National Assembly Elections Research Articles

Claiming the National: the Welsh Media and Devolution

While the outcome of the referendum for the Scottish parliament represented the 'settled will' of the Scottish people, the legitimacy of the National Assembly of Wales has been challenged by the outcome of the 1997 referendum. The people of Wales voted 'yes' to a limited devolution of power by the narrowest of margins. In a night of political drama almost unparalleled in recent British political history, the outcome of the referendum went to the declaration of the last count. An overwhelming vote in favour from the people of Carmarthen meant a wafer thin majority of 6,721 votes for the setting up of the Assembly. The turnout was 50.1%, nearly 10% lower than the 1979 devolution vote. This meant that only one in four Welsh people bothered enough to cast their votes in favour of devolution. The lack of public support for devolution was further underlined by the poor turnout at the 1999 National Assembly elections when only 46% of those eligible to vote did so. In the post mortem into why devolution has not attracted support from the people of Wales explanations have centred on two broad areas - the failure of political communication and (he weakness of national identity in Wales. The outcome of the 1997 referendum is attributed by Ron Davies, the former Secretary of State for Wales, to a 'failure of political education*. He argues that this failure occurred at two levels: the refusal of the Labour Party in Wales 'to involve other political parties and wider civil society in the formation of its devolution policy' and the British Labour Party's 'reluctance to campaign on the issue' (Taylor and Thomson 1997). This resulted in an inability 'to develop a coherent intellectual case for devolution' which undermined 'a campaign to win the hearts and minds of the people of Wales'. Similarly a lacklustre election campaign has been seen as a reason for the

The First Welsh National Assembly Election

THE WELSH LABOUR PARTY COULD HAVE ANTICIPATED THE FIRST elections to the National Assembly with a fair degree of equanimity, if not optimism. In the 1997 General Election, the party had won 55 percent of the vote and delivered on its promise of a devolution referendum which it won, albeit by a narrow majority. The architect of Labour's devolution policy, Ron Davies, the Welsh Secretary of State, who was widely respected within and beyond the Labour Party, had spoken of a new Welsh politics, with policy-making open to and inclusive of other Welsh parties. All this, however, was called into question by what Ron Davies subsequently described as his ‘moment of madness’ on Clapham Common in October 1998. Although the circumstances remain unclear, they resulted in his resignation from the post of Secretary of State and leader of the Welsh Labour Party. Alun Michael, a Cardiff MP and a minister at the Home Office, was appointed Welsh Secretary and subsequently endured a bitter and bruising leadership contest with Rhodri Morgan, during which claims were made that he was Blair's man, and not really an enthusiastic devolutionist but part of the Millbank control system. Large sections of the party were disillusioned by the process and serious questions were raised as to what extent disillusioned party activists would be involved in the Assembly election campaign.

Conducting Cambodia's Elections

Conducting Cambodia’s Elections Kassie Neou (bio) and Jeffrey C. Gallup (bio) When I was offered the job of vice chairman of Cambodia’s National Election Committee, friends and colleagues told me that I had no idea what I would be getting into. They said that there would be more work and more pressure than I had ever known. There was no guarantee of success, they added, and in any event, after the elections were over, I should expect not gratitude, but criticism. My friends advised me to take the job anyway, so I did. Their predictions were right on all counts. The National Election Committee (NEC) was charged with running Cambodia’s July 1998 National Assembly elections. Against all odds, it organized elections of a high technical quality. In the end, however, politics undermined the election process and led to turmoil and bloodshed. Eventually, in November 1998, the winning and losing parties decided to form a new coalition government. This episode demonstrated all too clearly that much of Cambodia’s leadership views elections not as the paramount political process through which people choose their leaders, but merely as one facet of a broader and relentless struggle for power. [End Page 152] When I was asked to join the National Election Committee in early 1998, the prospects for free and fair elections looked far from promising. The uneasy coalition government joining the first and second finishers in the 1993 UN-run elections, First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh’s United National Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia (Funcinpec) and Second Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ex-communist Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), had exploded in flames the previous year. On 5–6 July 1997, the military forces of the CPP had ousted Prince Norodom Ranariddh, and many senior government officials and members of parliament had joined him in exile. According to reports from the UN Center for Human Rights, close to 100 persons, many of them military loyal to Prince Ranariddh, had been summarily executed during and after the July events. The original Funcinpec effectively ceased to function as a party. Some senior Funcinpec ministers and officials in Cambodia remained loyal to Prince Ranariddh while others created new parties that joined hands with the CPP. Still other Funcinpec backers mounted a small armed resistance in the northwest of Cambodia, which Hun Sen’s forces failed to eliminate entirely. In effect, Cambodia had split into warring factions once again, but Hun Sen had the upper hand, having effectively removed all serious opposition to his party’s rule. The Cambodian peace settlement of 1991 was in tatters. The international community reacted with deep dismay. Many international donors cut off or suspended aid to Cambodia. The country’s prospective membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was postponed indefinitely and Cambodia lost its seat at the United Nations. Because of uncertainty about the country’s political stability, foreign tourism, trade, and investment declined, inflicting serious economic damage. Although the international community was initially at a loss for ways to revive the peace process, it eventually became clear that elections could be used to promote a renewed attempt at reconciliation and democracy. After all, Hun Sen’s government continued to promise that it would hold free and fair elections in 1998, as required by the Cambodian constitution. Leading donors made the restoration of economic assistance contingent on free and fair elections. They prodded and pushed the Cambodian government, eventually achieving a deal whereby Prince Ranariddh and other opposition leaders were able to return under international safety guarantees and to compete in the elections. Although at various points some of the opposition dreamed that Western countries would use military force to throw out Hun Sen, this was never a serious prospect. Thus the international community, the Cambodian opposition, and the Cambodian People’s Party all pinned their hopes on the elections. Clearly, whatever happened, some of them were going to be disappointed. [End Page 153] The job of organizing the elections fell to the National Election Committee, in principle a neutral and independent body completely separate from the Cambodian government. I, among others, had lobbied to create just such a...

