Domestic Politics Archive

Like most figures who have undergone significant transformations in the public eye, Ksenia Sobchak, the most prominent candidate running against Vladimir Putin in Russia’s presidential election Sunday, means different things to different people. Her detractors see a campy celebrity-turned-politician—a puppet who is merely playing the role of substantive challenger. Her supporters, on the other hand, see a skillful operator capable of effectively manipulating the media—a new kind of political personality putting forth an alternative vision for the country. Just a decade ago, she was known exclusively as a socialite and entertainer. Despite coming from a political family, she had launched […]

On March 4, Salvadorans went to the polls for legislative and municipal elections. According to preliminary results, the opposition Nationalist Republican Alliance, or ARENA, won 37 of 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly. The ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, or FMLN, won 23, down from 31. The results are widely regarded as a stinging defeat for the FMLN, which also lost several key mayoral races, including in the capital, San Salvador. Besides the two leading parties, the Grand Alliance for National Unity, or GANA, took 11 seats in the assembly and the National Coalition Party, or PCN, eight. Several […]

In late February, Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, suffered a shock defeat in one of its rural strongholds, losing a by-election to an independent candidate backed by the opposition. The result seemed to give new life to the opposition ahead of national elections scheduled for April 8. In an email interview, András Bozóki, a professor of political science at Central European University in Budapest, discusses how the opposition has fared during eight years under Orban and what its prospects are for the upcoming vote. WPR: What is the state of the political opposition in Hungary […]

On Feb. 21, Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualified former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from leading the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or PMLN, party. Sharif’s brother Shahbaz, another senior PMLN leader, is expected to replace him as party president. The move marked Sharif’s second disqualification in seven months. Last July, the same court disqualified him from office, obliging him to resign as prime minister. These developments represent just the latest blows for the PMLN, which has led the government after winning a landslide election in 2013—but has seemingly been on the defensive ever since then. In 2014, the political opposition, led by […]

In this week’s Trend Lines podcast, WPR’s editor-in-chief, Judah Grunstein, and associate editors Robbie Corey-Boulet and Omar H. Rahman discuss the announcement of face-to-face talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. For the Report, Eromo Egbejule talks with Andrew Green about how longstanding grievances and heavy-handed security crackdowns are fueling a revived Biafran separatist movement in Nigeria. If you like what you hear on Trend Lines and what you’ve read on WPR, you can sign up for our free newsletter to get our uncompromising analysis delivered twice a week straight to your inbox. The […]

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an order imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The tariffs, which will go into effect in 15 days, exempt Canada and Mexico for now, with the possibility of other states to be exempted as well. Combined with the resignation earlier this week of Gary Cohn, the president’s chief economic adviser who had been seen as a check on Trump’s protectionist instincts during his tenure as director of the National Economic Council, they signal that Trump is ready to make good on campaign promises of getting tough on trade—and in particular with China. […]

On Feb. 19, Brazil’s government announced it was abandoning an effort to reform the pension system, which is a main driver of its ballooning deficit. Though the official reason was the military intervention launched last month in Rio de Janeiro state, which makes constitutional amendments impossible to act on, the reform effort was widely understood to have little chance of success. The failure of Michel Temer, Brazil’s exceedingly unpopular president, to deliver on a key promise prompted credit ratings agencies to downgrade Brazil further below investment grade. In an email interview, Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute at the […]

In early February, Guineans voted in municipal elections for the first time in well over a decade. Though such contests necessarily hinge on local dynamics, taken together they can reveal nationwide trends and challenges, and that’s been especially true in Guinea’s case. The extensive delay in holding the vote, and the unrest that has prevailed in the weeks since ballots were cast, offer insight into the main threats to the West African nation’s stability, as well as what to expect as President Alpha Conde approaches the end of his second term—his last under the constitution. The last time voters in […]

With less than four months until Mexico’s presidential election, it looks like a perfect storm of support is brewing for the perennial standard-bearer of the left, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO. The former mayor of Mexico City, who is mounting his third quest for the presidency, could hardly find the current conditions more to his liking. Everywhere he looks, at home and abroad, the stars appear to be aligning in his favor. His foes are fighting each other; the president of the United States is using rhetoric that unwittingly bolsters his prospects; and even Russia is apparently putting […]

