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International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy
Advancing Democracy:
Advancing Democracy is the bi-monthly newsletter of the International Movement of Parliamentarians for Democracy highlighting democratic developments around the world of particular interest to parliamentarians. We hope the information found in this newsletter will be helpful to parliamentarians seeking to strengthen the promotion of democracy in your country and globally. We welcome any suggestions you may have for content in future issues of Advancing Democracy. Please send your suggestion to Tiffany Lynch at jamesb@ned.org. Feel free to share the newsletter with colleagues and encourage them to join the network. More information about the IMPD and how to become a member can be found at www.wmd.org/impd/main.html.
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Table of Contents I. Elections
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Ukraine, December 26
Viktor Yushchenko was elected president of Ukraine. Yushchenko won with 51.99% of the vote compared to 44.2% received by his opponent, Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych, who stepped down as prime minister last week, had been declared the winner of the Nov. 21 election, only to see his victory overturned by the Supreme Court after weeks of street protests that came in response to the revelations of fraudulent attempts to rig the election results. This so-called "Orange Revolution" was named for Yushchenko's campaign color.
West Bank and Gaza, January 9
Mahmoud Abbas was overwhelmingly voted in as president of the Palestinian territories. Abbas, who is affiliated with the Palestinian National Liberation Movement party, won 62.3% of the Palestinian vote. His closest rival, Mustafa Barghouti, received 19.8%. Election officials reported about 65% turnout among 1.8 million eligible voters.
Iraq, January 30
Iraq held successful parliamentary elections. Iraqis were electing a 275-member transitional National Assembly, which will draft a new constitution and pick the country's next president and two vice presidents. The president, in turn, will select a prime minister. The electoral commission will begin releasing results soon, but it will take at least 10 days to know the entire outcome. Insurgents made good on their repeated threats to attack Iraq's polling stations on election day, unleashing car and suicide bombs, mortars, rockets, small-arms fire and grenades in 109 separate attacks. However, Iraqi officials have estimated that about 60 percent of voters took part.
UKRAINE
Ukraine's President, Viktor Yushchenko, has vowed to make democratic reforms irreversible and prepare Ukraine for eventual EU membership. He told the 46-nation Council of Europe in Strasbourg that his reform plan was geared towards the "strategic foreign policy goal of EU membership". He also said he would try to make "the democratic changes... irreversible". The EU has refrained from offering Ukraine the prospect of eventual membership, but stressed that it wants to deepen the existing partnership. Mr. Yushchenko said Ukraine's government would be "reorganized to add a real, rather than rhetorical, dimension and content to the process of integration into the European Union". The EU has drawn up a plan to forge closer ties with Ukraine. Correspondents, however, say the EU has mixed feelings about further expansion. Instead it has offered Ukraine, Georgia and Balkan states close links through a "neighborhood policy". The 10-point strategy proposes lower trade barriers between the EU and Ukraine and co-operation on immigration and foreign and security policy.
CHINA
Zhao Ziyang, the Chinese Communist leader who pioneered market reforms that transformed China's economy and was ousted as party general secretary for opposing the 1989 military assault on pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, died January 17th at a hospital in Beijing. He was 85. The official New China News Agency said Zhao, who had lived under house arrest for the past 15 years, "had long suffered from multiple diseases affecting his respiratory and cardiovascular systems." Family friends said he was hospitalized in early December for pneumonia and fell into a coma Friday night after suffering a series of strokes. Zhao was a symbol of what might have been in China if the Communist leadership had negotiated a settlement instead of firing on the student protesters demanding political reform in 1989. His successors were haunted by him, worried even in the last days of his life that those frustrated by the party's authoritarian rule might rally around the former Communist Party chief. State media announced his death with a one-sentence report that made no mention of his leadership posts or the Tiananmen crackdown. Police tightened security around the square and confined several dissidents to their homes, apparently as a precaution aimed at preventing mass protests similar to those triggered in 1976 and 1989 by the deaths of other popular party leaders. No public displays of mourning were immediately visible. Zhao's name and image have been banned from state media since his purge from the leadership, and many students in universities today -- a generation that came of age in an era of sustained economic growth and political stability -- know little about him.
