Electoral Panorama / Panorama Electoral

Spain's government calls an early general election

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The government of outgoing Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero approved yesterday the decree to dissolve the Cortes - Spain's bicameral legislature - and hold an early general election on Sunday, November 20, 2011.

Elections to the Spanish Congress of Deputies has detailed information about Spain's electoral system, and the Official State Gazette (BOE) has the full (Spanish-language) text of Royal Decree 1329/2011, of September 26, of dissolution of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate and call to elections.

Concerning the redistribution of Congress of Deputies seats, only Madrid will have an extra seat in the lower house of the Spanish Cortes, at the expense of Cádiz, which will lose one. Had the 2008 general election taken place under the new distribution of Congress seats, the opposition People's Party (PP) would have had one seat fewer in Cádiz, but would have won the newly-added seat in Madrid. Otherwise, the ten parties represented in Congress would have obtained the same number of seats they won in the last election.

Gobierno de España convoca a elecciones generales adelantadas

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El gobierno del presidente (primer ministro) español saliente José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero aprobó en el día de ayer el decreto para disolver las Cortes - la legislatura bicameral de España - y celebrar elecciones generales adelantadas el domingo, 20 de noviembre de 2011.

Elecciones al Congreso de los Diputados de España tiene información detallada sobre el sistema electoral español, y el Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE) tiene el texto completo del Real Decreto 1329/2011, de 26 de septiembre, de disolución del Congreso de los Diputados y del Senado y de convocatoria de elecciones.

En lo tocante a la redistribución de escaños en el Congreso de los Diputados, solamente Madrid contará con un escaño adicional en la cámara baja de las Cortes Españolas, a expensas de Cádiz, que perderá uno. Si las elecciones generales de 2008 se hubiesen llevado a cabo bajo la nueva distribución de escaños en el Congreso, el opositor Partido Popular (PP) hubiera contado con un escaño menos en Cádiz, pero hubiera conseguido el recien añadido escaño de Madrid. Por lo demás, los diez partidos representados en el Congreso hubieran obtenido el mismo número de escaños que ganaron en las pasadas elecciones.

Finland 2011 Parliamentary Election Results Update

Updated national- and constituency-level results of last Sunday's parliamentary election in Finland, published today on the Ministry of Justice's elections website, are now available in Elections to the Finnish Eduskunta (Parliament). The updated results also have electorate totals published by Statistics Finland, which include Finnish citizens residing abroad.

The inclusion of Finnish expatriate voters lowers the 2011 election voter turnout rate from 70.5% to 67.4%.

Enlace a resultados de elecciones generales de 2010 en Costa Rica

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La web de nacion.com tiene resultados en vivo de las elecciones generales celebradas hoy en Costa Rica.

Elecciones Generales en Costa Rica incluye ahora una descripción del sistema electoral del país centroamericano, así como los resultados de las elecciones presidenciales y legislativas celebradas entre 1953 y 2006.

Costa Rica 2010 general election results link

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The nacion.com website has live results in Spanish of today's general election in Costa Rica.

General Elections in Costa Rica now includes a description of the Central American country's electoral system, as well as results of presidential and legislative elections held between 1953 and 2006.

Czech Republic's general election set for next May 28-29

Czech President Václav Klaus announced yesterday that elections to the Chamber of Deputies - the lower house of the Central European country's bicameral Parliament - will be held next May 28 and 29.

In March of last year, the Czech Republic's center-right coalition government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek collapsed after losing a parliamentary vote of confidence, and the country was to hold an early legislative election the following October. In the meantime, President Klaus appointed an interim government headed by Jan Fischer, the non-party chairman of the Czech Statistical Office.

I wrote a piece for Global Economy Matters about the cabinet crisis, titled Topolánek's toppling leads to early Czech election, but as it was the early vote never materialized: last September, the Constitutional Court struck down the law which reduced the length of the Chamber's term. Both houses of Parliament then passed a constitutional amendment to allow an early election to be held the following November, but the dissolution vote failed after the main opposition party, the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) had a change of heart and decided to oppose it, along with the Communists and the Greens.

Parliamentary Elections in the Czech Republic - Elections to the Chamber of Deputies has an overview of the Czech electoral system, as well as lower house election results since 1996.

Ukraine 2010 presidential election update

Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Ukraine has updated results of the first round of Ukraine's 2010 presidential election, published yesterday by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Serhij Vasylchenko now has 2010 presidential election maps by raions and cities of Ukraine on his personal website. Finally, 2010 presidential election maps are also available at Ukraine Election Map (2004 to 2010).

Update-on-the-update

Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Ukraine now has detailed results of the February 7 presidential runoff election, published on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine

Hungary's general election to be held next April 11 and 25

Portfolio.hu reports that Hungarian President László Sólyom has set the date of Hungary's regularly scheduled parliamentary election to April 11 and 25. An election campaign is now underway in the Central European country, and recent polls indicate that Hungary's main opposition party, the right-of-center Fidesz remains set to score a landslide victory over the ruling, post-communist Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) - which has been in deep trouble for most of the past four years, as I've noted in my previous blog postings on Hungary over at Global Economy Matters (available here and here).

Hungary's 386-seat unicameral National Assembly is elected by one of the world's most complicated electoral systems, combining French-style runoff voting in single-member constituencies with regional-level party-list proportional representation and a cumbersome top-up national list that partially compensates parties for the disparities between votes and seats introduced by runoff voting at the constituency level and (to a lesser degree) PR at the county level. Nonetheless, if opinion poll figures hold, Fidesz's already enormous popular vote would in all likelihood translate into a parliamentary supermajority of two-thirds or more.

Elections to the Hungarian National Assembly has detailed results of parliamentary elections in Hungary since 1990, as well as a review of Hungary's electoral system; see also my comments on a discussion of electoral reform in Hungary at Fruits and Votes.

Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Ukraine

Ukraine will be holding a presidential runoff election on Sunday, February 7, 2010, and Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Ukraine has detailed results of the first round held last January 17, as well as results for the 2004 repeat presidential runoff and the Supreme Council elections of 2006 and 2007.

Note that 2010 election statistics were aggregated from polling station-level data published on Ukraine's Central Election Commission's 2010 presidential election website, which as of January 20 included invalid ballot and voter registration figures.

Chile and Ukraine hold presidential elections

Chile and Ukraine are holding presidential elections today, in both instances under the runoff voting system. The vote in Ukraine is a first round in which no candidate is expected to win an outright majority, in whose case a runoff election among the top two candidates would be held next February 7. Meanwhile, Chile already held presidential and parliamentary elections last December 13, but no candidate secured an absolute majority in the presidential poll, and Chilean voters will choose today between the top two candidates in last December's first round, namely Sebastián Piñera Echenique of the center-right Coalition for Change and former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the center-left Concertación, which has ruled Chile since 1990.

I've commented about both elections over at the Fruits and Votes blog posting on Presidential elections in Chile and Ukraine; more detailed postings will be available soon on Global Economy Matters.

In the meantime, Presidential and Legislative Elections in Chile has detailed results of Chilean general elections since 1989 (including last December's vote), while Chile's democratic restoration, two decades on presents an overview of Chilean politics since the restoration of constitutional rule in the South American nation in 1988-89.

Finally, ~~I do not have an Ukraine page yet, but~~ Ukraine holds an early parliamentary election has a comprehensive review of political developments in Ukraine since the Eastern European country attained independence in 1991, up to their early parliamentary poll in 2007.

Update

Sebastián Piñera Echenique has been elected President of Chile. With nearly all polling stations tallied, Piñera narrowly prevailed over former president Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle by a margin of 51.6% to 48.4%.

The Chilean Interior Ministry's 2009 Election Results website has live presidential runoff election results in Spanish.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Central Election Commission website has live 2010 presidential election results here, in Ukrainian. Early figures have Viktor Yanukovych in first place but short of an absolute majority, with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko firmly in second place. As for incumbent president Viktor Yushchenko, he is currently trailing in a distant fifth (that's right, fifth) place.

Actualización de la página de Chile

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Elecciones Presidenciales y Legislativas en Chile cuenta ahora con los resultados a nivel de circuncripción y de distrito de las elecciones al Senado y la Cámara de Diputados celebradas en el país sudamericano desde 1989, así como una descripción del sistema electoral en vigor para las elecciones generales del próximo 13 de diciembre.

Chile page update

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Presidential and Legislative Elections in Chile now has constituency- and district-level results of Senate and Chamber of Deputies elections held in the South American country since 1989, as well as a description of the electoral system in place for the upcoming December 13 general election.