Portugal
Austerity vote
Portugal goes to the polls on 5th June, a month after the announcement of its €78bn EU-IMF bailout. Prime Minister José Sócrates resigned in March, when all five of the country’s opposition parties voted against his proposed series of fiscal austerity measures. Yet whoever forms the next government will have little choice but to push ahead with similar unpopular fiscal tightening, and the polls predict a close outcome.
United States Defence reshuffle
Defence secretary Robert Gates will step down on 30th June, prompting staff moves throughout Barack Obama’s administration. Gates will be replaced by Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, whose post will be filled by David Petraeus, now overseeing the Afghan war. Gates was appointed by George W Bush; Obama retained him, which helped smooth relations between the Pentagon and a president with no experience in national security. The latest reshuffle has met with approval from both sides of the political divide—although those who agree with Petraeus that the US should not pull out soon from Afghanistan feel he has been sidelined.
Turkey Election win expected
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP party is expected to win a third term in parliamentary elections on 12th June. Despite its Islamist roots and autocratic style, the AKP remains popular in part thanks to the economy, which recorded the third-fastest rate of growth in the G20 last year. But the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) remains active, and was blamed for a recent attack on an AKP party convoy. Meanwhile the Arab revolts have forced Turkey into an awkward position with former regional allies.
Iran Green anniversary
June marks the second anniversary of the Green revolution, when more than 100,000 protesters disputed the election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The regime suppressed the uprisings, but is now weakened by a struggle between Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, as well as turmoil in Syria, its ally. Economic woes are also fuelling protest—as are sanctions over its nuclear work, and international condemnation of severe court sentences, including a recent proposed “judicial blinding.”
Peru An unwelcome choice
After a decade of moderation under Alan García, voters face a colourful choice in the 5th June presidential election. Keiko Fujimori, daughter of a right-wing former president serving 25 years for crimes against humanity, is running against the Hugo Chávez-backed Ollanta Humala, son of an ultranationalist, and leader of an attempted coup in 2000. The candidates are neck and neck; novelist Mario Vargas Llosa has compared the election to a choice between “cancer and Aids.”
Portugal goes to the polls on 5th June, a month after the announcement of its €78bn EU-IMF bailout. Prime Minister José Sócrates resigned in March, when all five of the country’s opposition parties voted against his proposed series of fiscal austerity measures. Yet whoever forms the next government will have little choice but to push ahead with similar unpopular fiscal tightening, and the polls predict a close outcome.
United States Defence reshuffle
Defence secretary Robert Gates will step down on 30th June, prompting staff moves throughout Barack Obama’s administration. Gates will be replaced by Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, whose post will be filled by David Petraeus, now overseeing the Afghan war. Gates was appointed by George W Bush; Obama retained him, which helped smooth relations between the Pentagon and a president with no experience in national security. The latest reshuffle has met with approval from both sides of the political divide—although those who agree with Petraeus that the US should not pull out soon from Afghanistan feel he has been sidelined.
Turkey Election win expected
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP party is expected to win a third term in parliamentary elections on 12th June. Despite its Islamist roots and autocratic style, the AKP remains popular in part thanks to the economy, which recorded the third-fastest rate of growth in the G20 last year. But the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) remains active, and was blamed for a recent attack on an AKP party convoy. Meanwhile the Arab revolts have forced Turkey into an awkward position with former regional allies.
Iran Green anniversary
June marks the second anniversary of the Green revolution, when more than 100,000 protesters disputed the election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The regime suppressed the uprisings, but is now weakened by a struggle between Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, as well as turmoil in Syria, its ally. Economic woes are also fuelling protest—as are sanctions over its nuclear work, and international condemnation of severe court sentences, including a recent proposed “judicial blinding.”
Peru An unwelcome choice
After a decade of moderation under Alan García, voters face a colourful choice in the 5th June presidential election. Keiko Fujimori, daughter of a right-wing former president serving 25 years for crimes against humanity, is running against the Hugo Chávez-backed Ollanta Humala, son of an ultranationalist, and leader of an attempted coup in 2000. The candidates are neck and neck; novelist Mario Vargas Llosa has compared the election to a choice between “cancer and Aids.”
