Elections around the world

By Jenny Green
Canwest News Service

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko holds his son Nikolay as he casts his ballot in Minsk September 28. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

The U.S. isn't the only country with an election happening at the same time as Canada's.

Important elections are also taking place - or have recently taken place - in several other countries around the world.

For voters in some of these countries, the issues facing them couldn't be more different, or more crucial.

Austria's Freedom Party leader Heinz Christian Strache reacts to early returns on voting day, September 28, on stage at the party headquarters in Vienna. (Dominic Ebenbichler/Reuters)

Austria: A return to the far-right

Only 18 months into a five-year term, internal strife caused Austria's coalition government to fall, forcing a September 28 snap election where the country's two far-right-wing parties won an unprecedented number of seats. In their worst showing since the Second World War, the Social Democrats and the People's Party lost 25 seats.

Those seats now belong to two parties: The Austrian Freedom Party (AFP) and the Alliance for the Future of Austria (AFA) .

The AFP is headed by Heinz-Christian Strache, who wants to end immigration, repatriate foreigners, ban Islamic dress and overturn Austrian law in order to display Nazi symbols, such as the swastika. The AFA was led by Jorg Haider, but Haider died in a car accident on Saturday, throwing the possibility of a coalition in doubt. 

Opposition protesters hold a banner during a demonstration in Minsk after Belarus' parliamentary elections September 28. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Belarus: Europe's last dictator

Soon after polls closed on September 28, voters took to the streets of the Belarusian capital, Minsk, protesting against electoral fraud and vote rigging.

Not one of the 70 opposition candidates got elected. All 110 seats went to supporters of a man dubbed "Europe's last dictator."

Alexander Lukashenko, a former collective farm manager, has ruled this former Soviet republic since 1994, censoring independent media, seizing control of banks and hiring secret police to keep an eye on his opposition.

Although the country's election commission pronounced the elections free and fair, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitored the election, says it observed deliberate falsification of results. 

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark leaves 10 Downing Street after meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London on January 10. (Toby Melville/Reuters)

New Zealand: Gone to the dogs

New Zealand's prime minister is hoping to win a fourth consecutive term on November 8. Helen Clark and her Labour Party have been in power since 1999, but only in successive minority governments.

Her party is unlikely to win a majority this time.

Clark's leftist party has been plagued with political scandals, the economy is in a recession and the opposition is sneaking ahead in the polls. John Key's National Party advocates tax reductions, welfare cuts and free trade.

The official polls have Clark behind by only a few percentage points but according to an unofficial poll, she's going to the dogs. A New Zealand pet food company has made doggie chew toys to resemble the two opposing leaders' faces. A popular blog is tracking the results and so far, 60 per cent of dogs are giving Helen Clark the squeeze. 

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame addresses the 63rd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York on September 23, a week after his election. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

Rwanda: Governing unopposed

Paul Kagame was easily re-elected president on September 15 in Rwanda's second parliamentary election since the 1994 genocide. Voter turnout was 90 per cent and Kagame is respected worldwide for bringing security, reconciliation and economic growth to Rwanda.

But he was victorious because no opposition party challenged his Rwandan Patriotic Front. Members of every opposition party have been in exile since the end of the genocide and they call the elections a sham. Only one independent candidate entered the race and the two other parties to field candidates (the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party) back Kagame.

Rwanda is one of the few countries in the world with gender parity in parliament. Roughly half the seats are reserved for women; two seats are reserved for youth and one for a representative of the disabled. 

AMembers of Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc swarm around parliament chairman Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Ukraine's house of parliament in Kiev October 10. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has called for an early December 7 election, a move that has been opposed by Tymoshenko's supporters. (Konstantin Chernichkin/Reuters)

Ukraine: Squabbling allies of the Orange Revolution

On Oct. 8, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko called a snap election for December 7. The election results could dictate whether this former Soviet republic aligns itself with the West or with Russia. 

Yuschenko came to power during the 2004 Orange Revolution, after Ukrainians protested a rigged vote that declared pro-Moscow Viktor Yanukovych president.  But Yuschenko and his Orange Revolution ally, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, have been in a fierce power struggle for months. Tymoshenko, who now advocates closer ties with Russia, refused to back Yuschenko in his support for Georgia in its recent conflict with Russia. Yuschenko wants entry into NATO, and has been building closer ties with the U.S. and the European Union. He now blames Tymoshenko for the collapse of their fragile coalition. 

Pundits say Yuschenko's party doesn't even have enough support to win a single seat. Viktor Yanukovych has more support than Yuschenko's and Tymoshenko's parties combined and if he rises to power, Ukraine may not gain entry into NATO. 

This election comes at a time of growing inflation, a widening deficit and a currency falling in value.

A ZANU-PF supporter holds a poster of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe during an election rally in the Harare township of Highfield on March 28. (Howard Burditt/Reuters)

Zimbabwe: Power-sharing stalemate

Zimbabwe has been without a government since March, when Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change won the first round of the presidential election, but fell short of a majority. Robert Mugabe, the incumbent, later won a June 27 presidential runoff unopposed after Tsvangirai withdrew, citing state-sponsored violent attacks against his supporters.

Following the elections, Mugabe (who has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980) is under pressure to share power with his rival as his country is on the verge of economic ruin.

Power-sharing talks, mediated by ousted South African president Thabo Mbeki, began in July and a final deal was reached on September 11. But talks over the distribution of key ministries broke down and Mbeki has agreed to stay on to help break the stalemate.