scholarly journals Elections, Independence, Democracy: The 2012 Timorese Electoral Cycle in Context

2012 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Graça Feijó

Timor-Leste rose to independence following a path that included three electoral processes organized under the auspices of the UN and has thus got elections imprinted on its own genetic code. After independence, the responsibility for electoral processes – a key aspect of the sovereignty of the Timorese people – was passed to the nation's authorities, who organized two full rounds of presidential and legislative elections in 2007 and 2012 with the assistance of the international community. This effort constitutes a major element in the process of granting the new regime internal and external legitimacy and at the same time is a response both to citizens’ perception of the political game in order to secure their empowerment and to the call for transparent, internationally acknowledged procedures. Initially, this essay analyses the legal and administrative framework for Timorese elections, bearing these competing requirements in mind. It then focuses on the 2012 elections: first, on the two rounds of presidential elections, including the intricate relationship between presidential candidacies and political parties, and then on the results of the legislative poll, which had a major impact on the political landscape. The final section deals with the challenges that lie ahead for the coming political cycle (2012–2017).

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. p34
Author(s):  
Budhy Prianto ◽  
Dwi Suharnoko

In the democratic countries, political party acts as mediator bridging communication between government and its citizens. The decline of political party taking place before and after the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections and legislative elections certainly affects the political parties in carrying out their roles. Conducted in Malang, objective of this study is to describe factors contributing declining image of political parties and its implications. The findings showed that image of political parties are deteriorating due to lack of trust towards the political parties and politicians in the parliament. The Decree on direct vote system for both presidential and regional head election and establishment of an open proportional system in legislative election also contribute to the deterioration. Implications of the phenomenon are negative attitude and declining interest towards political party.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Husik Ghulyan

Russian Abstract: Цель статьи выявление и интерпретация географических особенностей национально-консервативных электоральных предпочтений населения в Республике Армения. Для этого анализировалось структура политического пространства РА в 1998-2007 гг. и существование в этом пространстве политических сил разных идеологических ориентаций. В политическом пространстве РА как основные национал-консервативные силы приняв РПА и АРФ Дашнакцутюн, анализировалось итоги участия этих сил в парламентских и президентских выборах 1998-2007гг.В итоге с помощью сопоставления и пространство-временного анализа итогов парламентских и президентских выборов, автор пришел к выводу, что в РА от северо-запада республики (Ширак) к юго-востоку (Сюник) просматривается постепенное (градиентное) повышение уровня национально-консервативных электоральных предпочтений населения.English Abstract: This article aims to reveal and analyze the geographical features of nationalist-conservative electoral preferences of the population in the Republic of Armenia. For this purpose, the structure of the political landscape of Armenia in the period of 1998-2007 and the existence of political parties of various ideological orientations have been analyzed. In the paper, Republican Party of Armenia and ARF Dashnaktsutyun have been considered as the major nationalist-conservative political forces, and the voting for these parties during the parliamentary and presidential elections of 1998-2007 period has been elaborated. As a result of comparative and spatiotemporal analysis, the paper concludes that in Armenia there is a gradual increase of the level of nationalist-conservative electoral preferences of the population from the northwest (Shirak) to the southeast (Syunik) of the country.


Author(s):  
I. Semenenko ◽  
G. Irishin

The economic crisis of 2008–2009 highlighted new problems in the development of the German social market economy model and brought to the forefront the factors of its resilience that have ensured Germany’s leadership positions in the EU. Changes in economic policy have affected in the first place the energy and the financial sectors. Shifts in the political landscape have led to the appearance of new political parties. These changes have affected the results of the 2013 elections, the liberal democrats failure to enter the Bundestag has made the winner – CDU – seek new coalition partners.


Author(s):  
Sara Rich Dorman

This chapter explores how ZANU used the creation of a government of national unity (GNU) between 2008 to 2013 to regain control of the political landscape. It tracks the economic and social crises that led to power-sharing, and explores the political dynamics first from the perspective of political parties and then from civil society. We see how church leaders and chiefs were (re-)incorporated into the ZANU discursive project, and how NGOs were marginalized from political discourse. The GNU limited and contained the extremes of political violence and economic crisis. This allowed ZANU to capitalize on its successes, build a new coalition of supporters and regain control of the state through the 2014 general election. Despite an institutional facade of unity, political factionalization deepened, and politics became increasingly driven by a dynamic of "winner takes all."