TAIWAN
Taiwan's president Chen Shui-bian has named a senior member of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Frank Hsieh, as the island's new prime minister. The appointment came a day after the cabinet resigned in the wake of the DPP's disappointing results in legislative elections held in December of last year. Mr. Hsieh will face a tough task trying to push through government policy in the opposition-controlled legislature. He said his new cabinet would focus on seeking political and social stability and better cross-strait relations with the Chinese mainland. He also promised a stable investment environment. After consulting with the president, the prime minister will announce a new cabinet before the new legislature convenes on 1 February. Analysts believe it will only be a partial reshuffle, with many key ministers, including those responsible for defense, foreign affairs and relations with China, likely to retain their posts. The main opposition nationalist or KMT party had nominated its own candidate for prime minister, saying that its legislative majority should be reflected in the make-up of the new cabinet.
INDIA
Normal life has come to a standstill in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh due to a strike by the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The strike has been called to protest the killing of a senior TDP leader, Paritala Ravi, who died in a bomb blast at his office. Incidents of violence and arson have been reported from different parts of the state following the killing. The state capital Hyderabad and several other major cities were all affected. Police say that Mr. Ravi was killed with one of his acquaintances, Eshwaraiah, at a district office of the TDP. It also said that it would ask the federal government's Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate Mr. Ravi's death. The TDP-led strike has been supported by its ally, the right wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu has blamed the state's governing Congress party and police for the attack which took place in the district of Anantapur, where a curfew has been imposed. Police dismissed Mr. Naidu's allegations, insisting that there was no lapse in his security arrangements and no question of them not making every effort to catch the perpetrators. The TDP has also demanded the dismissal of the state's government. Mr. Ravi, a controversial figure and a former Maoist rebel, was facing several criminal cases.
KENYA
Companies in Kenya say corruption is still the biggest obstacle to doing business in the country, according to a new survey involving the World Bank. When the government of President Mwai Kibaki came to power two years ago it launched an anti-graft crusade. The country still regularly ranks as one of the most corrupt in the world. The new report shows that firms pay, or are regularly asked to pay, bribes to judges and officials. President Kibaki's crackdown on corruption was his flagship policy. It was hugely popular with the public. Ordinary Kenyans were fed up with having to pay bribes for simple bureaucratic tasks such as the issuing of birth certificates or vehicle licenses. Since then, scandals involving senior government figures have rather taken the gloss off the anti-corruption drive. But this latest survey by the World Bank and the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research shows that graft still oils the wheels of business in Kenya. Half of the firms surveyed said they had been asked for a bribe in the past year. Many also admitted to paying MPs, senior bureaucrats and judges in order to influence policy or to sway the result of a legal case. Despite the government's public declarations, the majority of companies also said that gifts or informal payments were expected to secure a government contract. Gladwell Otieno, the head of Transparency International in Kenya, said the public was increasingly disgusted by the government's broken promises.
SWAZILAND
Swaziland's main trade union has begun a two-day general strike to press for democratic reforms. Union leader Jan Sithole said that roadblocks mounted by the security forces had stopped people from joining the protests in the capital, Mbabane. The unions say a draft constitution being debated by parliament entrenches the power of the monarchy. Swaziland is Africa's last remaining absolute monarchy and political parties are banned. King Mswati III, 36, is often criticized for having 11 wives and his lavish spending, while most Swazis live in poverty and more than 30% are HIV positive. The government says that most Swazis prefer a traditional form of government. But Mr. Sithole said the new constitution should guarantee the separation of powers between various branches of government. The union was also fighting for women's rights and more respect for human rights in general. He hoped the king would now not give the new constitution his ascent and would remember his vow to be ruled by his subjects.
Founded in February 2003, the IMPD is an international coalition of parliamentarians dedicated to the defense and promotion of democracy around the world. Affiliated with the World Movement for Democracy, its current membership is 227 parliamentarians from 33 countries.
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