Asset Publisher

Country Reports

Short political reports of the KAS offices abroad

Publications

CANVA Ai Image Generator / Elias Marini-Schäfer

End of Hindu nationalism or return of caste politics?

Lessons from the Indian parliamentary elections

In the wake of the Indian parliamentary elections, a number of German media outlets saw the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) loss of its parliamentary majority as a victory for democracy and a sign of the Indian population's resistance to Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalism. Headlines included slogans such as: "India decides against Hindu nationalism and authoritarian tendencies” and “Democracy won instead of Modi”. But did the voters really turn against the Hindutva ideology of the BJP? Has the BJP overplayed its Hindu nationalist card? This article attempts to find answers to these questions and explain why the general election result was much more than a vote against Hindutva and perceived authoritarian tendencies.

Elias Marini Schäfer
July 9, 2024
Country reports
IMAGO / Cover-Images

The start of a Labour era?

Dramatic defeat of the Tories in parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom

The Conservative Party under the previous Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was the big loser of the election. They lost 251 parliamentary seats, and with a vote share of 24.7%, they will only be represented by 121 seats in the British House of Commons in the future. On the winning side, a clear picture emerged: the Labour Party gained 211 seats and, with a vote share of 33.7%, will form the government with a total of 412 seats. Other winners included the Liberal Democrats, who, with 72 seats and 12.2%, achieved their best result in over 100 years. The right-wing populist Reform UK also made a statement with 14.3% of the vote, although they received only five mandates due to the British first-past-the-post system. The new government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces enormous challenges in domestic and foreign policy. The British Conservatives must first deal with a personnel and strategic party reboot in the opposition.

Matthias Barner, Lukas Wick
July 8, 2024
Country reports
Adobe Stock/ Iryna/ Generiert mit KI

2nd round of elections in France

Republican Front halts shift to the right at the last second

The second round of voting in France ended with a surprise. The right-wing alliance of Rassemblement National (RN) and Les Républicains led by Eric Ciotti (LR) did not achieve an absolute or relative majority, as was expected based on the results of the first round of voting, but only came third. The electoral alliance New Popular Front (Nouveau Front Populaire) won over 180 seats. The second force in the National Assembly will be the presidential alliance of Ensemble. Although this electoral alliance led by Gabriel Attal lost almost 100 MPs, it managed to retain more than 160 MPs thanks to tactical voting by the so-called Republican Front. The Rassemblement National party, which was hoping for an absolute majority and the office of prime minister after the second round of voting, gained 50 seats but ended up with fewer than 150 MPs. President Macron's surprise dissolution of parliament was intended to force a clear majority, but it did not work. No political party has an absolute majority. The next few days will be characterised by negotiations on the appointment of the prime minister and the distribution of key posts in the National Assembly. The euphoria over the less successful performance of the Rassemblement National could soon be followed by disillusionment and could bring unstable times to France

Anja Czymmeck, Nele Katharina Wissmann
July 8, 2024
Country reports
IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Shock, not Excitement: Bidens Debate with Trump

U.S. press comments after the first televised debate of the presidential election campaign

Unusually early in the presidential election campaign, candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump met for their first televised debate. Biden's team hoped the event would give his campaign a boost - but the opposite was the case. The debate was organized by CNN and will be followed by another debate in September, hosted by ABC News. What happened in the first debate has significantly increased the arc of suspense until September.

Dr. Hardy Ostry, Jan Bösche
July 2, 2024
Country reports
IMAGO / ABACAPRESS

After the European elections in Poland

The EU policy of the Tusk government

The pro-European and liberal Civic Platform party won the European Parliament elections in June 2024. Its biggest competitor, the right-wing conservative Law and Justice party, came second with a result only 1% worse. What does the election result say about the Polish political scene and what consequences will it have? What can be expected for the direction of European policy after the election? The previous cabinet, formed by the Law and Justice party, was extremely skeptical about cooperation and tried to limit the integration process. Will Poland return to the European arena as a powerful player and what does the country have to offer Europe?

