electoral

Oct. 5 (UPI) — Syria is electing Parliament officials Sunday, paving the way toward a more democratic future after more than 50 years of dictatorship.

An electoral committee appointed by current president Ahmed al-Sharaa was in charge of developing regional groups comprised of local council members to facilitate the election process, the New York Times reported.

The votes will determine who makes up two thirds of the People’s Assembly, while al-Sharaa will choose 70 officials himself.

“As a transitional period, there is a difficulty to hold popular elections due to the loss of documents, and half of the population is outside of Syria, also without documents,” he said, per the BBC.

The election comes some 10 months after al-Sharaa unseated the former president, Bashar al-Assad, marking an end to a civil war that spanned 13 years.

In May, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Sharaa to lift previously imposed sanctions that had taken effect while Assad was helming the country.

An interim constitution guiding the five-year transition of government power was signed .

Sept. 29 (UPI) — Starting in October, Latin America will enter a decisive period with an intense calendar of presidential elections in a climate marked by polarization, institutional fatigue and economic pressure.

In that context, right-wing and center-right candidates who promote order, fiscal discipline and pro-investment policies appear to be gaining traction and could prevail or lead in first-round votes.

Still, the region remains volatile and cyclical — where the right governs without solving security or economic problems, voters may shift back to the center or left in the next cycle.

“The outcome of these elections will not only define the direction of each country’s economic and social policy, but also the region’s democratic stability and, most importantly, its international alignment, because the region is at a crossroads: whether it ultimately turns toward China or maintains its historic commitments with the United States,” said Guido Larson, an international analyst at the Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile.

Roberto Reyes, an analyst at the Universidad Gabriela Mistral in Chile, added: “The most likely scenario is that the region moves into a period of right-wing governments because of their message of fiscal discipline, security and economic pragmatism. These themes resonate strongly with voters tired of recurring crises.”

But this shift brings the challenge of balancing economic adjustments with social protection. Without a credible plan to ease economic pressure, Reyes said, even new conservative administrations will face the same fatigue they are trying to overcome.

The Real Instituto Elcano think tank, in a June analysis, highlighted three common features of this electoral cycle: fragmented opposition and governing coalitions, extreme polarization and the rise of “Trumpist” and “Bukelist” rhetoric.

The report warned that these dynamics point to minority governments and divided legislatures, making it harder to push through structural reforms and potentially fueling further institutional instability.

Bolivia will open the elections calendar. The country is headed for a presidential runoff Oct. 19, with two right-wing candidates ending 20 years of leftist governments. Center-right candidate Rodrigo Paz Pereira and right-wing candidate Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga will face off after a first round marked by high turnout.

On Nov. 16, Chile will hold a presidential election marked by sharp polarization, with Communist Party candidate Jeanette Jara and far-right contender José Antonio Kast vying for the top spot in polls.

The country faces challenges with crime, migration and economic growth, making calls for order and security dominant in the campaign. In that context, a shift to the right appears highly likely.

Honduras will hold its presidential election Nov. 30. Two candidates are seen as the main contenders: Salvador Nasralla, a reformist center-right leader, and Rixi Moncada, representing the ruling left.

As the date approaches, voters face deep uncertainty. Six polling firms have released contradictory results, fueling misinformation and sowing doubts among the electorate.

Costa Rica will hold presidential elections Feb. 1. Two candidates are seen as the main contenders: Álvaro Ramos Chaves and Natalia Díaz Quintana. Ramos, an economist and former head of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund, is running on a moderate centrist platform.

Díaz, a former presidential minister under President Rodrigo Chaves, represents a liberal center-right vision with a strong technical and business-oriented message and is expected to benefit from Chaves’ high popularity.

Peru faces a presidential race marked by heavy fragmentation and voter apathy, with elections set for April 12 alongside a return to a bicameral Congress. The process will bring an oversized ballot due to the proliferation of nearly 40 parties and thousands of candidates.

So far, 117 presidential tickets have been registered, pending ratification by the National Jury of Elections.

