Politics this week: 10th - 16th September 2005

From The Economist print edition


Japan's Liberal Democratic Party was returned to power with a sharply increased majority. Junichiro Koizumi, the prime minister, had called a snap election and purged his party after his plans to privatise Japan Post were blocked by rebels. The leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan resigned.


In Afghanistan, the Taliban were blamed for the killing of seven people delivering voter registration papers in the central province of Uruzgan, just days ahead of parliamentary and provincial elections on September 18th.

The Senate held its confirmation hearings for John Roberts to be chief justice of the Supreme Court. Following the script, Democrats quizzed him on his attitude towards abortion and civil rights.

The Massachusetts legislature voted against a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, which is legal in the state because of a court ruling. The measure now looks unlikely to be put to the electorate next year.

Fernando Ferrer won the Democratic primary in New York's mayoral election, after the second-placed candidate withdrew to avoid a divisive run-off. Mr Ferrer could become the city's first Latino mayor if he beats Michael Bloomberg in November.

World leaders meeting in New York were due to endorse a 35-page declaration on overhauling the United Nations and progress towards tackling world poverty. Although greatly watered down in comparison with earlier drafts, the final document was described by both Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, and Mr Bush as an important “first step” along the road to reform. Others were more dubious.

In Brazil, opposition parties began proceedings to expel Severino Cavalcanti, the leader of the lower house of Congress. He is accused of extorting payments from a concessionaire who ran restaurants in the Congress building. An unrelated campaign-finance scandal involving the Workers' Party continues to erode the popularity of the government.

Suez, a French utility, said it would withdraw from Argentina, where it held 46% of a large water company, after failing to reach agreement with the government over an increase in tariffs, which have been frozen since 2002.

In Canada, Ontario's government said that it would not allow Muslims to use sharia law to settle family disputes; instead, it will move to outlaw religious tribunals used by Christians and Jews.

Chile's Supreme Court ruled that General Augusto Pinochet can face a third set of human-rights charges, though he is likely to escape trial on health grounds. The Guardian, a British newspaper, claimed that BAE Systems paid the former dictator more than £1m ($1.6m) from 1997 to 2004.

Norway voted the centre-left into office in a general election. Jens Stoltenberg, leader of the Labour Party, will now form a government, ousting the centre-right government of Kjell Magne Bondevik.

The European Court of Justice ruled that the European Commission could, in some circumstances, impose criminal penalties on those who flout European Union laws. The ruling was opposed by many national governments, which argued that the criminal law should never fall within EU powers.

European finance ministers vowed to stand together against fuel-price protesters who are demanding cuts in petrol taxes. But several countries promptly offered subsidies and tax rebates to favoured pressure groups.

Hosni Mubarak won what was billed as Egypt's first competitive presidential election with 88.6% of the vote. His main rival in the race, Ayman Nour, won just 7.6% and cried foul. Even more strikingly, only 23% of the electorate bothered to vote.

There were anarchic scenes in the Gaza strip as the last Israeli soldiers left. Former Israeli settlements were looted and a synagogue was burned to the ground. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the “armed chaos”.

In oil-rich Nigeria, thousands of people took to the streets in the city of Lagos to protest against a rise of 30% in fuel costs due to cuts in government subsidies.

Somali gunmen who hijacked a UN ship off the coast of Somalia carrying relief food to tsunami victims released the ship and crew after holding them for 11 weeks.