The rise of a third party in South Korea: the Unification National Party in the 1992 National Assembly election

An interesting outcome of the 1992 South Korean National Assembly Election was the sudden rise of a new party based on a big business group. Setting up just two months before the legislative election, the Unification National Party (UNP) emerged as a strong third party from nowhere. The purpose of this article is to explore reasons behind the unexpected rise of its support. This article pays attention to the immobility of party choice under a plurality rule electoral system. Unlike existing research which has focused on the effects of personal voting and the constituency campaign, this article instead suggests that a newly established cleavage after democratization forced voters to make an unwilling choice between existing parties, ultimately helping the UNP's electoral breakthrough.

The 1996/1997 presidential and national assembly elections in The Gambia

The 1996/1997 presidential and national assembly elections in The Gambia

Europe’s Other Landslide: The French National Assembly Elections of May–June 1997

Europe’s Other Landslide: The French National Assembly Elections of May–June 1997

The South Korean national assembly elections 1996

Peter Morriss examines the effects of South Korea's ‘additional member’ voting system on its personality‐based political parties.

Geography of electoral preferences: the 1990 Great National Assembly elections in Bulgaria

Bulgaria was the first country in Eastern Europe where a former Communist Party won free and democratic Parliamentary elections. This political response of the Bulgarian electorate, rather unexpected at that time, could be linked to—among other factors—the geographic position of the country in relation to the place of origin of the political transformation processes. The comparative analysis of the geographic patterns of Bulgaria's major political parties displayed a deep social split, primarily along ideological lines. However, the configuration and performance of the main political actors on the eve of elections proved to be of relatively little importance for the Bulgarian political transformation. Bulgarian society was once again compelled to adapt to external influences, this time coming predominantly from the core of the Soviet-led international system, rather than to an urgent need to solve internal political economic contradictions. The term ‘superimposition of peripheries’ was introduced to describe the political geography and suggest an explanation of the 1990 election results.

Changing Patterns of Punjab Politics in Pakistan: National Assembly Election Results, 1988 and 1993

Changing Patterns of Punjab Politics in Pakistan: National Assembly Election Results, 1988 and 1993

Changing Patterns of Punjab Politics in Pakistan: National Assembly Election Results, 1988 and 1993

Research Article| April 01 1995 Changing Patterns of Punjab Politics in Pakistan: National Assembly Election Results, 1988 and 1993 Andrew R. Wilder Andrew R. Wilder Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1995) 35 (4): 377–393. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645802 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Andrew R. Wilder; Changing Patterns of Punjab Politics in Pakistan: National Assembly Election Results, 1988 and 1993. Asian Survey 1 April 1995; 35 (4): 377–393. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2645802 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1995 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Cameroon's Democratic Crossroads, 1990–4

Cameroon'supheavals since 1990 have not been widely reported among the more visible and violent African state-society conflicts. Their anonymity on the continent's political agenda is understandable, since by the formal, most visible indices, little has changed since pluralist pressures appeared. The ‘Gaullist’ monolith state remains fundamentally in place after 25 years: the constitution retains the unitary executive stamp of 1972, against federalist and devolution challenges, although multi-party politics were legalised in 1990. This and a new press law have been the régime's major concessions to emerging opposition forces, and led to presidential and national assembly elections in 1992.

