Elections

Germans woke up this morning to a changed political landscape. It is difficult to call it a political earthquake, but change is in the air, and the prospect that by Christmas the country will have a chancellor from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is likely.

A number of foreign embassies in Libya issued a joint statement calling on all Libyan actors to ensure an “inclusive, free and fair” parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for 24 December.  

Labour Party leader Jonas Gahr Stoere, who is projected to become the next prime minister, said he will seek partners for a coalition government. The 61-year-old millionaire, who comes from a wealthy family, has campaigned against social inequality.

At the headquarters of the liberal National Rally of Independence (NRI), celebrations erupted when it was announced by election officials that the party won at least 97 seats, so far the highest among the parties that contested the polls.

In recent weeks, Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus has ordered the mass closure of NGOs, calling them “bandits and foreign agents”. One year to the day since the disputed 9 August 2020 presidential elections, for commonspace.eu, Maryia Ditchkowska looks at some of the organisations targeted, why it is unlikely to seriously impact support for the pro-democractic movement, and what has prompted this particular crackdown.

Uzbekistan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party announced on 7 August it was nominating Shavkat Mirziyoev for a second term as president in the forthcoming October elections. Since coming to power in 2016 Mirziyoev has launched an ambitious reform agenda and has sought to end Uzbekistan's international isolation.

Moldovan President Maya Sandu's PAS party won a resounding victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections on a platform of fighting corruption and carrying out reforms. After the counting of 99.63% of ballots, only three political forces will be represented in the new chamber, the data showed. PAS had 52.60% of the vote, while its main rival, Igor Dodon's Socialists and Communists bloc, had 27.32%.

The Russian media has taken a lot of interest in Sunday's parliamentary elections in Armenia. They echoed the Kremlin's position of advocating stability and discouraging street protests. But the newspaper Kommersant says many in Moscow were taken by surprise by the result.