http://www.electionguide.org Election Guide - News en-us http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2008/11/21/nb-04 BUCHAREST, Romania -- Main opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) leader Mircea Geoana promised on Thursday (November 20th) that if the PSD's coali... http://allafrica.com/stories/200811210565.html As expected, David Simango, Mozambique's Minister of Youth and Sport, and the candidate of the ruling Frelimo Party for mayor of Maputo, has won an overwhelming victory in Wednesday's municipal elections. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/europe/7741015.stm France's opposition Socialists face a run-off vote for a new leader, after a first ballot failed to produce a winner. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/europe/7741293.stm A bill to extend Russia's presidential term from four to six years wins the overwhelming backing of MPs. http://allafrica.com/stories/200811210001.html The Security Council today welcomed last weekend's legislative elections in Guinea-Bissau and called on the political parties in the troubled West African country to respect the results. http://allafrica.com/stories/200811200978.html Over the last twenty years, the ballot box has replaced military coups as a means of political change across Africa, says Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, a political scientist from the University of Ghana. However the results of democratic practices are a mixed bag of sand and sim-sim. http://allafrica.com/stories/200811200943.html Provisional election results from 18 of Mozambique's 43 municipalities, issued on Thursday afternoon by the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral branch of the civil service, confirm that the ruling Frelimo Party has scored a huge victory, winning across the board. http://allafrica.com/stories/200811200545.html THE facilitator of the inter-party talks, former South African president Cde Thabo Mbeki, has scheduled a meeting of the negotiators in South Africa next week to discuss the draft Consti-tutional Amendment Number 19 Bill. http://allafrica.com/stories/200811200038.html AS ZIMBABWE's rival political parties drift further apart on the implementation of their power-sharing pact, a new row has erupted over the unilateral drafting of a proposal to amend the constitution by President Robert Mugabe's negotiation team. http://www.electionguide.org/news.php#3812 The prospects for Bangladesh's long-awaited parliamentary elections remain in doubt, after the government refused to meet the demands of the key Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The BNP had previously threatened to boycott the poll, the country's first democratic election in seven years, arguing that it and allied parties needed more time to prepare. However, BNP leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda ZIA announced her party would participate in the poll, provided that the election is pushed back ten days to December 28. One of the country's two principal political parties, the BNP won two-thirds of the seats in parliament in the last elections in 2001. Consequently, many might strongly question the legitimacy of this year's election were the BNP to boycott it. On Thursday, the government indicated that intended to hold elections as planned on December 18.   http://allafrica.com/stories/200811190913.html Although no incidents have been reported from the vast majority of polling stations during the municipal elections taking place on Wednesday, the Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat (STAE), the electoral branch of the Mozambican civil service, told AIM that disturbances forced a halt to voting in two places. http://allafrica.com/stories/200811190523.html Inspired, enlightened and hopeful was how some Stellenbosch business leaders described their mood after a meeting with Congress of the People (COPE) chairman Mosiuoa Lekota. http://allafrica.com/stories/200811190099.html AN APPARENT attempt by the African National Congress (ANC) to call an early election to catch its opponents unprepared seems to have backfired. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/7736011.stm The EU threatens to withhold aid to Kenya unless it sets up an international tribunal for post-election clashes. http://www.electionguide.org/news.php#3796 On the campaign trail, Barack Obama liked to defend himself against charges of inexperience by calling for fresh perspective in Washington.But as the president-elect's White House team takes shape, it is becoming clear that Obama in fact sees value in having plenty of the "same old folks" around to help him. http://www.electionguide.org/news.php#3811 The Iraqi government announced Tuesday that it would hold provincial elections on January 31, 2009. The provincial poll, which the government had hoped to hold as early as October of this year, was delayed by political deadlock in parliament over the terms of a new election law, which held up the law's passage. Debate over the law had been plagued by a complex dispute between Arabs and Kurds over the sharing of power between ethnic groups in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. To finally break the deadlock, Iraqi lawmakers agreed to a compromise which exempted Kirkuk and the country's three Kurdish provinces from the law. No dates have yet been set for elections in Kirkuk or the Kurdish provinces. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/us_elections_2008/7734247.stm In their first meeting since the US election, the president-elect and his vanquished rival vow to work together. http://allafrica.com/stories/200811171325.html The widening split between Somalia's leaders could lead to the total collapse of the transitional federal government (TFG), a Nairobi-based regional analyst, who requested anonymity, has warned. http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/articles/2008/11/17/reportage-01 A fierce battle for influence in Kurdish-dominated regions pits Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party, which hopes for a strong reform mandate, against a party linked to PKK terrorists. http://www.IRINnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81482 BULAWAYO, 14 November 2008 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe's political crisis deepened on 14 November with the withdrawal of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tsvangirai, from the moribund power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF.