Millions of Zimbabweans took to the polls yesterday to cast their votes in the country’s presidential elections. Unlike the elections in 2008, voting passed peacefully and without major incidents. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC is again hoping to unseat President Robert Mugabe of ZANU-PF, though a ZANU-PF source has told Reuters that it is again 89-year old Robert Mugabe that has won the elections, while the MDC calls the elections rigged.
Despite ousting the Finance Minister Mlađan Dinkić and his United Regions of Serbia (URS) from the ruling coalition, no early elections will be held in Serbia. According to the main opposition Democratic Party (DS), that has called for early elections, the government reshuffle is a farce through which the government tries to distract attention from its catastrophic results.
On July 29, Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh has called for early elections, in order to cease the unrest after the murder of legislator Mohamed Brahmi on July 25. The elections are to be held on December 17. The Tunisian opposition had been calling for the resignation of the Islamist led government, stating that the murder of Brahmi signaled the governments inefficiency of protecting its citizens. The social democratic party Ettakatol, one of the ruling Troika coalition partners, has joined opposition forces in calls for a ‘government of national unity’, that would replace the current government.
On July 24 the Egyptian First Deput Prime Minister and Minister of Defence General Abdel Fatah al-Sissi called on Egyptians for mass rallies on Friday Juli 26, to support the military efforts towards confronting terrorism and violence and to show support of what’s happening in the country. “Egyptians must take to the streets on Friday to give me the mandate to face violence and terrorism,” Sisi said.
The speech followed a deadly bombing of a security headquarter in the city Mansoura, in which one died and 27 officers and civilians were injured.
On 24 July dozens of hooligans and anti-gay-demonstrators shouted ‘kill the gays’ at the first ever gay pride parade in Montenegro coastal town of Budva. Eggs, stones and bottles where hurdled at around 40 participants in the parade mostly arriving in a police escorted bus from the capital Podgorica.
On July 23 Kyrgyz officials stated that an Uzbek border guard has been killed in an exchange of fire between Uzbek en Kyrgyz border patrols. Another Uzbek guard has been injured. There were no casualties on the Kyrgyz side.
In het mooie Oekraïense stadje Lviv organiseerde Foundation Max van der Stoel in samenwerking met de UK Labour Party tussen 16 en 21 juli een Zomeracademie. De 23 jonge deelnemers waren afkomstig uit Armenië, Azerbeidjaan, Georgië, Rusland, Belarus Moldavië en Oekraïne.
On July 22 European Union officials have listed the military wing of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on the EU’s terror list.
The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans said: ‘We took this important step today, by dealing with the military wing of Hezbollah, freezing its assets, hindering its fundraising and thereby limiting its capacity to act.’
On July 18 the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to five years in a penal colony after a Russian judge found him guilty of embezzlement from a timber firm. Navalny, one of the fiercest critics of the Russian government, says the verdict is politically motivated and claims he will appeal against it.
On 16 July it was announced on state television that interim President Adly Mansour swore in 33 mostly technocratic or liberal ministers. The interim government was installed after one of the most violent clashes between Morsi supporters and security forces this month. Army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the ousting of the former government, is becoming deputy prime minister next to his current position as defense minister. Economist Hazem el-Beblawi, who suspended his membership in the Social Democratic Party, is leading the new government as prime minister. Seven ministers held positions in the former government but none of them are Islamists.
