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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.
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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.
23 June 2020 Algeria
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune reorganized the Council of Ministers. The Governor of the central bank, Aymen Benabderrahmane, joined the Government as Minister of Finance. The Ministry of Energy and Mining was divided: the incumbent Minister, Mohamed Arkab, took responsibility for the mining portfolio, while Abdelmadjid Attar (a former CEO of the state hydrocarbons company Sonatrach) gained the energy portfolio. A newly created post of Minister of Energy Transition and Renewable Energy was allocated to Chems-Eddine Chitour, who was in turn replaced as Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research by Abdelbaqi Benziane. Abdelhamid Hamdane was appointed as Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
21 June 2020 Serbia
Preliminary results indicated that the Srpska Napredna Stranka (Serbian Progressive Party), led by nationalist Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, had won an overwhelming majority of seats in the legislative elections, representing an increase in popularity compared with its already strong performance in the elections held in 2016. The electoral alliance led by the governing party was expected to hold 191 seats in the 250-seat legislature, with an estimated 61% of the votes.
18 June 2020 Burundi
Evariste Ndayishimiye of the Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie—Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie was sworn in as President. Ndayishimiye, who was officially declared the victor of the presidential election held on 20 May, had been scheduled to take office in mid-August. However, following the death of the outgoing President, Pierre Nkurunziza (who had opted not to stand in the May poll despite being eligible, following constitutional reforms adopted in 2018, to serve a further two seven-year terms) on 8 June, the Constutional Court ruled that there was no requirement for an interim head of state to be appointed.
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