2002

LETTER N° 09

From 01 to 15 Mach

01 United States		Former Florida governor (1961-65) Farris Bryant dies. Profile : A native of Marion County, Farris Bryant studied accounting and law at the University of Florida and Harvard Law School. In 1946 he won his first term in the Florida legislature as a representative from Marion County and went on to serve five terms in the legislature, including one term in 1953 as Speaker of the House. He was elected governor in the fall of 1960 and continued the educational emphases of his predecessor, LeRoy Collins. More than one billion dollars was raised to construct new buildings on college campuses across the state. In addition, the Bryant administration promoted water control projects, such as the Cross Florida Barge Canal, and acquired land for conservation and recreation purposes. Bryant was appointed to the National Security Council and the Office of Emergency Planning by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 1970 but was defeated in the runoff election for the Democratic nomination. He returned to his law practice in Jacksonville and served on the boards of directors of a number of major corporations.
02 Republic of Abkhazia		Parliamentary elections. Voters in the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia elected 30 people to the separatist parliament in balloting that Georgia's government and foreign countries refuse to recognize, officials. Turnout in the elections in the Black Sea region reached 61.2 percent, said the chairman of Abkhazia's election commission, Sergei Smeyr. He said there was a winner in 30 of 35 districts. One district had not yet reported results and the other four would have to hold new elections, he said, without explaining why. International organizations did not recognize the Abkhazian vote or previous elections held by separatist leaders.
02 New Orleans (United States)		Mayoral runoff election. Cable television executive Ray Nagin was elected mayor of New Orleans by a hefty margin in a runoff vote against city police chief Richard Pennington. Profile : Ray Nagin is a native of New Orleans and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting at Tuskegee University in 1978. In May 1994, he earned a Masters of Business Administration from Tulane University. He is also a Certified Public Accountant. A dedicated professional in the New Orleans community, Ray Nagin has served as a board member for United Way and Covenant House and he was also a three time Chairman for the United Negro College Fund Walkathon fund-raising campaign. Nagin is currently the Vice President/General Manager of Cox Communications which services Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and St. Charles parishes. Mr. Nagin is married with three children and resides in Orleans Parish.
02 India		Jayaram Jayalalitha is sworn in again as chief minister of Tamil Nadu. In Uttaranchal, Narain Dutt Tiwari is sworn in as chief minister.
03 Nicaragua		Regional assembly elections in the autonomous northern and southern Caribbean regions. The CSE president, Roberto Rivas, said yesterday the CSE was not responsible for abstentionism in the Caribbean , but rather due to some deeper reason which the legislators ought to analyze.According to the officer,his results show a turnout of 47%. Roberto Rivas, alleged we could expect a list of the elected candidates before April 13, a date when according the electoral calendar such a proclamation usually takes place.
03 Bayern (Germany)		Bavarians Vote in Local Elections. Bavarians voted in local elections that were considered a test of strength for opposition chancellor candidate and state governor Edmund Stoiber, whose ultraconservative party dominates political life in the region. Munich mayor Christian Ude, a Social Democrat, overwhelmingly won re-election in the state capital, getting nearly 65 percent of the vote compared to 29 percent for CSU challenger Hans Podiuk. The Bavarian metropolis often bucks the state's overall conservative tradition.
03 São Tomé and Principe		Legislative elections. Provisional results from legislative polls indicate that no single party won an absolute majority - 28 of country's 55 parliamentary seats-, humanitarian sources told IRIN. Final results are expected in two weeks. The Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe party, (MLSTP), and the coalition made up of the Democratic Movement Force for Change and the Party of Democratic Convergence, (MDFM/MPCD), each won 23 seats, while Ue-Kedadji, an alliance of five minority parties, won nine seats.