The impact of the electoral system on the transition to democracy in Africa: The case of Mali

The wave of countries undertaking a transition to democracy in Africa has raised a number of questions including the structural issue associated with the choice of an electoral system type. The choice of electoral systems has had a major impact on the emerging party system and the future of democratic government in Mali. The results of the proportionally based municipal and majority National Assembly elections are very different. A simulated proportional National Assembly election produced results that would have necessitated a coalition government, the stability of which would be uncertain. The majority system, on the other hand, produced a clear winner with an overwhelming majority of seats. In the choice of electoral systems, short-term stability may have been exchanged for longer-term democratic development.

Algerian national popular assembly election of December 1991

Algeria has been in the news recently. The following article explains the background to the unrest there which is being caused by a struggle for political power between the government, which fears the rise of Moslem fundamentalism, and the opposition whose right of political expression through the ballot box, whether fundamentalist or not, has been stifled.

Historical dictionary of the Republic of Korea

Chapter 1 Editor's Foreword Chapter 2 Preface Chapter 3 The Korean Writing System and Romanization 4 Abbreviations and Acronyms 5 Chronology 6 Maps of Korea 7 Introduction 8 The Dictionary 9 Bibliography 10 Appendix A: Government Structure of the Republic of Korea 11 Appendix B: Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and Prime Ministers 12 Appendix C: Presidential Elections 13 Appendix D: National Assembly Elections 14 Appendix E: Text of the December 1991 Agreement on Reconciliation, Nonaggression and Exchanges and Cooperation between the South and the North 15 Appendix F: North-South Joint Declaration of 15 June 2000 16 About the Authors

The South Korean national assembly elections 1992

The South Korean national assembly elections 1992

Taiwan's National Assembly Elections

The elections held on 21 December in Taiwan for seats in the National Assembly were unprecedented in a number of respects. But they prolonged the more than 40 years of overwhelming dominance of the island's politics by the ruling Kuomintang (KMT). They represented a huge leap towards a genuinely pluralist political system in Taiwan, but were marred by electoral malpractice, and distorted by the prominence of the “independence” issue, and the intervention of Beijing leaders.

Taiwan’s 1991 second national assembly election

The author assesses Taiwan’s fifth competitive national election and its first ever nonsupplementary election. The electorate picked a “new” National Assembly, absent those elected on the mainland before 1949 or later appointed to fill vacancies. The election was a major victory for the ruling Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) affording it perhaps its first real mandate — a product of the KMT’s good reputation for engineering economic development and in recent years political development as well (since it was largely responsible for getting the “elder parliamentarians” to retire). In addition, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party made a mistake by putting Taiwan independence into the platform. Two other parties contested the election but failed to win a significant number of votes. The new National Assembly will amend the nation’s Constitution which will make some important changes in Taiwan’s polity.

Electoral Systems and Institutional Choice

This article shows how the ruling party of Korea, the DJP, chose and implemented a strategy to win the 13th National Assembly election of 1988 and explains why that strategy failed. In addition, this election is analyzed in a more general context. The authors find, for example that the preference of a party over electoral systems is determined by the spatial distribution of its votes and that the choice of an electoral system is the outcome of a bargaining process among the parties. In the context of democratization, the Korean experience shows that the democratic reform policies of an authoritarian government are shaped by the interplay between the ruling party's desire to create a political system wherein they maintain power and the constraints to create a system that would channel the opposition's activities into electoral or institutional outlets.

The Pakistan People's Party and the Punjab: National Assembly Elections, 1988 and 1990

Research Article| July 01 1991 The Pakistan People's Party and the Punjab: National Assembly Elections, 1988 and 1990 Anwar H. Syed Anwar H. Syed Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1991) 31 (7): 581–597. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645378 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Anwar H. Syed; The Pakistan People's Party and the Punjab: National Assembly Elections, 1988 and 1990. Asian Survey 1 July 1991; 31 (7): 581–597. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2645378 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1991 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Pakistan People's Party and the Punjab: National Assembly Elections, 1988 and 1990

Research Article| July 01 1991 The Pakistan People's Party and the Punjab: National Assembly Elections, 1988 and 1990 Anwar H. Syed Anwar H. Syed Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1991) 31 (7): 581–597. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645378 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Anwar H. Syed; The Pakistan People's Party and the Punjab: National Assembly Elections, 1988 and 1990. Asian Survey 1 July 1991; 31 (7): 581–597. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2645378 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1991 The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.