The worldwide elections calendar is entering the very busy month of May. Every corner of the globe is included. To give all participants their due, this post reports on elections in the first half of May. Details on elections occuring in the second half of the month – including updates from India - will be posted May 10.
First this month are general elections in Panama, May 5th. About 3 million Panamanians will be eligible to vote, 300,000 for the first time. There are, so far, eight candidates for the presidency. President Laurentino Cortizo is ineligible due to term limits. In addition district representatives, mayors and national deputies will be elected. There will be no second round.
Right-wing lawyer and former security minister José Raúl Mulino popped into the presidential race after former president Ricardo Martinelli was deemed disqualified due to a money laundering conviction. He participated virtually in the final TV debate of cycle from the Nicaraguan embassy, where he’s been hiding out. Sr. Mulino, of the Realizando Metas party, did not participate in the three TV debates but is viewed as a surrogate for Sr. Martinelli; same political party. Panama’s Supreme Court is attentively examining Sr. Mulino’s entry into the contest, noted news agency Prensa Latina (May 1). By convention, each candidate holds big outdoor rallies during the week before voting.
Most people in the world know the country for the Panama Canal, now having a bit of a problem with water. Inside the country the big stories are about the First Quantum Minerals copper mine, largest in Central America, and, naturally, corruption. The shift in presidential candidates was front page news.
Panama’s media sphere is modest; five significant newspapers, two TV channels and about two dozen radio stations. Newspapers La Prensa, La Estrella and El Siglo have extensive online offerings. Newsroom Panama is an English-language online news outlet.
Elections in Chad will be held the next day, May 6. For Chadians elections are a novel experience. In the Sahel region of Central African, the country was controlled by Idriss Deby, who took command via coup 30 years ago. On his assassination in 2021, his son, General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, took control via his own coup.
Election watchers are not expecting surprise decisions. Competing candidates have disappeared, so to speak. Ten were barred from the contest in a March ruling. In later February prominent candidate Yaya Dillo was killed in a shoot-out. Radio France International Africa correspondent Jean-Baptiste Placca described it all as a “depressing culture of death.”
News media has not been left out of the general’s plans. His entourage calls him “interim president.” In one telling campaign anecdote, he called on a reporter for a non-existent outlet, which was quickly registered later the same day by the regulator. Its owner, it turns out, is the presidential office communications officer, noted Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) (April 23).
The marathon parliamentary (Lok Sabha) elections in India continues. The third phase will take place May 7 in 12 states. The second phase (April 27) drew fewer voters than the first (April 19). The low turnout has been described, said Reuters (May 2), as “apathy among party workers and voters.” In the midst, PM Modi continues his fire and brimstone campaign appearances. Phase 4 voting commences May 13, phase 5 on May 20, phase 6 on May 25 with the climatic end on June 1.
North Macedonia’s presidential election second round fits into the month on May 8. Nationalist candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova won the first round (April 24) with 40.1% of the vote. Her VMRO-DPMNE party is considered pro-Russian, making fraught relations with the European Union (EU). Relations with the Bulgarian minority are also strained. Incumbent Social Democrat (SDSM) party president Stevo Pendarovski attracted just below 20%. Parliamentary elections will be held along side the presidential second round.
Landlocked North Macedonia sits among Greece, Serbia, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Albania. Once upon a time it was part of Yugoslavia. Independence was declared in 1991. From then it has been on a long journey to European Union membership. NATO membership came in 2019 and the name was officially changed to North Macedonia. EU accession talks continue. North Macedonia has a population of about 1.8 million. There are five major newspapers, one publishing in Albanian. Public broadcaster Macedonian Radio and Television was established in 1993. Privately-owned radio stations are mostly small and local.
The major North Macedonian political parties came together to pass an amendment to media law in February that allows government agencies to place advertising on radio and television stations, illegal since 2017. “It’s an attempt to return state advertising to the media before the elections,” said Association of Journalists of Macedonia president Mladen Čadikovski, quoted by Politico (April 23). “All that is carried out through a shortened procedure and by abusing the European flag.”
We will have a short breather, then, before presidential elections are held in Lithuania, May 12. President Gitanas Nauseda is running for re-election. Including Mr. Nauseda, there are eight candidates. If necessary a second round will be held May 26. Parliamentary elections will be held in October.
Lithuania’s news media is generally well-regarded. Public broadcaster LRT dominates listening and viewing though it is regularly criticized for political influence in its executive council. LRT offers three national TV channels and three national radio channels. Newspapers have shed readers in recent years with the global trend toward online news. Most have introduced paywalls. After LRT channels, private TV channels TV3 and LNK dominate. More than half Lithuanian radio stations are local operations. In the just-released (May 3) Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) 2024 World Press Freedom Index, Lithuania dropped to 13th in the world from 7th one year on.
The current election cycle has been described as “boring,” said Baltic News Network (BNN) (May 2). Certainly, candidates and their supporters have invested time and energy investigating their competitors, often published by online investigation portal Siena. “With an election looming, I tend to look critically at all investigations,” said Lithuanian Journalists Union chairman Dainius Radzevičius. “This one is not an exception, but this does not mean the findings of the platform are untrue or et cetera.” He also encouraged the public to take the last-minute investigations “with a grain of salt.”