03 Switzerland		Referendum. Swiss voters approved joining the United Nations, finding the prospect of a greater role in today's interlinked world more compelling than fears that it would threaten the nation's centuries-old tradition of neutrality. During the Cold War, Switzerland feared U.N. membership would sweep it into the battles between East and West. More recently, opponents have feared having to submit to the political dictates of the Security Council. The popular vote gave the bid for U.N. membership a comfortable 55-45 percent approval, but the crucial second hurdle - approval by at least half the country's cantons, or states - received a much narrower 12-11 result.
04 Haiti		President Jean-Bertrand Aristide designates Senate President Yvon Neptune as prime minister. Naturalized American citizen, Yvon Neptune, born 8 November 1946, a senator from Haiti's Western province and a former spokesman for Aristide's Lavalas Family party, will fill the vacancy that has existed since Prime Minister Jean Marie Cherestal resigned Jan. 21.
04 Kosovo (Yugoslavia)		The Kosovo parliament elects Ibrahim Rugova as president. Bajram Rexhepi is appointed prime minister. Rexhepi, 47, was a field doctor for the Kosovo Liberation Army, the group that fought Milosevic's Serb forces during the war.
05 Australia		Mike Rann (Labor) is sworn in as premier of South Australia. Profile : Education - BA University of Auckland; MA (Hons) (Political Studies) University of Auckland. Prior Occupation - Principal Press Secretary to the Premier of SA. Career - Public Works Standing Committee ; Parliamentary Representative to Council of SA Institute of Technology ; Parliamentary Lands Committee ; Parliamentary Representative to Council of University of South Australia.
05 Croatia		An agreement of the coalition leaders provides that most of the ministers who resigned on February 27, including Defense Minister Jozo Rados, are retained in the cabinet.
06 Netherlands		Municipal elections. Pim Fortuyn, once dismissed for his flashy populist style and extreme anti-immigrant views, appeared Thursday to be storming toward the national platform after a landslide victory in local elections. In municipal vote, Fortuyn's new far-right party swept 35 percent of the vote in Rotterdam, the country's second largest city. Across the Netherlands, in dozens of the 458 municipalities where elections were held, local parties affiliated to the party Fortuyn helped found then left, Leefbaar Nederland, carved inroads into town councils. The Leefbaar parties won 333 seats out of 9,000 that were up for election. "Leefbaar" roughly translates to "livable." The three national parties of Prime Minister Wim Kok's coalition were the big losers, shedding 12 percent of their seats nationwide. Local elections have often proven to be a reliable barometer for parliamentary elections, scheduled this year for May 15. Fortuyn is now projected to win 18 of 150 seats in the legislature, enough to be a serious contender or kingmaker.
06-07 Tonga		Legislative Assembly election. Tonga's Human Rights and Democracy Movement says its members have taken seven of the nine seats open to commoners, with leader Akilisi Pohiva once again getting more votes than any other candidate.
07 Canada		James K. Bartleman takes office as lieutenant governor of Ontario. Profile : Born in Orillia, Ontario, and received his elementary and secondary education in Port Carling, Muskoka. He earned a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History from the University of Western Ontario in 1963. From 1981-83, he was Ambassador to Cuba. From 1986-90, he was Ambassador to Israel. In 1990, he served in Brussels as Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the Canadian Joint Delegation to the North Atlantic Council. From 1994-98, he was Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister and Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet for Foreign and Defence Policy. From 1998-99, Mr. Bartleman was High Commissioner to South Africa. From 1999-2000 he was High Commissioner to Australia. Mr. Bartleman is married to Marie-Jeanne Bartleman and they have three children.
07 Manipur (India)		Okram Ibobi Singh is sworn in as chief minister of Manipur.
09-10 Zimbabwe		Presidential election. In presidential elections, incumbent Robert Mugabe is reelected, according to official figures, with 56% of the votes against 42% for Morgan Tsvangirai.
