Longtime Leader Re-Elected in Uganda

The African nation of Uganda held its presidential election last Thursday, February 23, and the winner was Yoweri Museveni, the current president and leader of Uganda for the past 20 years. He was re-elected in a landslide with 59% of the vote. The runner-up, Dr. Kiiza Besigye, who finished with 37%, plans on contesting the results because he claims that widespread fraud played a role in his defeat. International observers say that for the most part the election was run fairly and with such a wide margin to overcome, it seems unlikely the results will be overturned. Mr. Museveni is a member of the party known as the National Resistance Movement and his work in office has been hailed by world leaders. Hopefully he doesn't get too comfortable being president because 20 years is a long time to be in power and he might be tempted to stay for life.

Close Race in Cape Verde

In another close presidential race held on February 12, the small African nation of Cape Verde ended with President Pedro Pires winning re-election by a vote of 50.1% to 49% for his opponent, Carlos Veiga. Mr. Pires had a close race with Mr. Veiga in 2001 as well, defeating him by a mere 12 votes. This time the margin is about 3,000 votes, so it's likely the results will stand. Mr. Pires is a member of the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde, a social-democratic political party. As in many Third World countries across the globe, the two issues that stood out in the election were economic development and poverty.

I know some of you must have never even heard of Cape Verde and so you're probably wondering why I'm posting its election results, but in my blog, the elections of every democratic country will be included. Besides, you never know, you could be playing for major money on a quiz show someday and if the question, "Who is the president of Cape Verde?" pops up, then you can answer, "Pedro Pires!"

Preval Wins Haiti Presidential Election

Rene Preval was declared the winner of the Haiti presidential election last week. The election was held on February 7 and after a long and controversial counting process, Mr. Preval won with about 51% of the vote, thus avoiding a run-off. Haiti has been plagued by military coups and it is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, so hopefully the election of Mr. Preval will bring the country into a brighter future. Mr. Preval also served as president of the country from 1996 to 2001, stepping down due to term limits. He ran as a member of the "Lespwa" coalition, which in English means hope.

Blogging from Northern CA

Just thought I'd mention that I'm blogging in Northern California, specifically Dublin, CA, and I'm here in my relatives house thinking what are the hot races around here. Well, the city I'm staying in, Dublin, is located in the 11th Congressional district. This is a possible battleground because the incumbent, Rep. Richard Pombo, has ties with the Abramoff scandal. I'm going to give more info on this race in the near future but just know it's a race that could swing Congress either way, depending on how well the Democrats do nationwide.

Dublin is part of the general Bay Area region, meaning that it's not too far away from the 6th Congressional District, where the incumbent and progressive Rep. Lynn Woolsey is facing a primary challenge from the more moderate state Rep. Joe Nation. Ms. Woolsey has a strong progressive record, and this record matches the progressive nature of this district quite well. Also, scandal free incumbents are always difficult to defeat, so unless Mr. Nation walks to every single house in the district, I don't expect any change in this seat. There are of course those seeking to get to Sacramento through statewide and legislative races, with the key race being the battle for governor. Those are pretty much the major races up here, so I'll be back in Southern Cal soon reporting on other races across the nation.

Ohio: Paul Hackett Drops Out of Senate Race

In one of the key Senate races in the nation, Paul Hackett, the Iraq War veteran running for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, dropped out of the race today. It's reported that Democratic Party leaders pushed him to drop his bid, urging him instead to run for the Ohio 2nd congressional district he contested so well last year. However, Mr. Hackett has decided to drop out of politics altogether, disgusted with the treatment he received from party leaders. It's too bad Mr. Hackett is dropping out of this race. Even though Mr. Hackett had the habit of making over the top statements, it would have been nice to see someone of his character make it to the Senate. The Senate is usually filled with millionaires and career politicians, but Mr. Hackett's neophyte political background and straight forward style would have brought a breath of fresh air.

With Mr. Hackett dropping out, it paves the way for a general election match-up between Democrat Rep. Sherrod Brown and Republican Senator Mike DeWine. The battle for this seat is considered one of the key Senate races in the country because of its potential competitiveness and low poll ratings of Mr. DeWine. In 2004, President Bush's narrow victory in Ohio clinched his bid for re-election. So in 2006, with the Democrats needing only 6 seats to retake the Senate, the Ohio Senate race might be the one that clinches their takeover.

