|
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’.
5 July 2020 Croatia
Pre-term elections were held to the Sabor (Assembly). An alliance led by the ruling conservative party, the Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica (HDZ—Croatian Democratic Union), was placed first, with 37.3% of the votes cast and 66 seats (compared with the 61 it had won at the most recent general election). A coalition led by the Socijaldemokratska Partija Hrvatske (Social Democratic Party of Croatia) was second, with 24.9% of the vote and 41 seats, and a recently formed coalition of nationalist and environmentalist groups, led by the Domovinski Pokret Miroslava Škore (Miroslav Škoro Homeland Movement), was third, with 10.9% of the vote and 16 seats. Five other parties or alliances obtained representation in elections open to all citizens, and in separate polls eight deputies were elected to represent designated national minorities. The overall rate of participation was relatively low, at 46.4%. After the election results were announced, the leader of the HDZ, Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister since 2016, stated that he had obtained support of a majority of the 151 deputies, and was to lead a new coalition administration.
5 July 2020 Dominican Republic
According to preliminary results from the Junta Central Electoral (JCE), the candidate of the opposition Partido Revolucionario Moderno, Luis Abinader, won enough votes in the first round of the presidential election to obviate a need for a second round. Abinader garnered 52.5% of the valid ballot, while his nearest rival, Gonzalo Castillo of the ruling Partido de Liberación Dominicana (PLD), won 37.6%. Third-placed was former PLD President Leonel Fernández, who ran in alliance with the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano, with 8.9% of the vote. Although the JCE had yet to declare official final results, Castillo and Fernández both conceded defeat and acknowledged the new President-elect. The new Government was scheduled to take office in August.
|
 |
4 July 2020 Russia
Extensive amendments to the federal Constitution entered into effect, following their endorsement by 77.9% of the votes cast in a popular vote between 25 June and 1 July. Among the most significant amendments were the assertion of the primacy, within the Federation, of Russian constitutional law over the terms of international treaties deemed to violate it, the commitment of support to those resident in other countries who claim Russian cultural identity and who are deemed to be under threat, and the introduction of new restrictions prohibiting many senior state, legislative and judicial officials from holding citizenship or permanent residency of a foreign country, or of maintaining bank accounts in foreign banks located outside the Russian Federation. The powers of the presidency over judicial appointments were increased. While the restriction that limits the President to two terms remained in place, it was to be lifted in the case of the incumbent President, Vladimir Putin, who was thus to be permitted to seek two further terms of office following the expiry of his current mandate in 2024.
29 June 2020 Anguilla
The Anguilla Progressive Movement, led by Ellis Webster, won the general election, securing seven seats (four single-member constituencies and three island-wide districts) in the reformed House of Assembly. The incumbent Anguilla United Front, headed by Premier Victor Banks, won the remaining four seats (three single-member districts and one ‘at large’ constituency). A new Government, led by Webster, was scheduled to be sworn into office.
28 June 2020 Malawi
Dr Lazarus Chakwera was sworn in as President, having been declared the winner of the re-run presidential election held on 23 June. The reults of the original poll, which took place on 21 May 2019, had been annulled in early February 2020 by the High Court of Malawi (acting as the Constitutional Court), which upheld the claims of irregularities alleged by Chakwera, who secured the second largest number of votes, and the third-placed candidate, Dr Saulos Chilima. In the June poll Chakwera secured, according to official figures, 59.3% of the valid votes cast, while the incumbent President and the victor of the annulled election, Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika, took 39.9%. A voter participation rate of 64.8% was recorded. Chilima contested the election as Chakwera’s running mate, and became Vice-President and the minister responsible for the economic planning and development and public sector reform portfolios in the new Government which was partially appointed on 29 June.
27 June 2020 Ireland
Some four months after an inconclusive general election, longstanding rival parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael formed a governing coalition with the Green Party, headed by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin as Taoiseach (Prime Minister). At the election, Fianna Fáil had secured 38 seats in the Dáil, Fine Gael 35 and the Green Party 12. Both traditional parties of government had rejected working with Sinn Féin, which had secured 37 seats at the election, winning a majority of the first preference votes. Under the terms of the coalition agreement, Martin would be Taoiseach until December 2022, after which former premier Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael would take over. The agreement prioritized dealing with the economic and social crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and climate change.
|