Recent polls show three right-wing candidates leading voter preferences, though none has more than 10% support: Lima Mayor Rafael López Aliaga, Keiko Fujimori and Mario Vizcarra. A significant share of voters say they plan to cast blank ballots or void their votes.

Colombia will hold its presidential election May 31. The main contenders come from three ideological blocs: right, center and left.

María Fernanda Cabal, a senator from the Democratic Center party, represents the right, aligned with former President Álvaro Uribe, with a strong message on security and free markets.

Sergio Fajardo, former governor of Antioquia, is running as a moderate centrist with an emphasis on education and fighting corruption.

Gustavo Bolívar, a former senator and figure in the Historic Pact coalition, seeks to continue President Gustavo Petro’s progressive project.

Police briefly detain some lawmakers at the demonstration, including opposition leader Rahul Gandhi.

India’s opposition parties have held a protest demanding the rollback of a revision of the voter list in the eastern state of Bihar, where elections are scheduled for its legislature in November.

Hundreds of lawmakers and supporters began Monday’s protest from parliament and were confronted by police who stopped them from marching towards the Election Commission office in the capital, New Delhi. Police briefly detained dozens of lawmakers, including the leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi.

“This fight is not political but for saving the constitution,” Gandhi, who is an MP from the Indian National Congress party, told reporters after being detained.

“The truth is before the entire country,” he added.

More than 200 people took part in the protest, according to police officials quoted by the NDTV channel.

India’s opposition accuses the Election Commission of rushing through a mammoth electoral roll revision in the eastern state of Bihar, saying the exercise could render vast numbers of citizens unable to vote.

Gandhi last week said the revision of electoral rolls in Bihar is an “institutionalised chori [theft] to deny the poor their right to vote”.

The revision of nearly 80 million voter registrations

The revision affecting nearly 80 million voters involves strict documentation requirements from citizens, triggering concerns it could lead to the exclusion of vulnerable groups, especially those who are unable to produce the paperwork required to prove their citizenship.

Some of the documents required include birth certificates, passports and matriculation records.

Critics and opposition leaders said they are hard to come by in Bihar, where the literacy rate is among the lowest in India. They said the exercise will impact minorities the most, including Muslims, and bar them from voting.

India does not have a unique national identity card. The widely used biometric-linked identity card, called Aadhaar, is not among the documents listed by the Election Commission as acceptable proof for the electoral roll revision.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called the opposition leaders’ protest a “well-thought-out strategy” to create a “state of anarchy”, the NDTV reported.

‘Intensive revision’ needed, Election Commission says

The election body has denied the voter disenfranchisement allegations and has promised to ensure that no eligible voter is “left behind”. It has also said the “intensive revision” is a routine update needed to avoid the “inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants”.

According to the commission, 49.6 million voters whose names were included in a similar exercise in 2003 are not required to submit any further documents. But that still leaves almost 30 million other voters potentially vulnerable. A similar roll revision of voters is scheduled to be replicated across the entire country of 1.4 billion people.

Bihar is a crucial election battleground where the BJP has only ever governed in a coalition. Election results there could likely impact the balance of power in India’s Parliament.

The BJP has backed the revision and said it is necessary to update new voters and delete the names of those who have either died or moved to other states.

It also claimed the exercise is essential to weed out undocumented Muslim immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. But many Indian citizens, most of them Muslims, have been arrested and even deported to Bangladesh as part of a campaign launched by the BJP.

Critics and opposition leaders have also warned that the exercise is similar to that of a 2019 citizenship list in eastern India’s Assam state, which left nearly 2 million people at risk of statelessness.

Many of those left off the final citizenship list were Muslims who were declared “foreigners”. Some faced long periods of detention.

Aug. 8 (UPI) — Less than three months before general elections, Honduras’ National Electoral Council, or CNE, faces unprecedented political, judicial and technical pressures that threaten to derail the process.

The council’s ability to ensure an orderly and reliable election has been called into question after a series of setbacks: a raid on its offices by the Public Ministry, delays in contracting the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System, or TREP, and errors in the voter registry.

CNE President Cossette López has denounced persistent interference and threats, while council member Ana Paola Hall submitted a conditional resignation over internal disputes.