10 Togo		Parliamentary elections. Legislative election beforehand postponed again. A failed new electoral appointment.
10 Colombia		Congressional elections. Results : Percentage - Senators Partido Liberal Colombiano 29.57 % - 29 ; Partido Conservador Colombiano 9.66 % - 13 ; Movimiento Nacional Conservador 4.61 % - 6 ; Movimiento Equipo Colombia 3.17 % - 3 ; Movimiento Integration Popular 2.90 % - 4 ; Movimiento Colombia Siempre 2.80 % - 2 ; Movimiento Cambio Radical 2.45 % - 2 ; Otros Partidos o Movimientos 2.34 % - 2 ; Movimiento Popular Unido 1.90 % - 2 ; Movimiento Renovator Accion Laboral 1.63 % - 2 ; Movimiento frente Social y Politico 1.41 % - 1 ; Movimiento Nueva Fuerza Democrática 1.35 % - 1 ; Alianza Nacional Popular 1.31 % - 1 ; Movimiento Alianza Social Indígena 1.13 % - 1 ; Partido Socialdemócrata Colombiano 1.11 % - 1 ; Movimiento Fuerza Progresista 1.02 % - 1 ; Movimiento Convergencia Ciudadana 1.00 % - 1 ; Movimiento Nuevo Liberalismo 0.98 % - 1 ; Movimiento Convergencia Popular Cívica 0.94 % - 1 ; Movimiento Unionista 0.91 % - 1 ; Coalicion 0.91 % - 1 ; Movimiento Independente Renovacion Aboluta 0.89 % - 1 ; Movimiento Nacional Progresista 0.87 % - 1.
10 Congo-Brazzaville		Presidential election. Although final results are not due to be announced until the evening of the ROC's Commission nationale d'organisation des elections (CONEL) said on Tuesday evening that with close to over 60 percent of votes counted, some 92 percent were in favour of Sassou-Nguesso. None of his six opponents, meanwhile, had garnered more than three percent, according to CONEL. Sassou-Nguesso, 59, first seized power in a 1979 military coup. Following his defeat to Lissouba in 1992, he again seized power in October 1997, in advance of elections in which he was due to oppose Lissouba. Sassou-Nguesso, in turn, faced a rebellion launched by militias loyal to Lissouba and Kolelas in 1998. Civil war displaced up to one-third of ROC's 3.1 million residents and left some 10,000 dead. Cease-fire agreements were signed by all sides at the end of 1999. The ROC, an oil-rich country bordering the much larger Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a former French colony that gained independence in 1960.
12 Cyprus		Former president (1977-88) Spyros Kyprianou dies. Profile : Kyprianou was born in Limassol, a port and commercial center and the second-largest town in Cyprus, one of nine children of a prosperous businessman. He studied economics and commerce at the City of London College and law at Gray's Inn before returning to Cyprus, where he became the protege of the island's first post-independence president, Archbishop Makarios. Makarios chose the 28-year-old former law student as foreign minister when the island gained independence from Britain in 1960. But Kyprianou was forced to resign in 1972 after a disagreement with the then-ruling Greek junta. In 1976 elections, Kyprianou became president of the Cypriot parliament, and when Makarios died in 1977, he was elected to serve the last few months of the archbishop's five-year presidential term. Kyprianou was reelected unopposed in January 1978. In June 1979, Kyprianou and Denktash agreed on a 10-point agenda for a peace settlement based on Cyprus' becoming a two-zone federal state. But talks to negotiate the details broke down. Kyprianou was reelected to another five-year term in February 1983. Kyprianou and Denktash met in January 1985, but no progress was made, and three years later Kyprianou lost in presidential elections. Kyprianou is survived by his wife and two sons.
15 Bosnia and Hercegovina		Dragan Mikerevic is elected as prime minister. Serbian politician Dragan Mikerevic was elected Bosnia-Hercegovina's prime minister, a portfolio which rotates every eight months. Mikerevic, who replaces Muslim Zlatko Lagumdzija, was elected by the central Bosnian parliament with 25 votes to eight. Six abstentions were noted. Mikerevic said he would not alter the make-up of the government following his election. The Serb, from the Party for Democratic Progress (PDP) was the European integration minister before being elected prime minster. The multi-ethnic government, which represents both the Croat-Muslim Federation and the Serb Republika Srpska, was set up in February last year.