What will Italy’s election mean for LGBT rights?

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Last weekend, Nichi Vendola, the openly gay regional president of Puglia, pluckily posted to Twitter a photo of himself campaigning alongside Pier Luigi Bersani, the leader of the center-left Partito Democratico (PD, Democratic Party), captioned ‘coppia di fatto‘ (‘de facto couple’). Vendola, the leader of the more stridently leftist Sinistra Ecologia Libertà (SEL, Left Ecology Freedom), is part of the broad [...]

Filed under: Italy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Stuart appears to hang onto power — just barely — in Barbados

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Kevin Lees

It appears that like Barbadian prime minister Freundel Stuart (pictured above) has avoided the fate of Grenada’s prime minister on Tuesday — the current count for elections to Barbados’s 30-member House of Assembly shows a provisional 16-13 lead for Stuart’s Democratic Labor Party (DLP), with one seat pending a recount. For much of the night, [...]

Filed under: Barbados | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Djibouti election seems unlikely to bring real change

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Kevin Lees

Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, the president of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, has served as the tiny port-state’s president since 1999, the successor of his uncle, Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who was Djibouti’s president from independence in 1977. Guelleh himself won reelection with over 80% of the vote in 2011 — an election that the main [...]

Filed under: Djibouti | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

First Past the Post: February 22

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Kevin Lees

East and South Asia On Japan’s reinflationary policy. Japan is likely to enter talks to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Police general Pongsapat Pongcharoen leads polls to become the next governor of Bangkok. North America U.S. president Barack Obama is meeting Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe. Latin America / Caribbean ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier avoids court again. Venezuelan president [...]

Filed under: Assorted Links | Leave a Comment »