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7 May 2012 Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin was inaugurated as President, following his election to a third, non-consecutive term on 4 March. (He had previously served as President in 2000–08, before becoming premier, in order to comply with the constitutional restriction on consecutive terms of presidential office.) On the same day he nominated the outgoing President, Dmitrii Medvedev, to serve as Chairman of the Government.
6 May 2012 France
At the second round of a presidential election, François Hollande of the Parti Socialiste was elected President with 51.6% of valid votes, while the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, of the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire took 48.4% of votes. At the first round of the election, held on 22 April, Hollande had received 28.6% of valid votes, against Sarkozy’s 27.2%. Other notable first-round candidates were Marine Le Pen of the extreme right-wing Front National, who won 17.9% of votes, Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the left-wing Front de Gauche (11.1%), François Bayrou of the Mouvement Démocrate (9.1%) and Eva Joly of Europe Ecologie Les Verts (2.3%). The rate of voter participation in the first and second rounds was 79.5% and 80.4% respectively. Hollande was expected to assume office on 15 May.
6 May 2012 Greece
In legislative elections, no single party won an overall majority in the 300-seat Vouli (Parliament). New Democracy obtained 18.9% of the votes and 108 seats, the Coalition of the Radical Left secured 16.8% of the votes and 52 seats, and the Panhellenic Socialist Movement won 13.2% of the votes and 41 seats. Four smaller parties shared the remaining seats, among them the far-right Golden Dawn party, which obtained 21.
6 May 2012 Armenia
Elections were held to the Azgayin Zhoghov (National Assembly). According to the official results, published by the Central Electoral Commission on 13 May, the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), led by President Serge Sarkissian, remained the largest party in the legislature, increasing its representation from 64 to 69 of the 131 elective seats. The RPA's principal partner in the incumbent coalition government, Prosperous Armenia, also increased its number of parliamentary mandates, to 37. Four other parties and one independent candidate were also to be represented in the new legislature.
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3 May 2012 Haiti
The Haitian Chamber des Députés approved, by 62 votes to three, the nomination of Laurent Lamothe to be Prime Minister. Lamothe, currently serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Religion in the Government of President Michel Martelly, had received the endorsement of the Sénat in April. Haiti had effectively been without a Prime Minister since the previous incumbent, Garry Conille, had submitted his resignation in February after less than four months in the post.
21 April 2012 United Nations
The UN Security Council authorized the establishment of a UN Supervision Mission in Syria, comprising 300 unarmed military observers, in order to monitor implementation by all parties of a cease-fire and peace plan formulated by the UN-Arab League Joint Special Envoy, Kofi Annan. An advance group of 30 monitors had been authorized by the Security Council on 14 April.
20 April 2012 Guinea-Bissau
Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo, who had been nominated as Transitional President following the establishment of a National Transitional Council (Conselho Nacional de Transição), rejected his proposed appointment to that position. Members of the military had seized power on 12 April and detained the Interim President, Raimundo Pereira, and the former Prime Minister, Carlos Gomes Júnior, who was expected to be the sole candidate at a run-off presidential election which had been scheduled to take place on 29 April. More than 20 opposition parties and the military junta had, on 18 April, agreed to dissolve the legislature and to rule for a transitional period of two years before holding fresh elections. On the previous day the African Union had announced the suspension of Guinea-Bissau from the organization, pending the restoration of democratic rule, while the World Bank and the African Development Bank suspended their development programmes. The Economic Community of West African States, which also suspended Guinea-Bissau’s membership, stated its immediate intention to dispatch a military contingent to the country.
16 April 2012 Timor-Leste
José Maria Vasconcelos, also known as Taur Matan Ruak, a veteran of the struggle for independence and a former Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, was elected President, winning the second ballot with 61.2% of the votes cast, defeating the Fretilin candidate Francisco Guterres, also a former independence fighter, who secured 38.8% of the votes. The incumbent President José Ramos Horta was eliminated in the first round of voting on 17 March. Ruak was expected to take office on 20 May.
11 April 2012 Republic of Korea
At a general election the ruling Saenuri Party held on to a narrow majority, winning 152 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly, while the opposition Democratic United Party won 127, the Unified Progressive Party 13 and the Liberty Forward Party five. The ruling party’s victory was regarded as advancing the prospects of the Saenuri Party’s leader and probable presidential candidate Park Geun-Hye in the presidential elections due to be held in December. Han Myeong-Sook subsequently announced her resignation as Chair of the Democratic United Party, taking responsibility for the party’s defeat.
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