November 7, 2024
A weekly review of news and analysis of elections in Eurasia, usually posted on Thursdays and occasionally updated throughout the week.
The caves at Uplistsikhe, an ancient town in Georgia. Photo credit: Wikimedia/BBCLCD (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Upcoming Eurasia Elections
Belarus Presidential Election: January 26, 2025
Aleksandr Lukashenko has been president of Belarus since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country last held a presidential election on August 9, 2020. In a vote widely deemed not free and not fair, Lukashenko declared victory. However, the opposition declared that its candidate, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, had in fact won. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets in protest to demand free and fair elections, even in the face of assault and arrest by security forces.
In 2022, Lukashenko held a constitutional referendum on February 27, 2022 as a way of extending his time in power (he has been president since 1994 – the first and only president of post-Soviet Belarus). The changes allow Lukashenko to remain in office until 2035 and scrap Belarus’s non-nuclear status.
Yuras Karmanau, AP (November 4, 2024): Belarus’ authoritarian ruler will face only token challengers in presidential vote
Past Eurasia Elections
Moldova Presidential Runoff: November 3, 2024
Moldova held a presidential election and referendum on joining the European Union on October 20. Voters narrowly chose to pursue EU membership. Maia Sandu, Moldova’s pro-west president, came in first in the presidential election but did not win a majority. She subsequently defeated Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor-general who is backed by the pro-Russia faction, in the runoff on November 3.
OSCE (November 4, 2024): Moldova’s well-managed presidential run-off offered voters genuine choice, despite legal deficiencies, unbalanced media coverage and impact of foreign interference, international observers say
Clare Sebastian, CNN (November 4, 2024): Putin’s latest election meddling effort failed. It’s unlikely to stop him trying again
Stefan Wolff, The Conversation (November 4, 2024): Maia Sandu’s victory in second round of Moldovan election show’s limits to Moscow’s meddling
Stephen McGrath and Vadim Ghirda, AP (November 3, 2024): Moldova’s pro-Western president wins second term in runoff overshadowed by Russian meddling claims
Georgia Parliamentary Elections: October 26, 2024
AP (November 4, 2024): Thousands rally again in Georgia to protest Oct. 26 parliamentary election they say was rigged
Irakli Machaidze, Eurasianet (November 1, 2024): European Commission highlights Georgia’s “Backsliding”
Luka Pertaia, Ivan Gutterman, and Wojtek Grojec, RFE/RL (November 1, 2024): The Russian Tail: How Data Could Reveal Georgian Election Fraud
Paul Kirby, BBC (November 1, 2024): Georgian vote result makes no statistical sense – Western pollsters
Regional Analysis
Adam Simpson, Lowy Institute (November 6, 2024): Moldova and Georgia serve as geopolitical bellwethers
Elections On Deck
Eurasia This Week: November 7, 2024
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Last Updated: November 18, 2024 by 21votes
November 7, 2024
A weekly review of news and analysis of elections in Eurasia, usually posted on Thursdays and occasionally updated throughout the week.
Upcoming Eurasia Elections
Belarus Presidential Election: January 26, 2025
Aleksandr Lukashenko has been president of Belarus since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country last held a presidential election on August 9, 2020. In a vote widely deemed not free and not fair, Lukashenko declared victory. However, the opposition declared that its candidate, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, had in fact won. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets in protest to demand free and fair elections, even in the face of assault and arrest by security forces.
In 2022, Lukashenko held a constitutional referendum on February 27, 2022 as a way of extending his time in power (he has been president since 1994 – the first and only president of post-Soviet Belarus). The changes allow Lukashenko to remain in office until 2035 and scrap Belarus’s non-nuclear status.
Yuras Karmanau, AP (November 4, 2024): Belarus’ authoritarian ruler will face only token challengers in presidential vote
Past Eurasia Elections
Moldova Presidential Runoff: November 3, 2024
Moldova held a presidential election and referendum on joining the European Union on October 20. Voters narrowly chose to pursue EU membership. Maia Sandu, Moldova’s pro-west president, came in first in the presidential election but did not win a majority. She subsequently defeated Alexandr Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor-general who is backed by the pro-Russia faction, in the runoff on November 3.
OSCE (November 4, 2024): Moldova’s well-managed presidential run-off offered voters genuine choice, despite legal deficiencies, unbalanced media coverage and impact of foreign interference, international observers say
Clare Sebastian, CNN (November 4, 2024): Putin’s latest election meddling effort failed. It’s unlikely to stop him trying again
Stefan Wolff, The Conversation (November 4, 2024): Maia Sandu’s victory in second round of Moldovan election show’s limits to Moscow’s meddling
Stephen McGrath and Vadim Ghirda, AP (November 3, 2024): Moldova’s pro-Western president wins second term in runoff overshadowed by Russian meddling claims
Georgia Parliamentary Elections: October 26, 2024
AP (November 4, 2024): Thousands rally again in Georgia to protest Oct. 26 parliamentary election they say was rigged
Irakli Machaidze, Eurasianet (November 1, 2024): European Commission highlights Georgia’s “Backsliding”
Luka Pertaia, Ivan Gutterman, and Wojtek Grojec, RFE/RL (November 1, 2024): The Russian Tail: How Data Could Reveal Georgian Election Fraud
Paul Kirby, BBC (November 1, 2024): Georgian vote result makes no statistical sense – Western pollsters
Regional Analysis
Adam Simpson, Lowy Institute (November 6, 2024): Moldova and Georgia serve as geopolitical bellwethers
Elections On Deck
Category: This Week Tags: Belarus, Georgia, Moldova