election

An Electoral Path-breaker

Two portentous results emerged from the parliamentary election in Sri Lanka. The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by President Mahinda Rajapakse won a resounding victory, just short of the two-thirds majority needed for a constitutional change. And almost 40% of the electorate did not vote. The UPFA’s outstanding win at Thursday’s election may mark the definitive beginning of a new journey for Sri Lanka, away from pluralist democracy, towards an authoritarian state, which (...) read

The Elections: a Game Changer?

> Alternatives

The Indian general election of 2009 is finally over. 445 million voters entered 828,000 polling booths to elect 543 candidates to the lower house of the parliament, the Lok Sabha. An immense state apparatus went into play to ensure that the voters’ will was not subverted by theft (2.1 million security guards were joined by 74,729 videographers to observe the polls). The entire process took just over a month. On Saturday, May 16, the Election Commission released news of the outcome. This is (...) read

2009 Elections in South Africa: The People Have Spoken

> Butjwana Seokoma

South Africans withstood low temperatures in some parts of the country to join queues to cast their votes in South Africa’s fourth democratic elections on 22 April 2009. For many, the long queues at many of the approximately 19 000 polling stations brought back memories of 1994 when they participated in the country’s first democratic elections. Unlike the 1999 and 2004 elections which were characterised by voter apathy, 2009 will be remembered for the interest and participation of young (...) read

Moldova: Torn between the Communists and the far right

> by Natalia Sineaeva-Pankowska, Special to Kyiv Post

Moldova is the country known in the world as one of the poorest ex-Soviet states, like Armenia and Georgia. It is also one of the most multi-cultural and multi-lingual countries, with a long tradition of mixed marriages and hybrid identities. According to the latest census conducted in 2004, just under a quarter of Moldovan population is made of ethnic minorities, including the Gagauzians, Ukrainians, Russians, Bulgarians, Jews and Roma. But paradoxically, the political palette has a heavy (...) read

Obama, America and the Rise of the Non-White World

> SACSIS – the South African Civil Society Information Service

It would be a squint-eyed view to read in Obama’s victory just a historic moment for African-Americans in the United States of America (USA). It should be granted that Obama’s entry through the front door of the White House rather than the back door, once reserved for black cleaners only, does mark a turning point in black history. African-Americans have come a long way since the days of slavery, the civil rights movement and many other sacrifices they have had to make to claim their (...) read

Early Voting Sees Reports of Voter Intimidation, Machine Malfunctions

Early voting has begun, and problems are already emerging at the polls. In West Virginia, voters using touchscreen machines have claimed their votes were switched from Democrat to Republican. In North Carolina, a group of McCain supporters heckled a group of mostly black supporters of Barack Obama. In Ohio, Republicans are being accused of trying to scare newly registered voters by filing lawsuits that question their eligibility. We speak to NYU professor Mark Crispin Miller, author of (...) read

Zimbabwe: A Society "Not Ready for Female Leadership"?

> by Tonderai Kwidini

Women make up about half the population in Zimbabwe. But, they’re far from accounting for 50 percent of those on the ballot for this month’s general elections in the Southern African country — sparking concern amongst gender activists. None of the four presidential candidates in the Mar. 29 ballot is a woman; during the last poll for head of state, held in 2002, Elizabeth Madangure competed alongside five other, male candidates. Of the 730 hopefuls for the lower house of parliament, only 99 (...) read

Dominican Republic - Political clientelism and poverty

> by Edward D. Gonzalez-Acosta

In May 2006, after voting in the congressional elections, my family and I went up to visit some relatives up in the mountains just south of Rio San Juan. There we played dominoes and were preparing a sancocho, when my cousin walked in very proudly telling us that she had just gotten RD$500 for voting for the PLD. I was shocked, to say the least, but my relatives went on to tell me that it was not uncommon for all the parties to give out money and other material benefits for votes or joining (...) read

Americans Want a New Direction, but will Democrats Lead?

> Focus on the Global South

http://www.focusweb.org/americans-wa (...)

The recent US election was a redemptive election. At a time that many throughout the world had written off the American electorate as lifeless putty in the hands of Karl Rove, it woke up to deliver the Republican Party its worse blow in the last quarter of a century. Not only independents and centrists voted to repudiate Republican candidates, but a third of evangelicals-Bush’s fundamentalist Christian base-voted for Democrats.
One of those pleasantly surprised was this writer, who in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential elections, predicted that the Republicans would rule for the next quarter century owing to the formidable grassroots machinery that they had forged-a "juggernaut" that was anchored by a fundamentalist base in the so-called "red states."  read