· January, 2008

Stories about Elections from January, 2008

Georgia: Political Alternatives

  31 January 2008

TOL Georgia reports that while there are many things wrong in the country, the situation just can't be compared to that which it found itself in before the November 2003 “Rose Revolution.” However, the blog says, the upcoming parliamentary elections are of vital importance and not least in checking the...

Armenia: Early Release

  31 January 2008

Nazarian points his readers in the direction of a post in Russian alleging that the notorious son of Gyumri's Mayor has been released from prison in the weeks preceding the 19 February presidential election in Armenia. The blog also says that perhaps his release following a mass shootout in Armenia's...

Armenia: Pondering Scenarios

  31 January 2008

Unzipped says he believes one scenerio ahead of the 19 February presidential election is that Orinats Yerkir's Artur Baghdasarian will pull out of the race and support another opposition candidate instead. However, the blogger believes, the chances of an opposition victory would be possible only in a first round of...

Hong Kong: Party Politics

  31 January 2008

Despite the fact that people are in general cynical about political party, legislator Tsang Yok Shing predicts that the 2017 timetable for universal suffrage will bring party politics to the peak (zh).

Georgia: Post-Election Distractions

  30 January 2008

TOL Georgia reports that now Mikhail Saakashvili has officially started his second term in office a new report from international election observers note further irregularities with the conduct of the vote. However, the blog notes, the country and even the opposition have since moved on.

Armenia: Russian Masters

  30 January 2008

After a visiting Russian official effectively endorsed the candidacy of the prime minister ahead of next month's presidential election in Armenia, Nazarian asks if it isn't time Armenians started to think for themselves.

Citizen Uganda: Smart and very, very pretty

  30 January 2008

Citizen Uganda is the best new online source of information about Uganda, and it's also very, very pretty. To scroll down the main page of Citizen Uganda is to indulge in a visual symphony: carefully selected photos align harmoniously with well-crafted blocks of text. Thick lines in complementary colors separate commentary from current events.

Senegal to hold local elections

  30 January 2008

Blog Politique au Senegal writes about local elections in Senegal [Fr], claiming that the dominant parties want to limit the number of political parties in the country and that no party is able to clearly enunciate their ideologies and plans.

Barbados, Bermuda, USA: Standing for Change

  30 January 2008

Cheese-on-bread! notices a similarity between the new Barbados government's campaign slogan and Barack Obama's – and hopes that the “rallying cry will work for him as well as it did for PM Thompson et al…”; while Politics.bm thinks Bermuda's government “represents everything Obama rejects.”

Tunisia: Obama's Religion

  30 January 2008

“Should I worry about the way Islam is made out to sound like a plague that everyone wants to distance themselves from? Should I be wondering what the religion of a person has to do with them being electable to office or not?” writes Subzero Blue from Tunisia, after reading...

MENA: Little Interest in US Elections

  30 January 2008

The Lounsbury says there isn't much interest in the Middle East and North Africa in the US elections at this stage. He further adds: “This being said, operationally or ‘conversationally’ speaking, I would say that there is but passing interest in MENA, except among those circles that may be qualified...

Belarus, Latvia: “Ploshcha”

  29 January 2008

Marginalia watches Ploshcha (“The Square”), a film about the March 2006 mass protests in Minsk – “and watching it is a good way to mark Ceauşescu's birthday and Suharto's death” – and muses on freedom in Latvia and the lack of it in Belarus.