David Gregosz, Dr. Piotr Womela
July 2, 2024
Country reports
IMAGO / TT

France moves to the far right

First round of the parliamentary elections

The right-wing populist party Rassemblement National (RN) and its allies led by Les Républicains (LR) President Eric Ciotti came out on top in the first round of the French parliamentary elections with 33.15% of the votes. This is according to the results announced by the Ministry of the Interior on the night of 30 June to 1 July. The RN is followed by the left-wing parties of the New Popular Front (27.99%) and the parties of the presidential majority grouped under the Ensemble alliance (20.04%). The last word has not yet been spoken on the composition of the new National Assembly. Much will depend on the electoral recommendations of the democratic parties in the constituencies in which they have been eliminated. In 306 constituencies, three candidates have also emerged for the second round of voting (triangulaires). It remains to be seen whether the democratic third parties will withdraw from the election campaign in order to maintain the firewall against the right-wing populists.

Anja Czymmeck, Nele Katharina Wissmann
July 1, 2024
Country reports
Adobe Stock / bluebeat76 / Generiert mit KI

France ahead of the parliamentary elections

Nail-biter for Macron, France and Europe

The resounding victory of the Rassemblement National in the European elections on 9 July and the fact that the governing Renaissance party only received half as many votes as the right-wing populists led President Emmanuel Macron to the decision to dissolve the National Assembly on the evening of the election and announce new elections to be held on 30 June and 7 July. The parties had until 16 June just one week, to draw up their electoral lists and form possible electoral alliances. The early parliamentary elections, which will be held in two rounds, will be a nail biter for Macron, who is playing high stakes and gambling with his own political fate. France is in danger of reaching an impasse for the next legislative period. The scenario of cohabitation seems very realistic in view of current poll results. Europe would then be faced with a right-wing populist prime minister in one of the founding states of the EU. The Franco-German engine would stutter even more.

Anja Czymmeck, Nele Katharina Wissmann
June 26, 2024
Country reports
IMAGO / Andreas Stroh

In Search of the Least Evil

The ÖVP between the European and National Council Elections

Around 6.4 million Austrians are among the 3.6 billion people worldwide who will be able to vote in the super election year of 2024, most of whom will be going to the ballot box several times – or have already done so. The focus of attention will be on the National Council election on September 29, which follows the recent European elections by a considerable margin. There are also state elections in Vorarlberg and Styria. Since June 9, the motto "after the election is before the election" has applied to federal politics, as for most of the Austrian parties, the European elections were merely a "preliminary skirmish", conducted with little enthusiasm, for the much more decisive election in the fall from an Austrian perspective. Nevertheless, the results of the European elections, which were surprising in many respects, could well have set the course for the National Council elections in the fall.

Sebastian Enskat, M.A., Johannes Spreitz
June 25, 2024
Country reports
IMAGO / ITAR-TASS

Presidential Elections 2024 in Mauritania

A pillar of hope in the Sahel region

Presidential elections are due to be held in Mauritania on June 29, 2024. Despite general expecta-tions that the incumbent President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani will be re-elected, political tension remains, including for partners in Europe. This is because Mauritania has gained in importance for the EU in recent years in the Sahel region, which is experiencing coups. The European Union has concluded security and migration cooperation agreements with the only democratically elected government in the Sahel region. The desert state therefore plays an important role as a connecting country between the countries of the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa.

Steven Höfner, Denis Hoffmann
June 24, 2024
Country reports
IMAGO / NurPhoto

GERB wins again in sixth parliamentary election in a row and is also victorious in the European elections

A country in search of political stability

On 9 June, parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria for the sixth time in just over two years to coincide with the European elections, because GERB-SDS and PP-DB were unable to agree in March to continue their cooperation in the government by changing the prime minister after nine months. The incumbent Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov of PP-DB was to be replaced by Maria Gabriel of GERB, but this did not materialise due to internal contradictions within PP-DB.

Norbert Beckmann-Dierkes, Borislaw Wankow
June 21, 2024
Country reports

Asset Publisher

About this series

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung is a political foundation. Our offices abroad are in charge of over 200 projects in more than 120 countries. The country reports offer current analyses, exclusive evaluations, background information and forecasts - provided by our international staff.

Order details

Editor

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.V.