· May, 2006

Stories about Elections from May, 2006

South Korea: Local elections end

  31 May 2006

Some big changes in store can be expected following the conclusion of local elections in the South Korean capitol of Seoul, the results of which can be found in RJ Koehler's The Marmot Hole.

Mexico: AMLO Back in the Lead?

  30 May 2006

Goleech cites the May 29 poll by María de las Heras, which has leftist candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrado back in the lead with half a percentage point over Felipe Calderón and three points ahead of Roberto Madrazo.

Colombia: President Uribe Reelected in Landslide

  30 May 2006

In a landslide decision (66% compared to runner-up Carlos Gaviria's 22%), Colombians went to the polls on Sunday and reelected President Álvaro Uribe. Here is a selection of what Colombian bloggers had to say about his victory. Gabriel Goldo is ecstatic [ES]. La Democracia habló, esperemos la pronta paz en...

China: IP rights lacking

  29 May 2006

In ‘China Ponders Propaganda Role for Non-Red Parties,’ China Confidential‘s Confidential Reporter sees the combined 500,000 members of China's non-Communist political parties—contrasted by 70 million Communist Party members—more as propaganda tools than a sign of democratization, and observes a lack of commitment from the Chinese government in upholding intellectual property...

Senegal: Conversations on Drowned Migrants

  28 May 2006

Senegalese blogger Seckasysteme has been keeping a close eye on thousands of migrants from Senegal who have attempted to reach Europe on clandestine rafts since the beginning of the year. Last week the blogger explained that 23 migrant hopefuls had been intercepted by Senegalese authorities on their way to the...

DRC: Coup Attempts and More Questions on the Upcoming Elections

  26 May 2006

Free and Fair Elections? Joseph Kabila, the founder of the PPRD (the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy), has overseen an interim administration established by the 2002 peace agreement. The Democratic Republic of the Congo's first post-conflict presidential elections are set to be held on July 30th after months of...

Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome

There is a new government and this historic event has raised more than a ripple in the Iraqi blogs, but, actually, not much more than that. And in this week snapshot of life in Iraq blogs I will show what has been diverting bloggers attention. From high jinks to the...

Martinique: French Black Presidential Candidate Stephane Pocrain

  25 May 2006

Le Blog de [Moi] on Stephane Pocrain's candidacy for the 2007 French Presidential Election (Fr): “Yet another candidacy from the left. Ex- Green Party spokesperson and founding member of the Representative Council of Black Associations of France (CRAN), Stephane Pocrain enters the dance. His program? First and foremost, equality and...

Serbia & Montenegro: Life After Referendum

Eric Gordy of East Ethnia writes on what to expect now that the referendum in Montenegro has taken place: “There is the possibility that I may arrive to one country and leave from another. The independence referendum in Montenegro appears to have succeeded, just barely, in one of those underwhelming...

Peru: Debate, Human Rights, and Food

  24 May 2006

Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas has a helpful collection of links about last weekend's presidential debate. Jorge Bazo Escudero writes [ES] that Amnesty International “has condemned the blatant ignorance of both presidential candidates with respect to human rights issues.” And, away from politics, Peru Food has fresh content with a translation of an...

The Global Voices Show #1

  24 May 2006

Global Voices is pleased to announce the first of our new magazine-style podcasts, which aim to do for online audio what the Global Voices web site does for text blogs — introduce listeners to some of the exciting offerings from podcasters around the world. In this episode we feature the...

Venezuela: Opposition Candidates Win Mayoral Races

  22 May 2006

Both Miguel Octavio and Daniel Duquenal write about yesterday's mayoral elections in Carrizal and Nirgua, which Duquenal describes as “insignificant in the grand scheme of things, though very telling in illustrating the contradictions within Venezuelan politics.”

Peru: Reactions to Presidential Debate

  22 May 2006

Maxwell A. Cameron has written an excellent and thorough summary of the presidential debate between Alan Garcia and Ollanta Humala, concluding: “Garcia won on substance, while Humala won on style. The overall effect is unlikely to be decisive.” Gran Combo Club has a review [ES] of the reaction by Peru's...

Montenegro: “It Looks Like Europe Has a New Country”

This past Sunday, 55.4 percent of the voters of Montenegro, the smallest of the six former Yugoslav republics (population slightly over 600,000), decided in favor of independence – by a narrow margin of 0.4%, in a heavy turnout. Below are some bloggers’ reactions to the May 21 referendum results. Doug...

Belarus: On Trial for Text-Messaging

Iryna of TOL's Belarus Blog writes about an unprecedented (even for Belarus) trial: “We have become used to the fact that prominent academics and journalists are being sentenced to 15 days in prison for swearing or hooliganism, but last week a student was actually tried for sending a text message...