Late last week, during his annual speech to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a raft of new and exotic military weapons systems that were in development, and in some cases ready to be deployed. Putin’s inventory included an enormous, new heavy intercontinental ballistic missile known as “Sarmat”; new maneuverable re-entry vehicles that will, in theory, be fitted onto Russian ballistic missiles to help them overwhelm American missile defenses; a nuclear-powered cruise missile apparently able to fly for thousands of miles just feet above the surface of the earth; and a nuclear-armed underwater drone potentially able to lay dormant […]

A report released on Feb. 20 by the parliamentary commissioner for Germany’s armed forces revealed serious deficiencies in the military’s readiness, with many weapons systems nonoperational and 21,000 officer positions vacant. The state of the German military raises concerns for NATO and its response force, the effectiveness of which has gained new urgency since Russia’s intervention in Ukraine in 2014. In an email interview, Patrick Keller, coordinator for foreign and security policy at Konrad-Adenaur-Stiftung in Berlin, explains how Germany’s military got to this state, and what it will take to get its house in order. WPR: How concerning for Germany […]

UMUAHIA, Nigeria—Six months after the raid, the house still lies in shambles. Its walls are pocked with bullet holes; clothes are strewn about the grounds; and the windshields of the cars on the property are shattered. Located in the city of Umuahia, the capital of Abia state in southeast Nigeria, the house belongs to the family of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB, a group that wants this corner of the country to form a breakaway nation dominated by members of the Igbo ethnic group. On the morning of Sept. 14, Kanu and other members […]

On March 11, Colombians vote in what could be the biggest test of the country’s democracy in decades. For the first time, the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, will compete at the polls as a newly formed political party. No matter how it performs, the FARC, now known as the Revolutionary Alternative Common Force—maintaining its old acronym in Spanish—is guaranteed 10 seats in Congress overall, with five in the Senate and five in the House of Representatives, as part of the landmark 2016 peace agreement. But the former guerrillas are aiming higher. Running on a message of […]

Editor’s Note: This article is part of an ongoing series about religious minorities in various countries around the world. Last month, an assailant with a sword attacked a church during services in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, injuring four worshippers, including a priest. The attack appears to be the latest sign of growing religious intolerance in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, which has seen a rise in religious conservatism and flashes of extremism in recent years. In an email interview, Kikue Hamayotsu, an associate professor of political science at Northern Illinois University and faculty associate at the Center for […]

Voters in Sierra Leone head to the polls Wednesday in a presidential election that will likely go to a second round, with none of the leading contenders looking strong enough to top the 55 percent needed to avoid a runoff. Six frontrunners—among the 16 candidates that will be on the ballot—appeared in a televised debate on Feb. 15 that for the first time ever included all major candidates. Broadcast on national television and across radio networks, the debate captured how competitive the race is, as term-limited President Ernest Bai Koroma’s decade in office comes to an end. Koroma’s All People’s […]

Eduardo Enrique Urbina Ayala was shocked to see his face and name making the rounds on social media, in posts that framed him as the person responsible for setting fire to a military truck during a protest at the height of Honduras’ post-election crisis in December. The 22-year-old activist had left the country five days before the vehicle went up in flames. “I was already in Costa Rica,” Urbina told me over Skype from an undisclosed Costa Rican city. “I have everything documented in my passport … It’s proof from the state itself.” Nineteen days after Honduras’ contested Nov. 26. […]

Sometime later this year, Malaysia will hold a general election that will be one of the most closely watched polls in the nation’s history. The elections, which must be carried out by August but are expected to be held much sooner, will pit the ruling coalition led by scandal-ridden Prime Minister Najib Razak against a fractured opposition held together by the country’s longest-serving premier, Mahathir Mohamad. Both sides will be appealing to an electorate that has become increasingly frustrated by the country’s recent direction and future prospects. Historically speaking, elections have been relatively uncontested affairs in Malaysia. The ruling Barisan […]