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-56
Author(s):  
Erich Prisner

AbstractWe try to calculate the position of the six largest German political parties to each other in 2013 and 2017, based on data of Wahl-O-Mat, a German Voting Advice Application. Different to other existing approaches, we do not try to locate these parties in an Euclidean space, but rather on topological trees (with the straight line, the usual left-right model, being the simplest one). This approach has the advantage that – different to two- or higher dimensional spaces – our model allows betweenness information, keeping the parties linearly ordered at least at parts of the tree, with possible conclusions about center or periphery of the political landscape, and possible coalitions. We do not focus primarily on distance but after the topological model is found, we attempt to approximate these distances, in a second step.


Subject Changes to the political landscape. Significance This year’s general election has transformed the political landscape that prevailed for over two decades in Brazil. The centre-right Social Democrats (PSDB) were pushed away from the mainstream by a surging far-right led by President-elect Jair Bolsonaro. After winning four straight presidential elections, the Workers’ Party (PT) was defeated in the runoff. It retains some leverage, but now faces increasingly serious challenges to its hegemony on the centre-left. Impacts Ineffective management of relations with Congress could undermine Bolsonaro’s ability to pass key legislation. Protest movements not aligned to established parties could proliferate in the coming years. Bolsonaro’s Social Liberal Party (PSL) will fail to establish itself as a leading party in the longer term.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-166
Author(s):  
Yukako Sakabe Tanaka

Why do some political groups choose to remain militant when they have the opportunity to transform into political parties or become members of state organs? By scrutinizing the power-sharing negotiations held before a country’s first election, this article argues that the group that leads the negotiations faces the challenge of accepting or declining the policy proposed by its counterpart who poses a threat of violence. Even if the counterpart proposes policy that is acceptable to the leading faction, fulfilling the commitment in regard to the political deal is another challenge for the leading faction. Such challenges often fail and consequently cause violence. In contrast, some counterparts can successfully transform themselves into non-violent political agencies regardless of whether they make compromises in policies or not. Third parties can play a vital role in avoiding violence by influencing actors’ decision-making or enhancing the leading faction’s ability to achieve its commitment. The article illustrates this argument by presenting a formal model and then testing the model by examining the case of Timor-Leste. It suggests specific conditions required for negotiations under which armed groups transform into peaceful actors when introduction of democracy and state-building are ongoing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-65
Author(s):  
Firdha Umari ◽  
Sulih Indra Dewi

This study aimed to find out the political communication strategies of women legislative candidates and what obstacles faced by them. This study used qualitative method and to determine the informants it was wit purposive sampling. Data collection techniques were through interviews and documentation. This study interviewed four woman candidates from different political parties in Malang, and for the first joining a legislative elections. The results of the political communication stretegies were a door to door, approaching religious and structural leaders, used political consultant and had a lot of campaign team were proven to effective in Malang. The obstacles for the women in involving in politics were lack of money and political knowledge and also multiple roles as house wives and ploticians became their internal issue.


Significance The move, designed to help meet IMF loan conditions, triggered two weeks of protests by indigenous movements, trade unions, students and others, which brought the country to a halt and threatened to topple the government. Heavy-handed police and military action exacerbated the violence, which resulted in hundreds of arrests and at least eight deaths. Moreno’s U-turn has put an end to the unrest for now but deep divisions (and IMF requirements) remain. Impacts Correa and his supporters will seize on Moreno’s inability to maintain order and his decision to back down in the face of protests. Indigenous groups will be emboldened by Moreno’s U-turn and will continue resisting key elements of the government’s economic programme. Relations with the IMF have returned to centre stage and will shape the political landscape as the 2021 presidential elections approach.


Author(s):  
Sofia Idris

The chapter is a study of the democratic challenges faced and the local governance structures in Pakistan; how these two are intertwined and influenced by one another. The importance of local government elections and the issue of reinstatement of local government system in the current political scenario has also been the focus of the research. The role of political parties both in the government and in the opposition, in holding the local government elections that is also affecting the mainstream politics up to a significant level. Thus, the resultant situation is definitely affecting the democratic process in the country. The chapter will therefore study this cause and effect phenomenon occurring in the political landscape of Pakistan.


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