elections set for November 15 were postponed and not rescheduled. Legislative elections remained scheduled for December 13; results will be reported in our next issue.

Guyana: On October 5, in the first free elections in three decades, former prime minister Cheddi Jagan of the predominantly Indian People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won 53 percent of the presidential vote, defeating incumbent Desmond Hoyte of the predominantly black People’s National Congress (PNC), who won 42 percent. In elections for the 65-seat unicameral National Assembly, the PPP gained 35 seats, while the PNC took 27. [End Page 131]

Kenya: Presidential and parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for December 7, were postponed to December 29. Results will be reported in our next issue.

Kuwait: Elections were held for the relatively powerless 50-seat National Assembly on October 6, with the franchise restricted to just 13 percent of the adult population. Among the winning candidates, 35 were thought to favor limitations on the power of the ruling Sabah family. Of these, 19 belong to Islamist groups, and the other 16 are identified with secular democratic groups; national law prohibits political parties as such. The remaining 15 winners are regarded as strongly royalist.

Lithuania: The Democratic Labor Party (DLP), dominated by former communists, captured 79 seats during Lithuania’s two rounds of legislative elections on October 26 and November 15, giving it a majority in the country’s 141-seat parliament. The Sajudis movement, which led the country’s drive to independence and had won 97 seats in 1990, finished second with just 35 seats. Voters also approved a new constitution that establishes a directly elected presidency, for which elections are expected early this year. DLP leader Algirdas Brazauskas and Sajudis leader Vytautas Landsbergis are expected to be the main contestants.

Peru: Elections were held on November 22 for a new Constituent Congress that will rewrite the constitution and serve as a legislature till 1995, replacing the old Congress that President Alberto Fujimori had forcibly dissolved in a “presidential coup” on April 5. New Majority Change 90, the slate backing Fujimori, won 44 of 80 seats. The Popular Christian Party finished a distant second with 8 seats, and eight other parties split the remaining 28 seats. Four long-established parties, including the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) and Popular Action (AP), refused to participate.

Romania: Presidential and legislative elections on September 27 returned incumbent Ion Iliescu and his Democratic National Salvation Front (DNSF) to power. With 47.3 percent of the presidential vote, Iliescu easily outpolled Democratic Convention (DCR) candidate Emil Constantinescu (31.2 percent) and ultranationalist Gheorghe Funar (10.9 percent), the candidate of the Party of Romanian National Unity (PRNU). In runoff elections on October 11, Iliescu defeated Constantinescu by 61.3 percent to 38.7 percent. In contests for the 341-seat House of Deputies, the DNSF won 117 seats, the DCR 82, former prime minister Petre Roman’s National Salvation Front (NSF) 43, and the PRNU 30. In balloting for the 143-member Senate, the DNSF won 49 seats, the DCR 34, the NSF 18, and the PRNU 14. [End Page 132]

Slovenia: On December 6, incumbent president Milan Ku~an, who led the country to independence in 1991, was reelected with 63 percent of the vote. The ruling moderate Liberal Democratic Party gained 22 seats in the 90-member Assembly of State, ensuring the continued reign of Janez Drnovsek as prime minister. The rightist Christian Democrats and the leftist United List won 15 and 14 seats, respectively, and five other parties gained 4 or more seats.

South Korea: Presidential elections were scheduled for December 18. Results will be reported in our next issue.

Thailand: An alliance of four democratic parties won a slim majority in parliamentary elections on September 13, enabling Chuan Leekpai of the Democrat Party to become the country’s new prime minister. The Democrat Party gained 79 of the legislature’s 360 seats, narrowly besting the pro-military Chart Thai Party, which won 77. The other antimilitary parties in the governing coalition are the New Aspiration Party, which won 51 seats, the Palang Dharma Party, with 47, and the Solidarity Party, with 8. Chuan later included in his “angelic” coalition the mildly promilitary Social Action Party, with its 22 seats, to stabilize his parliamentary base.

Taiwan: Legislative elections were scheduled for December 19. Results will be reported in our next issue.

Yugoslavia: Presidential and legislative elections for the Yugoslav federation and its constituent republics of Montenegro and Serbia were scheduled for December 20. Results will be reported in our next issue.

UPCOMING ELECTIONS (January-December 1993)

Burundi: presidential/legislative, March 1993*

Cambodia: legislative, May 1993*

Cyprus: presidential/legislative, 7 February 1993

Gabon: presidential, December 1993*

Latvia: parliamentary, May 1993*

Mongolia: presidential, June 1993* [End Page 133]

Niger: legislative, January 1993; presidential, February 1993*

Nigeria: presidential, 12 June 1993

Paraguay: presidential, 9 May 1993

Rwanda: presidential/legislative, 1 December 1993*

Senegal: presidential, February 1993; legislative, May 1993

Solomon Islands: parliamentary, 1 February 1993

Yemen: parliamentary, 27 April 1993

* tentative 

Election Watch provides reports of recently decided and upcoming elections in postcommunist and developing countries. 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. This information is current as we go to press; however, election dates are often moved due to changing circumstances. The data in Election Watch are provided by the International Foundation for Electoral 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, 1620 1 Street, N.W., Suite 611, Washington, DC 20006; (202) 828-8507. [End Page 134]