Amid the crisis, the CNE reached an agreement Thursday after a two-week delay, resolving one of the main technical disputes — use of the TREP.

After intense negotiations, the CNE unanimously agreed to immediately and fully publish all tally sheets from the vote receiving boards on election night, followed the next day by a 100% visual verification in the presence of national and international observers.

This week, the National Democratic Institute’s Electoral Study and Accompaniment Mission visited Honduras. On Friday, it released a report warning about the negative impact of judicial intervention and interference by other institutions in electoral work, as well as the use of hate speech and attacks against journalists, social leaders and politicians — particularly those targeting politically active women, including CNE members and candidates at all levels of office.

The NDI identified five key challenges to ensuring election integrity: effective autonomy of electoral bodies, prevention of undue interference, reduction of polarization and premature fraud claims, prevention of electoral violence and easing tensions that affect civic space.

Among its recommendations, the NDI urged ensuring the independent participation of civil society and creating safe spaces for dialogue. It said Hondurans deserve credible, peaceful and inclusive elections, which require political, institutional and technical conditions that guarantee certainty, transparency and respect for the will of the voters.

In a politically symbolic move, four of Honduras’ five leading presidential candidates signed a pact Tuesday, Aug. 4, titled “Honduras First: A Promise That Is Demanded, a Duty That Is Fulfilled,” promoted by the National Anti-Corruption Council.

The public pledge — focused on fighting corruption and impunity and promoting integrity in governance — calls for, among other measures, creating an international commission against corruption and impunity, reactivating the extradition treaty with the United States, establishing a national public integrity system and implementing a nationwide transparency and anti-corruption strategy with an interagency approach.

Signatories included Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, Nasry Asfura of the National Party, Mario Rivera of the Christian Democratic Party and Nelson Ávila of PINU-SD. Rixi Moncada, the ruling party’s candidate and former finance minister under President Xiomara Castro, did not attend the signing.

Japan’s Sanseito party wins big with ‘Japanese First’ push and anti-immigration rhetoric.

Japan’s far-right Sanseito party has emerged as a major winner in the country’s upper house election, riding a wave of nationalist rhetoric, anti-immigration warnings and populist pledges on tax cuts and social welfare.

Once seen as a fringe movement born on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sanseito was projected on Sunday by national broadcaster NHK to secure up to 22 seats in the 248-member chamber, dramatically expanding its presence beyond the single seat it held previously.

The party, which only holds three seats in the more powerful lower house, has broken into the political mainstream by capitalising on voter frustration over economic decline and rising living costs.

Sanseito leader Sohei Kamiya, a 47-year-old former English teacher and supermarket manager, has been at the forefront of this shift. He has stirred controversy with conspiracy theories about vaccines and “globalist elites” and openly credits US President Donald Trump’s “bold political style” as inspiration.

According to an exit poll by local media, Japan’s governing coalition is likely to lose its majority in the upper house where it is forecast to secure 32 to 51 seats.

‘Japan First’ movement

In an interview with Nippon Television after the election, Kamiya defended his “Japanese First” slogan.

“The phrase was meant to express rebuilding Japanese people’s livelihoods by resisting globalism. I am not saying we should completely ban foreigners or that every foreigner should get out of Japan,” he said.

Despite his denial of xenophobia, Sanseito has built its platform on fears of a “silent invasion” by immigrants. Political analysts say this message resonates with many Japanese voters facing a stagnant economy and weakening yen, which has drawn record numbers of tourists and fuelled inflation.

Foreign residents in Japan reached a record 3.8 million last year, only about 3 percent of the population, but concerns about immigration remain present, even if not dominant.

NHK polling before the election showed just 7 percent of respondents cited immigration as their main concern. Far more voters expressed anxiety over the country’s declining birth rate and rising food prices, particularly rice, which has doubled in cost over the past year.

“The buzz around Sanseito, especially here in the United States, stems from its populist and anti-foreign message. But it’s also a reflection of the LDP’s [Liberal Democratic Party] weakness,” said Joshua Walker, president of the US-based Japan Society.

