2012: The Year of Elections

March 04, 2012
Putin returns to the presidency
Vladimir Putin runs for a third term as president against a backdrop of mounting public opposition. Putin, who served as president for two terms before assuming the position of prime minister for four years, claims victory on March 4 with 64 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, opposition groups reiterate allegations of voting fraud and turn out en masse to demonstrate during Putin's May inauguration.
April 01, 2012
Myanmar's 'new era'
Myanmar's quasi-civilian government allows democracy leader Suu Kyi to participate in parliamentary by-elections. Suu Kyi and her party NLD win forty of forty-five contested parliamentary seats in a landmark vote. Though the military still holds a vast majority of parliamentary seats, the vote signals a significant political shift from Myanmar's longtime military dominance and provides an impetus for lifting international economic sanctions.
May 06, 2012
French voters reject austerity
Amid euro zone debt crisis, France undergoes a presidential election with high stakes for the direction of euro zone negotiations, transatlantic relations, and European integration. Francois Hollande's win makes him the first Socialist president of France in seventeen years and places him at the forefront of the continent's discussions on the euro zone's future, pitting his argument for economic growth against Germany's push for austerity.

June 16, 2012
Struggling for power in Egypt
'New' Egypt holds its first presidential election since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. The race culminates in an unexpected runoff between Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi and former Mubarak-era air force commander Ahmed Shafiq. Morsi wins, setting the stage for a standoff between the military, judiciary, and presidential office as Egypt struggles with a glut of economic problems, ongoing street protests, and cooling ties with the United States.
June 17, 2012
Greeks vote to stay in the Eurozone
Amid euro zone debt crisis, Greece holds parliamentary elections that will effectively decide whether the country accepts the EU-IMF proposed $51 billion bailout package. The first elections, held in May, fail to give any one political party a majority in parliament. Greece holds a second parliamentary election in June, and the victor is New Democracy's Antonis Samaras, who is committed to cooperating on reform packages that will allow Greece to stay in the troubled monetary union.
July 01, 2012
Mexico brings back the PRI
After the 2000 victory of the National Action Party (PAN) ended seventy years of consecutive rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in Mexico, the PRI is poised for a historic comeback in the 2012 presidential election as the country grapples with chronic drug-related violence, sluggish economic growth, and long overdue energy and labor reforms. PRI's charismatic presidential candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto wins the presidential election with 38 percent of the vote.
July 07, 2012
Testing Libya's transition
Less than a year after the toppling of Qaddafi, Libya's transitional government sets parliamentary elections amid scattered violence, with voters choosing among a group of more than 2,500 candidates for 200 parliament positions. The moderate National Forces Alliance coalition, led by US-educated Mahmoud Jibril, dominates the election. The new parliament faces its first test when protesters storm the building over its choice of cabinet ministers, but the selections are approved by late October, forming Libya's first post-Qaddafi government.
October 01, 2012
A boost for Georgian Democracy
Georgia's parliamentary election results in the country's first democratic power turnover in its post-Soviet history when the ruling party of president Mikheil Saakashvili concedes defeat to the Georgian Dream opposition coalition. The leader of the coalition, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, expresses a desire to reestablish diplomatic ties with Russia, which have been severed since the countries waged war over South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008.
October 07, 2012
Venezuela's Comandante maintains the revolutions
Hugo Chavez runs for the fourth term as president of Venezuela. The economy and domestic insecurity are top campaign issues amid a persistently high crime rate and frequent shortages of basic goods. Henrique Capriles leads the newly unified opposition coalition and pledges to boost private sector growth and reformulate Venezuela's foreign relations to take a more economically pragmatic course. Voter turnout reaches a historic high on Election Day, and Chavez defeats Capriles 54 to 45 percent.
November 06, 2012
Obama wins another four years
Amid an incremental economic recovery, American presidential election is dominated by concerns over unemployment, immigration reform, tax policy, and health care. Republican nominee Mitt Romney faces off against incumbent president Barack Obama, vowing to repeal the administration's signature health-care legislation, create 12 million new jobs, and lower tax rates. Obama, meanwhile, touts his achievements in health care, staving off a deeper economic depression, and killing Osama bin Laden. Obama wins both the electoral and popular vote and secures reelection for a second term.
December 16, 2012
Japan calls elections as economy fail
Facing an ailing economy, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda calls for December elections in order to pass critical legislation for deficit financing and government reforms. Noda's Democratic Party of Japan is expected to lose the majority of seats in the lower house to the Liberal Democratic Party. The election's top campaign issues are Japan's slumping economy, including a controversial sales tax increase passed in June, the future of nuclear power, and a free trade deal with the United States and other Asia-Pacific nations.
December 19, 2012
A narrow race in South Korea
South Korea holds a presidential election to determine a successor for President Lee Myung-bak. Conservative candidate Park Geun-hye and former human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in compete for the presidency. Pre-election polls show the two candidates in a tight race, with job creation and welfare reform at the forefront of campaign issues and North Korea dominating foreign policy discussions. Park, who would be South Korea's first female president, pledges to engage with North Korea and seek "balanced diplomacy" with the United States and China, while Moon announces plans to reform the country's legal system and welfare policy.

Source : CFR and AFP.