Tag Archives: election

Armenia’s ruling party sags in local elections

SEPT. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s ruling Republican Party lost a series of local elections, a reflection, observers said, of the drop in popularity for President Serzh Sargsyan and his government.

The elections focused on voting in civil leaders in small towns and villages across Armenia.

The Central Election Commission said that 350,000 people had voted in the election, a turnout of around 50%, giving it credibility as an opinion poll on the president.

Media reports said that of the 317 local governing bodies where voting took place, the Republican Party won 161. Importantly, though, it lost control of 30 towns and villages that it had previously held.

Analysts said that this was a reflection of the lack of trust in the Republican Party which has dominated Armenian politics since 2003. The economy is stagnant and a group of gunmen captured a police triggering a two week stand-off with police.

Earlier this month Hovik Abrahamyan resigned as Armenia’s PM. He had been in the job for two years but said that a new government was needed to restore confidence in the government.

President Sargsyan quickly appointed Karen Karapetyan as the new PM. He is a former mayor of Yerevan.

Hovannes Sahakian, a Reublican Party MP, said the worse-than-expected results were attributable to some poor local politics.

“There are many problems in those three dozen communities,” he told the RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “We need to revise things, change the strategy and tactics. What happened is not a tragedy.”

President Sargsyan has not commented on the results of the elections.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Georgia condemns Russia on polling stations

SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Georgian government condemned Russia’s use of polling stations in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia for its parliamentary election on Sept. 18. Georgia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the issuing of Russian passports to people in South Ossetia and Abkhazia breached Georgia’s sovereignty and was illegal.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Mirziyoyev to run to be Uzbek president

SEPT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Acting President and PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev said he will run in the upcoming Uzbek presidential election, scheduled for Dec. 4, immediately installing himself as the favourite to win.

UzLiDeP, the party of former President Islam Karimov, nominated Mr Mirziyoyev for the top job.

Mr Mirziyoyev has served as PM since 2003. He was named acting president less than a week after Karimov died of a stroke on Sept. 2.

After the nomination, Mr Mirziyoyev praised Karimov.

“Karimov is our pride. This man brought me up, he was like a father to me,” he said.

The Central Election Commission also said that the National Revival Party nominated Sarvar Otamuradov as a contestant, although he is expected only to play the role of sparring partner.

No Western election observers have judged a vote in Uzbekistan to be either free or fair.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)f

Georgia’s court reinstates two parties for election

TBILISI, SEPT. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Indicating just how fraught campaigning in Georgia has become ahead of a parliamentary election next month, a court in Tbilisi reversed an earlier decision by the Central Election Commission which had banned the Industrialist Party and the Our Homeland Party from the vote.

On Sept. 11, Tamar Zhvania, the Commission’s chairwoman, de-registered the two parties for submitting their party lists after the official dead- line had expired.

The Industrialists and Our Homeland appealed the decision and the Tbilisi court said that the Commission would now have to register the two parties for the upcoming parliamentary election on Oct. 8.

Both parties are staunchly pro- Russia and critics of former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s UNM party. Their reinstatement should boost the chances of another Georgian Dream coalition government being voted back into power.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Georgia’s parliamentary election likely to be fraught

TBILISI, SEPT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s Central Election Commission said that 41 political parties had registered to compete in the country’s Oct. 8 parliamentary elections, highlighting the potentially fraught and unpredictable nature of the vote.

It also said that the 41 political parties had formed seven blocs, including the current governmental Georgian Dream and the United National Movement (the party of former President Mikheil Saakashvili).

Pollsters have said the election is going to be too close to call. A poll by the US’ National Democratic Institute (NDI) in July said 58% of voters were still undecided.

“This level of undecided people just weeks before an election should be a wake up call for all the contesting parties,” said Laura Thornton NDI senior director.

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(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Georgian president blocks gay rights referendum

AUG. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili blocked a petition calling for a referendum that sought to enshrine an outright ban on gay marriages in Georgia’s Constitution. Supporters of the petition had argued for a referendum on the issue to be held at the same time as a parliamentary election in October.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 292, published on Aug. 12 2016)

Kyrgyz Election Commission unseats MP

JULY 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s Central Election Commission unseated MP Jyrgalbek Samatov after proving he had used fake documents to lodge his candidacy for a parliamentary election in October last year. The government’s election watchdog found that Mr Samatov had not relinquished his double Russian-Kyrgyz citizenship ahead of the election, which made him automatically unelectable. Mr Samatov later said he would sue the Commission.

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(News report from Issue No. 289, published on July 15 2016)

Georgia’s minister reiterates Saakashvili threat

JUNE 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s justice minister, Tea Tsulukiani, reiterated that former president Mikheil Saakashvili would be arrested if he travelled to Georgia to campaign in a parliamentary election set for October. The Georgian government has put out arrest warrants for Mr Saakashvili connected to various financial crimes when he was in power between 2004 and 2013. Mr Saakashvili is currently governor of the Odessa region in Ukraine. He has said that he would like to return to Georgia ahead of the election.

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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Editorial: Georgia’s election

JUNE 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps with the Council of Europe’s criticism in mind, Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili sent a bill that would have weakened the Constitu- tional Court’s ability to temper the government back to Parliament.

Mr Margvelashvili has shown both courage and wisdom by sending this bill back. It was political meddling at its worst by the Georgian Dream coalition which had wanted to extend its control over the Constitutional Court, an independent body that is supposed to safeguard the country’s governing principles.

His action also gives another insight into the Georgian Dream coalition, only a few months before what is likely to be a hotly contested parliamentary election. PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said both that he did not agree with the veto, but also that the Georgian Dream coalition MPs would not exercise their right to override the presidential decision in parliament.

The Georgian Dream coalition is internally divided and the President and the PM disagree on fundamental issues. The governing coalition looks to be in a weak state in the run up to the election.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Editorial: Georgia’s election

MAY 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Fighting broke out outside a polling station in rural Georgia this week as people prepared to vote in local government by-elections. The fighting was direct and brutal and was also captured by onlookers on their mobile phones.

Videos from the fighting give a clear insight into the vicious divide in Georgian society between those people supporting the Georgian Dream Coalition, bankrolled by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, and those supporting the United National Movement, the party of former president Mikheil Saakashvili.

Just as Mr Ivanishvili and Mr Saakashvili hate each other, so do supporters of either party. If the parliamentary election of 2012 was considered nasty, it’ll be nothing compared to this year’s issue.

And it is expected to be close. Opinion polls haven’t been able to give any side a clear advantage. They have also introduced the possibility of third party muscling in on the two main rivals.

Expect a bumpy, passionate ride through to October.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)