Elections

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced his resignation from the government of President Emmanuel Macron on Monday (8 July), following his heavy defeat in the second and decisive round of the French parliamentary elections. The Nouveau Front Populaire, a left-wing alliance, appears to have won the parliamentary elections against all odds.

Reformist Massoud Pezeshkian has been elected Iran's new president, beating his hardline conservative rival Saeed Jalili. The vote was declared in Dr Pezeshkian's favour after he secured 53.3% of the more than 30 million votes counted. Mr Jalili polled 44.3%. The run-off came after no candidate secured a majority in the first round  on 28 June, which saw a historically low voter turnout of 40%. The election was called after Iran’s previous president Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in May, in which seven others died.  Even before the final results were declared by Iran's interior ministry, Dr Pezeshkian's supporters had taken to the streets in Tehran and a number of other cities to celebrate. Videos posted on social media showed mostly young people dance and wave the signature green flag of his campaign, while passing cars sounded their horns. Dr Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon, is critical of Iran’s notorious morality police and caused a stir after promising “unity and cohesion”, as well as an end to Iran's “isolation” from the world.

France, Germany, and Poland have become "permanent" targets of Russian disinformation attacks in the lead-up to the European Parliament (EU) elections this week, a senior EU official reported on Tuesday (4 June). The EU has consistently warned that Russia would intensify its disinformation campaigns as the June 6-9 vote approaches. "There are three big countries under permanent attack [from Russia]: France, Germany, and Poland," said EU Commissioner Vera Jourova, citing research by the European Digital Media Observatory, of which AFP is a part. She highlighted an increase in "more massive disinformation attacks on specific topics."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared victory for his alliance on Wednesday (5 June) in India's general election, claiming a mandate to advance his agenda despite his party losing seats to a stronger-than-expected opposition, which challenged his mixed economic record and polarising politics. 

After parliamentary elections held on Sunday (15 October) in Poland, Donald Tusk is set to become the country's next leader. Exit polls results after the close of voting showed that Poland’s opposition parties look like they’ve won convincingly opening the way for the leader of the Civic Coalition led by former president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, to become the country's next leader. Whilst the current governing party, the Law and Justice (PiS) party still emerged as the largest party, winning 36.8 percent of the vote, it will still not be enough to form a government and other opposition parties are likely to join the Civic Coalition, which won 31.6 percent, to form the new government. Two smaller opposition parties, the center-right Third Way which won 13 percent, and the Left which won 8.6 percent, are likely to join the new government. A far-right Confederation won 6.2 percent, but is unlikely to be included in the new coalition. In 2019, PiS won 43.6 percent of the vote. The poll was conducted by IPSOS and was shared with Poland’s three main television networks. The poll has a 2 percent margin of error. Turnout was was high at 73 percent. If the exit poll results are confirmed, the Law and Justice will win 200 seats, Civic Coalition 163, Third Way 55, the Left 30 and Confederation will take 12. Poland is one of the largest and most important members of the European Union but in recent years its government has clashed continuously with the European institutions, as the PiS tried to implement changes in the judicial system and other sectors of government that Brussels considered to be against accepted European norms and values.