Philippines (May 13, 2013)
The Philippines held general elections on May 13, after President Benigno AQUINO called for elections halfway through his administration’s 6-year term. At stake in this election were 12/24 Senate (Senado) seats and 291 seats in the House of Representatives (Kalulungan Ng Mga Kinatawan). In the House of Representatives, 233 members are elected by a plurality vote in single member districts, and 58 are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system. In the Senate, members are elected by plurality vote in multimember districts (plurality-at-large). Although official results of the election are still to be announced, unofficial results show 6 leading candidates in the Senate to be from the pro-Aquino ‘Team PNoy’ coalition, consisting of the Liberal Party (LP), Nationalista Party (NP), Akbayan, Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), and Struggle of Democratic Filipinos (LDP).

Pakistan (May 11, 2013)
Pakistan held parliamentary elections on May 11th where voters elected 342 members to the National Assembly. Veteran politician Nawaz SHARIF’s PML-N (Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz) party made a political comeback by winning 124 seats, and capturing Other parties running in this election included the incumbent Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) headed by Bilawal Zardari Bhutto, son of former President Asif Ali Zardari and the late Benezir Bhutto, and ex-Cricketer Imran KHAN’s newly formed Movement Justice/Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Both parties lagged behind the PML-N with the PPP and PML winning 31 and 27 seats, respectively. SHARIF’s victory is significant considering his removal from power in 1999 by General Pervez Musharraf’s coup, which forced him into exile for 7 years. In March this year Pakistan marked its first ever completion of a civilian term of government without military intervention.  In a country of 86, 189,802 registered voters, voter turnout was exceptionally high with figures of 100 percent being reported in at least 49 polling stations according to observer group FAFEN (Free and Fair Election Network).  However, the group also notes that pre-election violence in parts of the country like Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) claimed over 400 lives and injured approximately 1000 people.

Malaysia (May 05, 2013)
Malaysians went to the polls on May 5, 2013 to elect members to the House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat). For the 13th consecutive year, Prime Minister Najib RAZAK’s ruling coalition the National Front/ Barisan National (BN) won a majority, gaining 133 out of 222 parliamentary seats. The main opposition coalition, Anwar IBRAHIM’s People’s Alliance/ Pakatan Rakyat (PR) won 89 seats.
In spite of the BN’s parliamentary victory, the party’s overall performance in the election was poorer than previous years. Under Malaysia’s first-past-the-post system, parties with a simple majority (50 % +1) of votes in a constituency, win the entire district. Malaysia has 222 single member constituencies, which translate into the same number of parliamentary seats.   Thus the BN was able to win 60 percent of the 222 parliamentary seats in this election, with less than 47 percent of the popular vote. In this context, the opposition has cited several complaints about the electoral system being skewed in favor of the BN, citing various irregularities on Election Day and the early voting period. The BN has denied all allegations.

French Polynesia (May 05, 2013)
A second round of elections to French Polynesia’s 57-member parliament (Territorial Assembly/ Assemblee Territoriale), were held on May 5, 2013. Veteran politician Gaston FLOSSE was returned to the presidency, as his party the Popular Rally / Tahoearaa Huiraatira won a majority in parliament, gaining 38 seats. Oscar TEMARU’s Union for Democracy / Union Nationale pour la Démocratie won 11 seats, and Teva ROHFRITSCH’s recently formed party A Tia Porinetia gained 8.  As this election was conducted in two rounds, all parties making it into the second round were required to pass a threshold of 12.5 percent. In the Territorial Assembly, 38 seats are allocated through proportional representation, and the remaining 19 seats are given to the leading party.

Iceland (Apr 27, 2013)
Iceland’s center-right opposition parties returned to power in parliamentary elections held on April 27, 2013. Iceland’s conservative Independence Party (IP) / Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn and center-right leaning Progressive Party (PP) / Framsóknarflokkurinn won 19 seats each in the 63-seat parliament. Both parties are expected to form a coalition government. Parties to the left performed poorly, with the ruling the Social Democratic Alliance (SDA) / Samfylkingin losing 11 seats, and the Left-Green Movement (LGM) / Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð  losing 7.  An unexpected victor in this election was the newly formed Pirate Party of Iceland/ Píratar, which won 3 seats. The rise of conservative parties in Iceland is often attributed to the ruling coalition’s financial management during the 2008 economic crisis, and government austerity measures implemented in conjunction with a 2.1 billion dollar IMF loan.