Current Issues
Elections Around the World
E-Brief: Online Only issued 21 September 2005, last updated 16 November
2005
Adrienne Blunt, Information
/E-links
Politics and Public Administration Group
Introduction
This electronic brief provides links to web-based information
and full-text articles relevant to selected countries having national
elections in 2005. This document will cover all elections held in the
Pacific region. Coverage will be selective for Asia, Europe and the Middle
East. Elections may be presidential or parliamentary (legislative). It
may also cover elections that are regionally significant such as those
being held on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea.
The country information is brief in nature and gives
the date and type of election, the number of registered voters, the party
in power (where applicable), the type of government, whether voting is
compulsory, some key issues, the main players, commentary as the elections
unfold, and results when known.
For an explanation of the terms used in this publication,
please see the glossary.
The links in this document will change as events occur
and additional analyses become available.
Elections by date
January
9 January 2005: Palestinian National
Authority (Presidential)
30 January 2005: Iraq (Parliamentary)
February
6 February 2005: Thailand (Parliamentary)
8 February 2005: Greece (Presidential)
8 February 2005: Denmark (Parliamentary)
March
8 March 2005: Federated States
of Micronesia (Parliamentary)
17 March 2005: Kingdom of Tonga (Parliamentary)
31 March 2005: Zimbabwe (Parliamentary)
April
April 2005: Afghanistan
(Parliamentary) deferred to September 2005
30 April 2005: Niue (Parliamentary)
May
5 May 2005: United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland (Parliamentary)
20 May 2005 to 2 June 2005: Bougainville Island in Papua
New Guinea (Provincial)
29 May to 12 June: Lebanon (Parliamentary)
June
17 June 2005 (first round); 24 June,
2005 (second round): Iran (Presidential)
July
17 July 2005: Palestine (Parliamentary)—postponed
to 25 January 2006
August
27 August 2005: Singapore
(Presidential)—a vote was not held because as incumbent President S.R.
Nathan was the only eligible candidate, he was re-elected unopposed.
September
7 September 2005: Egypt (Presidential)
11 September 2005: Japan (Parliamentary)
12 September 2005: Norway (Parliamentary)
17 September 2005: New Zealand (Parliamentary)
18 September 2005: Afghanistan (Parliamentary)
18 September 2005: Germany (Parliamentary)
25 September 2005: Poland (Parliamentary)
October
9 October
2005: Poland (Presidential)
November
9 November 2005 and 20 November 2005: Egypt (Parliamentary)
17 November
2005: Sri Lanka (Presidential)
December
1 December 2005: Egypt
(Parliamentary)
15 December 2005: Iraq
(Parliamentary)
Glossary
Compulsory voting is defined as the legal requirement
that people who are eligible to vote do so, and that if a person does
not attend the polling place, penalties may be imposed. Sources vary as
to the exact number of countries that may be said to have compulsory voting.
The presence or absence of mandatory voting laws in a constitution does
not recognise the range of enforcement that is possible. It may vary from
a symbolic but basically impotent law, to a government with a systematic
follow-up of each non-voting citizen and possible penalties such as fines.
Not all laws are created to be enforced. Some are created solely to state
the government’s position regarding what the citizen’s responsibility
should be.
One source claims that there are twenty-three countries
that have some form of compulsory
voting in elections. These are: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia,
Brazil, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Fiji,
Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Panama,
Singapore, some parts of Switzerland, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela. Both
The Netherlands and Austria had systems of compulsory voting, but these
were later repealed.
International IDEA, (International
Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) lists thirty-two countries
that have some form of compulsory voting, and provides a table giving country,
type of sanction, level of enforcement, year introduced and comments for
each.
In New Zealand
eligible voter registration is compulsory but voting is voluntary.
Democracy is government by the people themselves, but
in practice by elected representatives.
Government in its broadest sense is the exercise of authority
over the people of a nation or community.
Parliament is an assembly of elected or appointed persons,
or some of each with power to make laws and to govern.
A parliamentary election or legislative election is an
election to select the members of the national legislative body in a parliamentary
system of government.
A parliamentary system of government is one of the two
major types of democratic governing systems (the other is presidential
government), having an elected body of representatives; a government or
council of ministers (cabinet) ith a prime minister approved by the majority
of members of the parliament; a maximum period of time between elections
and a head of state (a monarch or president), who must, even if only ceremonially
assent to bills passed by the parliament in order for the bills to become
effective.
A presidential election is an election to select the
chief of state or head of government (the president) in a presidential
system of government.
A presidential system of government is one of the two
major types of democratic governing systems (the other is parliamentary
government), in which the position and powers of both chief of state and
head of government are vested in a president whose election, duties and
powers are constitutionally independent of the legislature.
Suffrage means the legal right to vote.
Election web sites
Election Guide.org (International Foundation for Election Systems–IFES)
gives election dates,
information and results for elections world-wide, back to 1998.
Electionworld.org / Elections around the
World is a website
which provides election information by country and by date. It also gives
information on country background, recent elections, parties and parliaments.
CNN World/Election Watch provides a listing of current elections
as well as historical listings by region.
Psephos: Adam Carr’s Election Archive
provides election statistics from 174 countries
as well as a comprehensive archive of Australian Federal election statistics
from 1901 and State and Territory statistics from 1990.
Richard Kimber’s Elections and
Electoral Systems Around the World has links to a wide variety
of election-related web sites. Included is Adam Carr’s excellent coverage
of recent elections, the Proportional Representation Society of Australia,
The Global Initiative to Enfranchise People with Disabilities, the Comparative
Study of Electoral Systems, The Electoral Reform Society, the Center for
Voting and Democracy, and voter turnout around the world since 1945.
The University of British
Columbia Library—Elections, Political Parties and Parliaments
gives an academic approach to elections and political parties. Here you
will find links to information on electoral behaviour, an in-depth look
at Australian, British, Canadian and American elections, manifestos, platforms,
speeches and political thought.
The Political Studies Association is a United
Kingdom based organisation and provides a gateway to election portals,
links to the Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends (CREST),
the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA)
and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). There is also information on
internet voting, constitutions, gender and politics and electronic journals.
Recent Parliamentary Library Elections Publications
Scott Bennett, United
Kingdom Election 2005, Research Note, no.51, 2004–2005
Scott Bennett, US
Presidential Election 2004, Research Note, no.27, 2004–2005
Scott Bennett, Minority
Government for Canada 2004, Research Note, no.8, 2004–2005
Scott Bennett, Electing
the US President, Research Note, no.30, 200–2004
Frank Frost, The
Philippines Elections 2004: issues and implications, Research Note,
no.13, 2004–2005
Ian Holland and Sarah Miskin, Interpreting
Election Results in Western Democracies, Current Issues Brief,
no.2, 2002–03.
References
This publication acknowledges the following sources:
The CIA World Fact Book (for
flags and government information)
Corcoran, R. The Collins Australian Dictionary of
Political Terms, North Blackburn, Victoria, Collins Dove, 1994
IFES [International Foundation for Election Systems]
Election Guide.org-definitions
of election terms (for glossary definitions)
The U.S. Department of State Background Notes
(for government information)
For copyright reasons some linked items are only available to
Members of Parliament.
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