Election round-up

11.26.00am GMT Sun 9th Dec 2007

Ballot Box

There have been a few elections recently, I am not referring to the very flawed Russian one - I am talking about ones were people are actually allowed to vote for who they want and all valid votes (and only valid votes) are counted.

Australia flag

Firstly the Australian elections saw the Labor Party kicked out Howard's Liberals. Labour have a majority over the Liberals for 30 seats. Labour Leader Kevin Rudd has ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, announced a withdrawal date of Australian troops from Iraq - all looks good so far!

Croatia flag

In Croatia the Liberal parties - The Croatian People's Party, The Istrian Democratic Assembly and The Croatian Social Liberal Party won a total of 12 seats. The biggest two parties following the elections were the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), with 66 seats, and the Social Democrats (SDP), with 56 seats. To form a government, a party needs 77 out of a total of 153 seats, which means that one or all of the ELDR member parties may end up in government.

Romania flag

In Romania the National Liberal Party (PNL) has won six MEP seats out of a total of 35. The PNL finished in third position, with around 13% of the vote, behind the Social Democratic Party (PSD) (around 21%) and the Democratic Party (PD) (around 29%). The new MEPs will have to stand for re-election in June 2009, when EU-wide European Parliament elections take place.

Belgium flag

In Belgium, six months after the elections the former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt accepted King Albert II's invitation for him to act as 'informateur', a kind of mediator to help the different parties agree on a way out of the current deadlock and see if a Government can be formed.