LETTER N° 25

From 18 to 24 of June

18 Romania		Local elections - 2nd round., Transport minister from the Democratic Party, Traian Basescu, beat rival Sorin Oprescu of the Party of Social Democracy by 50.69 % to 49.31 %. Voter turnout was low in the 2,244 municipalities.
18 Azerbaijan (Nagorno-Karabakh)		Nagorno-Karabakh: Legislative elections. 33 deputies, all of whom were elected in single-mandate constituencies. 13 represent the Democratic Artsakh party, which supports the leadership of President Arkadii Ghukasian, Nine are from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation--Dashnaktsutiun, one belongs to the center-right Armenakan party, and the remainder are independents, most of whom support Ghukasian.
19 Japan	Not available	Former prime minister (1987-89) Noboru Takeshita dies.
19 Jordan		Ali Abu al-Ragheb becomes prime minister.
19/20 Portugal		European Summit in Santa Maria da Feira, Northern Portugal. Topic at issue : a new initiative for Defence and Security, and debate about sanctions to Austria.
22 United Kingdom (England)		Parliamentary by-election in Tottenham. Labour's 27-year-old David Lammy, a black barrister, is celebrating becoming the youngest MP in the House of Commons by winning the Tottenham by-election. He took 53% of the vote.
22 Syria		Syrians will vote for a new president almost sure to be the son of the late President Hafez Assad - as early as the first week of July, the country's parliament speaker announced.
22 Haiti		The Caribbean Community is to send a second mission to Haiti to overlook second round of election, amid growing post-election tension and controversy over the vote-counting process that has favoured the Lavalas party of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide in the 1st round.
22/23 Venezuela		The Venezuelian authorities have announced that general elections, postponed because of technical problems, will now take place on July 30. And the Legislative Commission also approved date Oct. 1 for election of regional and local councils.
23 Fiji		Rebels who have been holding more than 30 hostages over a month have reached an agreement to form a government with the nation's ruling military also paving the way for the release of Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry. The military will set up an interim government to rule the country for 30 days while the Council of Chiefs decides on the composition of an interim government. This interim government is to run the country for a maximum of three years, until a new constitution has been drafted and approved and general elections are called.
24/25 Zimbabwe		Parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe to be held this weekend. Zimbabwe has accredited a delegation of U.S. officials to monitor these parliamentary elections on Saturday and Sunday,
25 Japan		Parliamentary elections.