Politics this week: 2nd - 8th July 2005

Hamas, the Palestinians' main Islamist party, said no to an offer from Fatah, the secular-minded group that runs the Palestinian Authority, to join a unity government.

Two rebel groups from Darfur, Sudan's battered western province, signed a “declaration of principles” with Sudan's government to open the way to peace talks next month. But similar hopeful statements have led nowhere several times before.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a swing-voter in many of the Supreme Court's rulings since her appointment in 1981, announced her retirement. George Bush said he would take his time nominating her replacement, but conservative and liberal pressure groups began to churn out material denouncing candidates.

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Two top officials in Brazil's ruling Workers' Party stepped down over cash-for-votes allegations. In a bid to contain the damage, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made three ministerial changes, giving two extra portfolios to a centrist ally.

In Mexico, the formerly ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) won an election for governor of the state of Mexico, the country's most populous state. Opponents claimed the PRI broke campaign-spending limits.

Bolivia's Congress agreed constitutional amendments to allow an early general election in December, to be followed by a constituent assembly and a referendum on regional autonomy next year. The country's president resigned last month after weeks of protests led by radicals seeking the nationalisation of the country's oil and gas industry.

The German election campaign kicked off after Gerhard Schröder deliberately lost a vote of confidence in parliament, and his Social Democratic Party published its programme. The German president or the Constitutional Court could yet intervene, but the election looks likely to be held on September 18th.

Albania's general election passed off peacefully although foreign monitors said it still fell short of international standards. The winner seems likely to be the Democratic Party of Sali Berisha, who was ousted as prime minister after a huge pyramid-scheme scandal in 1997.