Post by Old Badger on Oct 28, 2019 22:27:59 GMT -5
Lots of election news from abroad, besides in the UK:
Argentina: The most important election over the weekend took place in Argentina, where the populist Judicialist (Peronist) Party candidate, Alberto Fernández, defeated the incumbent Mauricio Macri of the center-right Republican Proposal, 48 to 40 percent; by getting more than 45 percent Fernández avoided a runoff. This is the first time an incumbent has lost a race for a second term in Argentine history, and it resulted from an austerity program intended to reduce the country's high debt-GDP ratio, ballooning fiscal deficit, and 25 percent inflation rate. While Macri, an engineer and businessman, had some success, the poverty rate soared to 40 percent. In a complete oddity, the President Macri followed, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (whose husband had preceded her in the job), ran as the Vice-Presidential candidate with Fernández, despite his falling-out with her while she was President. For context, this would be something like George W. Bush agreeing to be Donald Trump's running mate in 2016. The most important thing about this election is that it happened without the violence that has taken place in other Latin American countries that have had austerity regimes, such as Chile and Ecuador. Good news for democracy.
Uruguay: This country has emerged as one of the most stable electoral democracies in Latin America. In Sunday's election the lefty Broad Front was leading with nearly 38 percent of the vote, still well short of the 50 percent + 1 needed to avoid a runoff, likely against the center-right National Party, which was trailing with 29 percent. Four other parties were in the race, but most of them are expected to support the Nationalistas over the Broad Front, which has held the Presidency since 2005. The BF's been relatively successful, with good economic growth, a reduced poverty rate, and progressive reforms such as same-sex marriage and the world's first national marijuana market. Recently slowing economic growth may have hurt their chances at another term.
Mozambique: The President, Filipe Nyusi, was re-elected with 73 percent of the vote, based on the official results of the Oct. 15 elections. His Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) also won 184 seats in the 250-member Parliament, while the main opposition party, Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) got only 60,f and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique only six. The opposition parties claim "fraud and intimidation" at the polls, but no doubt the official results will stand. They are broadly in line with the results of all previous elections since Frelimo's Soviet-supported one-party state introduced electoral competition in 1994, elections easily won by Frelimo. It's not really a functioning democracy, but the forms are there and opposition parties do get to run candidates,
Afghanistan: The results of September's presidential elections still have not been announced. The Independent Election Commission just announced preliminary (not final) results will be announced on November 14. Reported irregularities and difficulties in using biometric data to ensure voter ID as a way of reducing fraud have delayed the results. Yes, biometric ID in Afghanistan! Here in VA a driver's license will do.
Argentina: The most important election over the weekend took place in Argentina, where the populist Judicialist (Peronist) Party candidate, Alberto Fernández, defeated the incumbent Mauricio Macri of the center-right Republican Proposal, 48 to 40 percent; by getting more than 45 percent Fernández avoided a runoff. This is the first time an incumbent has lost a race for a second term in Argentine history, and it resulted from an austerity program intended to reduce the country's high debt-GDP ratio, ballooning fiscal deficit, and 25 percent inflation rate. While Macri, an engineer and businessman, had some success, the poverty rate soared to 40 percent. In a complete oddity, the President Macri followed, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (whose husband had preceded her in the job), ran as the Vice-Presidential candidate with Fernández, despite his falling-out with her while she was President. For context, this would be something like George W. Bush agreeing to be Donald Trump's running mate in 2016. The most important thing about this election is that it happened without the violence that has taken place in other Latin American countries that have had austerity regimes, such as Chile and Ecuador. Good news for democracy.
Uruguay: This country has emerged as one of the most stable electoral democracies in Latin America. In Sunday's election the lefty Broad Front was leading with nearly 38 percent of the vote, still well short of the 50 percent + 1 needed to avoid a runoff, likely against the center-right National Party, which was trailing with 29 percent. Four other parties were in the race, but most of them are expected to support the Nationalistas over the Broad Front, which has held the Presidency since 2005. The BF's been relatively successful, with good economic growth, a reduced poverty rate, and progressive reforms such as same-sex marriage and the world's first national marijuana market. Recently slowing economic growth may have hurt their chances at another term.
Mozambique: The President, Filipe Nyusi, was re-elected with 73 percent of the vote, based on the official results of the Oct. 15 elections. His Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) also won 184 seats in the 250-member Parliament, while the main opposition party, Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) got only 60,f and the Democratic Movement of Mozambique only six. The opposition parties claim "fraud and intimidation" at the polls, but no doubt the official results will stand. They are broadly in line with the results of all previous elections since Frelimo's Soviet-supported one-party state introduced electoral competition in 1994, elections easily won by Frelimo. It's not really a functioning democracy, but the forms are there and opposition parties do get to run candidates,
Afghanistan: The results of September's presidential elections still have not been announced. The Independent Election Commission just announced preliminary (not final) results will be announced on November 14. Reported irregularities and difficulties in using biometric data to ensure voter ID as a way of reducing fraud have delayed the results. Yes, biometric ID in Afghanistan! Here in VA a driver's license will do.