Close Race in Costa Rica

The presidential election in Costa Rica last Sunday, February 5th, is too close to call at this point. The latest tally shows former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Oscar Arias, with 40.5% of the vote, and his opponent, Otton Solis, with 40.2% of the vote. This election reminds me of the 2000 U.S. presidential election, and we all know how that turned out. It would be strange to watch Costa Rica go through a string of recounts and court battles. But hopefully the country will remain peaceful and accept the final results. The nation as been plagued by scandal in recent years, so even though the new leader won't have a strong mandate to govern, at least he can try and bring the country together.

Also, the results will have big ramifications for the rest of the region as Costa Rica is the only nation that has not ratified the trade agreement known as CAFTA. This treaty is a free trade agreement between the United States and Central America. Mr. Arias has said that he supports the trade agreement, and Mr. Solis supports the plan on the condition that it gets amended.

Mr. Arias is a member of the more established National Liberation Party and Mr. Solis is a member of the Citizen's Action Party, which encourages citizen participation and involvement in politics, something I like very much. The final results of the election will not be known until next week, so stay tuned.

2006 U.S. Elections: Congress

It looks like there will be a good number of competitive races this year in Congress. With scandals plaguing the Republicans and the president's approval ratings remaining at low levels, it seems unlikely that they will increase their representation in Congress. Instead, it looks like it will be a good year for the Democrats. The Democrats need 15 seats to take over the House, and 6 seats to take over the Senate. It will probably be an uphill battle for the Democrats to win control of both houses of Congress though, seeing as how they are defending more Senate seats and facing the fact that the incumbent friendly House districts limit the competitive playing field. But a really strong Democratic tide come election day in November might put more House seats into play than expected, and it might allow Democrats to take over the Senate as well. However, even though things look good for the Democrats right now, November is still a long way off and my experience in politics tells me that anything can happen until then. I will also be looking at key races across the country as the weeks go by, so keep an eye out for that.

Upset in Republican Majority Leader Election

The election for a new majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives was held today, as many pundits viewed it as being one of the first key races of the year. The election was won by Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as he upset the front-runner, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, in the second round of voting by a vote of 122 to 109. The election for a new majority leader is voted on not by regular citizens, but by congressmen of the majority party, which in this case was the Republicans. The new leader is taking the place of former majority leader Rep. Tom DeLay, who has been plagued by scandal in recent months. I thought an upset might have been possible, but I also thought Rep. Roy Blunt would win in the end seeing as how he's the current majority whip, the third highest leadership position in the House. I suppose there was enough support among Republicans for change, as the series of scandals in Washington have really hurt the Republicans image.

I wish we could see how each congressman voted, but unfortunately these races are done by secret ballot. In terms of the vote totals, Blunt came out strong in the first round with a total of 110 votes to Boehner's 79 and Shadegg's 40, but that number was short of the necessary majority of 117 votes to win the election outright. Since Shadegg dropped out after the first round, it's likely that all of his supporters shifted to Boehner in the second round, ensuring the upset victory.
I read too that Boehner and Shadegg sat next to each other during Tuesday night's State of the Union address, which shows indication that they formed a coalition to defeat Blunt. I would have felt so bad if I were Mr. Blunt today. His 110 votes in the first round was just 7 short necessary for victory, and when it came to the second round, he couldn't find any more colleagues to support him, not anyone, and he even a lost a vote in the process! It's almost as if his momentum just crashed into an insurmountable mountain. This election reminded me of the Super Bowl where the player was tackled one yard short of a touchdown at the end of the game. In this case, it was a few votes short and the preventive tackle was made by the team of Boehner and Blunt. Anyway, Mr. Boehner faces an uphill battle in changing the image of his party and getting new legislation passed, but we'll see how he does.

Conan's Finland Stays Left

On Sunday, January 29, in a presidential election that received publicity from late night talk show host, Conan O'Brien, the left-leaning president Tarja Halonen was re-elected by winning the run-off election against her conservative opponent Sauli Niinisto, 52% to 48%. Conan gave special recognition to this election because the president, Halonen, has similar facial features with the late night talk show host. This fact was highlighted on several episodes through a variety of skits. Since the show is broadcast in Finland and seeing how close the results turned out, could it be possible that Conan got President Halonen re-elected?

The West Wing Election

I know it's a fictional race, but it's my favorite show and so I have to comment on it. Unfortunately, this election storyline will also be the last season for The West Wing. I had 7 wonderful years enjoying this political drama, but alas, all good things must come to an end. Anyway, in terms of the election, it is now neck and neck between Democratic Congressman Matt Santos of Texas and Republican Senator Arnold Vinick of California. The latest episode made this dramatically clear as the nuclear power plant crisis in California dropped Vinick's poll numbers. There was a great scene at the end where the Santos and Vinick teams looked at the electoral map and changed many of the red states (Republican) to too close to call. Now its time for them to get it on!