Still, right-wing populism remains a relatively new phenomenon in Japan. While Kamiya and his party draw comparisons with other far-right European groups such as Germany’s AfD and Reform UK, these ideologies have not yet gained the same level of traction in Japan as they have in the West.

June 27 (UPI) — Honduras is preparing for general elections on Nov. 30, 2025, amid a fragile democracy and ongoing internal conflict. Corruption, violence and impunity have eroded the country’s institutions and deepened public distrust in the electoral process.

The National Electoral Council, or CNE, is facing a crisis after chaotic primary elections in March involving the nation’s three major political parties. The vote was marred by severe logistical failures. In many polling stations, ballot boxes and voting materials arrived up to 12 hours late, and officials reported major problems with transporting supplies.

CNE President Cossete López testified before Congress that she could not “guarantee” a clean general election, prompting concerns about a possible postponement.

Although other CNE members later confirmed the vote would proceed as scheduled, internal divisions remain. The council’s three commissioners — each affiliated with a different political party — have publicly blamed one another for the breakdown in March.

The Center for the Study of Democracy, or CESPAD, has been strongly critical of the electoral process, citing weak institutions, low public confidence, and a lack of clear action to address failures from the March primaries. The group also pointed to legal loopholes that allow arbitrary decisions, ongoing political violence and clientelism, and a history of result manipulation.

“The country is at a critical juncture. Current conditions raise fears that the general elections will unfold amid distrust, institutional improvisation and potential political destabilization,” CESPAD said.

CESPAD said the electoral budget was approved late, jeopardizing key systems such as the Election Results Transmission System, or TREP, and external audits. It also warned that the CNE continues to struggle with internal partisan divisions, technical staff resignations and low public credibility.

A survey by the Reflection, Research and Communication Team, or ERIC-SJ, found that 62.5% of respondents said the March primaries weakened democracy, while 76.8% said they do not trust the CNE.

Civil society groups and election experts are urging immediate reforms to restore the credibility of the CNE and ensure a reliable election process in November. They cite poor coordination, undertrained personnel and political interference in technical decisions within the electoral authority. They are also calling for extensive national and international monitoring to promote transparency and reduce the risk of fraud.

The ERIC-SJ survey also revealed a shift in the political landscape. The opposition Liberal Party now leads, with 39% of respondents saying they expect it to win, compared to 25.6% for Libre, the ruling party, and 23.2% for the National Party.

The change is attributed to growing dissatisfaction with President Xiomara Castro’s administration, which has weakened the candidacy of her ally, Rixi Moncada. At the same time, Liberal candidate Salvador Nasralla — a well-known television host running on an anti-corruption platform — has gained momentum.

Nasralla is attracting protest votes from Hondurans frustrated with the ruling party, while the National Party is working to rebuild support with candidate Nasry Asfura — despite lasting fallout from corruption scandals involving former President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving a 45-year prison sentence in the United States for drug trafficking.

Beyond individual candidates, political skepticism remains deep. Only 1 in 10 Hondurans believes elections are fair, and just 10% trust the National Congress or political parties.

Still, voter turnout is expected to remain high. Eight in 10 respondents said they plan to vote in November.

President Castro enters the election season with falling approval ratings. Her administration earned an average score of 4.13 out of 10 — the lowest since she took office in 2022. Nearly 40% of Hondurans say the country is worse off than before her presidency.

Hondurans identify the government’s main failures as the ongoing economic crisis (28.8%), unemployment (17.9%), broken promises (16.1%) and insecurity (13.2%). Although President Castro points to achievements like a historic drop in homicides, her security strategy — based on emergency measures modeled after El Salvador’s approach — has drawn criticism from international human rights groups.

The international community, including the Organization of American States, the European Union and the United Nations, along with local organizations such as CESPAD and ERIC-SJ, have issued urgent calls for electoral reforms and technical protocols as a prerequisite for credible elections. The key question now is not only whether the vote will happen, but under what conditions.

Despite the tensions, there is broad consensus that the elections must be held on schedule. Canceling or postponing the vote is widely viewed as a step that could spark a deeper institutional crisis.