LETTER N° 43

From 22 to 28 of October

22 Russian Federation (Kursk)		Gubernatorial election in Kursk. Neither of the two leading candidates - Communist Alexander Mikhailov and Vladimir Putin's envoy in the region, Viktor Surzhikov - managed to secure the 50% support needed for an outright win. A second-round vote will take place on November 5. Voter turn out around 41%.
22 Finland		National municipal elections. Results : Centre Party 23.9%; Social Democrats - SDP 23.0% ; National Coalition Party - NCP 20.9% Left Alliance 9.9%; Greens 7.7% ; Swedish People's Party 5.0% ; Christian League 4.3%; Others 5.5%.Voter turnout was at an all-time low of less than 56%.
22 France		Former interior minister Jean-Pierre Chevènement was elected deputy in the eastern town of Belfort recovering his seat in the National Assembly.
22 Russian Federation (Sakhalin)		Gubernatorial and Regional Duma elections. Results : Governor Igor Farkhutdinov was re-elected with 56.5% of the vote, compared with his chief rival the Mayor of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Fedor Sidorenko, who won only 21.4%. Farkhutdinov was supported in his re-election bid by the pro-Kremlin party Unity.
22 Ivory Coast		Presidential election - 1st round. Results : At first , Presidential elections are held. Then, Incumbent Robert Guéi declares himself the winner over his opponent Laurent Gbagbo, but following protests he flees the country on October 25 and the next day Gbagbo, who apparently won 59.3% of the votes in the election against 32.7% for Guéi, is sworn in as president. He names Affi N'Guessan as prime minister on October 27.
22 Vatican		National holiday : Installation Day of Pope John Paul II, 22 October 1978.
22 Central African Republic		Former prime minister (1993-95) Jean-Luc Mandaba dies.
23 Canada		Prime Minister Jean Chretien calls for a Nov. 27 general election , i.e two years ahead of scheduled.
23 Yugoslavia (Vojvodina)		New administration was elected in Vojvodina : the new president of the Assembly is Nenad Canak and the new chairman of the Executive Council is Djordje Djukic.
24 Egypt		Run-off elections for 121 of 150 seats contested in the first round of parliamentary polls last week. Only 30 candidates won outright in first-round polling in Alexandria, Beheira, Menoufiya, Ismailia, Suez, Port Said, Fayoum, Sohag and Qena governorates. President Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) won 20 seats and independents took nine, including two in Alexandria for candidates backed by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. The leftist opposition Tagammu Party won one seat. Other results were inconclusive. Candidates must get over 50 percent of all votes in the first stage to be elected outright. If none achieves this, the top two go forward to a run-off.
24 Yugoslavia (Serbia)		Milomir Minic is appointed prime minister with a transitional governement.
24 Zambia		National holiday : Independence Day (24 October 1964, from UK)
25 Canada		Saskatchewan, Municipal elections. Results : not available.
25 Kazakhstan		National holiday : Day of the Republic (25 October1990) (date on which it declared its sovereignty).
26 Austria		National holiday : National Day ( 26 October 1955) Austria was formally recognized by the Western powers in 1946, but because of Soviet disagreement with the West over reparations, the occupation continued. On May 15, 1955, a formal treaty between Great Britain, France, the United States, the USSR, and Austria restored full sovereignty to the country. The treaty prohibited the possession of major offensive weapons and required Austria to pay heavy reparations to the USSR. Austria proclaimed its perpetual neutrality. In 1955 it was admitted to the United Nations.
26 Japan		Hidenao Nakagawa, Japan's chief Cabinet secretary, he would submit his resignation over allegations that he had an extramarital affair.
26 Ivory Coast		New president Laurent Gbagbo sworn in .
26 Japan		Japan's parliament : the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and Hoshuto (New Conservative Party) succeeded in passing their controversial electoral reform bill. The new law gives voters a choice between individual candidates and parties when casting ballots for the 100 proportional representation seats in the 252-member Upper House.The bill also will reduce the number of upper house seats by 10, the first time that the number of seats in the upper chamber has been reduced. In the next upper house election, 121 seats will be contested, comprising 48 seats under proportional representation and 73 under the constituency system. The number of seats elected under the proportional representation system will be reduced from100 to 96.
27 Turkmenistan		National holiday : Independence Day (27 October 1991, from the Soviet Union). A referendum for independence from the Soviet Union was passed in Oct., 1991, and Turkmenistan became a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Dec.,1991. Saparmurad Niyazov (elected Oct., 1990) became president and has become the object of a persuasive personality cult.
27 St Vincent and the Grenadines		Arnhim Eustace is sworn in as prime minister.
27 St Vincent and the Grenadines		National holiday : Independence Day (27 October 1979, from UK). Saint Vincent was part of the British colony of the Windward Islands (1880&endash;1958) and of the West Indies Federation (1958&endash;62). In 1979 it gained full independence.
27 Chile		Municipal elections. Results : right-wing leader Joaquin Lavin, expected to win easily the election for mayor of the capital, Santiago.
27 Ivory Coast		Affi N'Guessan named prime minister.
27/30 Kiribati		31st Pacific Islands Forum, in Tarawa, Republic of Kiribati (Political & International Affairs Division). Forum of chiefs of states and heads of governments of South Pacific countries.
28 Kosovo		Kosovo, Municipal elections. Results : an independent Kosovo elections monitoring group, said Ibrahim Rugova's Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) won a controlling majority in the province's major cities. Rugova's party said it had won about 68 percent of the vote in Pristina and more than 50 percent in other key cities. Turnout was between 80% and 90%, but only 1,000 Serbs registered to vote.