No. 437 November 2006:

The delay in picking the fifth non-permanent member of the UN Security Council ended on 7 November after 48 rounds of voting. The General Assembly by a vote of 164 of 192 elected Panama to take the Latin American seat. The former two candidates, Guatemala and Venezuela, dropped their competing bids for the compromise candidate.

 October and November had their share of elections: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Congo (DR), Ecuador, Latvia, Mauritania, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Tajikistan, and the United States of America. In a few, the results changed little, except perhaps to support current politicians and policies. In Brazil, the incumbent President Luíz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Worker’s Party (PT) obtained 60.8 percent of the vote in the second round and was re-elected President. His rival, Geraldo Alckmin, former Governor of the State of São Paulo, who ran for the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) and the Liberal Front Party (PFL), placed second with 39.2 percent. While the final result was probably never in question because of Lula’s popularity, scandals and dissatisfaction with the rate of helping the poor and the landless and lackluster performance in TV debates diminished his advantage and forced him into a runoff round. Elections in the Netherlands left the current government intact but facing greater pressures from more radical voters at either end of the political spectrum. In the Congo, the same president remains in power and charges of irregularities presented by the main rival have been rejected by the court. The vote in Mauritania is seen as a good sign of returning the country to a civilian, democratic government.

In Austria, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and the United States voters clearly favored change. While the new government in Vienna is not yet in place, social democrats will replace conservatives. In Ecuador, Alianza País and its charismatic independent presidential candidate placed first in a second round and will replace an interim government. In Nicaragua, a former president and leader of the Sandinist movement is returning and ending a decade of conservative rule.

Although held in mid-term between US presidential elections, voting for the next 110th<D> Congress clearly sent a message to the president and the Republican Administration. It remains to be seen whether the takeover of both houses of Congress by the Democratic Party will hasten a solution in involvement in Iraq but domestically social concerns will again receive more attention. As long as the current occupant of the White House and his policies remain in place even a Democratic Congress will have a difficult time to restore confidence in US performance internationally and regain the once respected integrity of American leadership.

Leader Changes

Country reports: October-November 2006

bio briefs

forecast: January-February 2007

government officials: appointments and changes

literature

Survey: National and Political Developments in Oceania in 2005