Thu 25 Feb 2010
The main opposition party in Albania, the Socialist Party (SPA), has announced it will end a six-month Parliamentary boycott today (25 February). The Socialists started their boycott over what they say was fraud in the general elections held on 28 June, which were narrowly won by the centre-right Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Socialist leader and mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama, said the return to Parliament will be, however, temporarily.
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Tue 23 Feb 2010
A new left-wing party in Russia, the United Russian Labor Front (ROTF), held its founding congress today (22 February). Party officials said they plan to adopt a charter and a program, to create party chapters in Russian regions, and to elect party leaders. The party's co-chairman and main candidate to be leader of the ROTF, Sergei Udaltsov, said the party's top priority is to become an officially registered, full-fledged ‘leftist’ political party. He told reporters that 230 representatives from 70 Russian regions were attending the congress. Local opposition media reported that among the attendants were also representatives from civil organizations, and other leftist political parties.
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Mon 22 Feb 2010
Last week boiling tensions between Turkey's government and judicial elite erupted into and open confrontation over the handling of a probe into an alleged plot to overthrow the Islamist-rooted government. Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on 18 February that the decision made a day earlier by the Higher Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) to remove prosecutors from the long-running inquiry was a "heavy blow" against justice and "a shame for democracy." "The functioning of independent justice has been prevented. How can prosecutors now carry out probes freely, without fear?" he said. This weekend, however, Arinc said there was “no conflict between the government and the HSYK” .
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Thu 18 Feb 2010
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Following the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which the Socialist Party of Albania (SPA) has welcomed and supported, the President of the Republic, Bamir Topi, convened around the negotiating table with Edi Rama, the leader of the Sociliast opposition and Sali Berisha, Prime Minister and Chairman of the Democratic Party.
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Wed 17 Feb 2010
Belarusian riot police on Monday (15 February) arrested the leader of the Ivyanets branch of the Union of Poles in Belarus, Angelika Borys, along with around 40 other activists on their way to a rally in Valozhyn, in the west of the country. The sweep follows a raid on the union's headquarters in Grodno last week. The crackdown is part of the ongoing spat between Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and the Union of Poles.
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Mon 15 Feb 2010
Ukraine's Victor Yanukovych has been officially declared President-elect but his rival, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, said she does not regard him as legitimately-elected and vowed to contest the result in court -- a stance that spells a period of huge uncertainty for the country. She has refused to step down voluntarily as Prime Minister and it seems likely she will be still in the job at the end of February when Yanukovych is expected to be inaugurated. Yanukovych himself will have to feel his way forward very cautiously since his victory over her was only by a narrow margin of 3.5 percentage points, or 888,000 ballots.. He had overall less than 50 per cent of the country's vote. International powers, including the EU, have called the election free and fair.
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Mon 15 Feb 2010
Last week the European Parliament (EP) has given a positive overall verdict to Croatia and Macedonia for their efforts in the EU accession process last year. The Parliament resolution on Macedonia was drafted by Slovenian MEP Zoran Thaler and adopted by 548 votes to 45, with 35 abstentions on 10 February. The parliament asked the European Council to confirm, at its March 2010 meeting, that it accepts the Commission recommendation that accession negotiations with Macedonia be opened. Macedonia was expecting to acquire a start date for its negotiations with the EU at the December 2009 Council meeting, but Athens blocked the move because of its unresolved name row with Skopje over the use of the name Macedonia. Athens insists that Skopje’s formal name, Republic of Macedonia, implies territorial claims against its own northern province with the same name.
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Thu 11 Feb 2010
Yesterday late (10 February) the Parliament of Bosnia's Serb dominated entity, Republika Srpska, adopted a controversial law that will make it easier to hold referendums on divisive issues such as the legitimacy of the Dayton peace accords that ended the 1992-95 war. The law has been described by the international community as provocative and potentially unconstitutional. Although the law only regulates technical issues, such as the manner in which a referendum can be called and voting procedures, it immediately provoked strong reactions from Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) leaders, who said it was setting the ground for Republika Srpska’s secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
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Mon 8 Feb 2010
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Ukrainian opposition Party of Regions leader, Victor Yanukovych, won the Presidential run-off held on 7 February by a marge of merely 3.48%, as was officialy announced by the Ukrainian Central Election Commission (CEC) on 10 February. He already claimed victory two days earlier and now told his bitter rival Yulia Tymoshenko to resign as Prime Minister and go into opposition. But Tymoshenko refused to concede accusing Yanukovych of vote-rigging. With 100% of the votes counted, Yanukovych won 48.95% of the votes, while Tymoshenko gained 45.47%. 4.36% voted against both candidates. The voter turn-out was set at 69.07%. The CEC stated that official results will be released before 17 February.
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Fri 5 Feb 2010
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Amid a decisive Presidential run-off vote this Sunday (7 February) Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has called for a second “Orange Revolution” if her opponent, the pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych, rigs the poll that is almost certain to have a lasting impact on the country.
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Wed 3 Feb 2010
Amid a hotly anticipated election campaign in Ukraine, the security services of Russia and Ukraine yesterday (2 February) traded espionage accusations. The spy scandal has escalated just 5 days before Ukrainians will go to the polls on 7 February to choose their President in an election run-off – an election in which Russia is an issue.
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Tue 2 Feb 2010
In the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia twelve opposition parties, mainly with leftist or centrist ideologies, have formed a block yesterday (1 February) that aims to topple the government led by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his centre-right VMRO-DPMNE party. It is expected that the head of the main opposition Social Democrats party, Branko Crvenkovski, will have a central voice in the block. Currently, however, there is no official front man.
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Mon 1 Feb 2010
This weekend (Saturday 30 January) between 7,000 and 12,000 people held a rally in the Russian exclave Kaliningrad. The demonstration initially targeted local tax hikes but ended in calls for more democracy and for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to resign.
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Thu 28 Jan 2010
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Ukraine's Parliament yesterday (27 January) dismissed the Interior Minister, Yuri Lutsenko, a close ally of Presidential candidate and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
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Wed 27 Jan 2010
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled yesterday (26 January) that Turkey violated the regulation on freedom of speech, when it suspended five newspapers and sentenced a magazine editor to prison over an article criticizing prison brutality. The court awarded a total of more than 37,000 Euros to the 20 journalists who filed two cases against Turkey.
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