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16 September 2020 Japan
Yoshihide Suga was elected Prime Minister by the House of Representatives after being selected as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on 14 September. His election followed the resignation on the grounds of ill health of Japan’s longest serving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had been in office since December 2012. Suga, who had been Chief Cabinet Secretary to Abe, retained the principal ministers from Abe’s administration and appointed Nobuo Kishi as Minister of Defense and Katsunobu Kato as his own successor as Chief Cabinet Secretary.
3 September 2020 Jamaica
According to preliminary results released by the Electoral Commission, the incumbent Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) increased its majority at the general election, securing 48 of the 63 seats in Parliament. The opposition People’s National Party’s representation fell further, from 31 seats to 15. It was the first time that the JLP had secured a consecutive term in office, and the Government’s popularity was attributed to its early, decisive response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as its pre-pandemic handling of the economy. JLP leader Andrew Holness was to be sworn in for a further term as Prime Minister on 7 September.
18 August 2020 Mali
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta annouced his resignation, having been detained, along with the Prime Minister, Dr Boubou Cissé, by disaffected members of the military. Keïta also stated that the Government and the National Assembly would both be dissolved with immediate effect. The spokesperson for the coup leaders, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Col-Maj. Ismael Wagué, declared that a Comiteé National pour le Salut du Peuple (National Committee for the Salvation of the People) had been established to temporarily govern the country. Mali’s land and air borders were closed and a night-time curfew was imposed. Protests against Keïta’s administration had been increasing in frequency since May when the Constitutional Court overturned the results in 31 parliamentary constituencies in favour of Keïta’s party, and subsequent attempts at forming a power-sharing government, with intensive mediation from senior regional figures, were unsuccessful.
10 August 2020 Lebanon
President Michel Aoun accepted the resignations of Prime Minister Hassan Diab and his Cabinet. This development followed violent protests against the political establishment in response to a massive explosion in the port of Beirut on 4 August 2020. At least 200 people died as a result of the blast and more than 6,000 were injured, while widespread damage to buildings was also reported across the capital and its surrounding region. The incident occurred at a quayside warehouse that had been storing some 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate confiscated from a ship in 2013. Announcing his resignation, Diab denounced ‘political corruption’ as the cause of the blast and appealed for early elections to be held. Aoun requested that the Cabinet stay in office on an interim basis, pending its replacement.
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10 August 2020 Trinidad and Tobago
According to unofficial results from the general election, the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) won a further term in office. The PNM secured 22 seats in the 41-seat House of Assembly, one less than in 2015, but enough to form another Government. The opposition United National Congress, led by former premier Kamla Persad-Bissessar, won the other 19 seats. Persad-Bissessar refused to concede defeat until the results were officially declared by the electoral commission, and demanded recounts in three constituencies, although this did not prevent the PNM leader and incumbent Prime Minister Keith Rowley from claiming victory.
5 August 2020 Sri Lanka
Legislative elections took place, having been postponed from April 2020 owing to the novel coronavirus pandemic. According to results published by the Election Commission on 7 August, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa secured an overwhelming victory, winning 145 of the Parliament’s 225 seats. The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (a new alliance led by the United National Party’s Sajith Premadasa) took 54 seats, while the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi took 10 seats. The two main parties comprising the former Government of Ranil Wickremesinghe—the latter’s faction of the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party—suffered a significant decline in support, each only receiving one seat in the new legislature. (Former premier Wickremesinghe himself lost his seat.) The overall voter participation rate was recorded at 75.9%, although some 4.6% of the total votes cast were rejected.
2 August 2020 Guyana
The candidate of the opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, was sworn in as President hours after the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) declared his party to have won the general election of 2 March 2020. The results of the ballot had been disputed, with the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change coalition, led by David Granger, initially claiming victory. Following a recount in May, a legal and political dispute had ensued, and it remained to be seen if GECOM’s declaration would bring the wrangling to an end. Guyana’s new found wealth as an oil-producing country had increased tensions over the ballot.
19 July 2020 Syrian Arab Republic
Elections to the People’s Assembly took place. According to results announced by the Higher Judicial Committee for Elections, the National Progressive Front (an alliance headed by President Bashar al-Assad’s Baath Arab Socialist Party and comprising nine other parties) secured 177 of the legislature’s 250 seats. Voter turnout was officially recorded at 33.0%, compared with 57.0% in 2016. Voting took place only in those areas of the country under government control, and opposition figures denounced the elections as ‘illegitimate’.
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