Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on European parliament elections.
BULGARIA Parliamentary elections of 2007 resulted in the victory for a new center-right party: Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) under Boyko Borisov. Georgi Parvanov has been the president of the country since 2002. The center-right GERB opposition party won 26.2% of the vote and five seats in the 2009 election. They beat the ruling Socialists (18.9%/4 seats).CZECH REPUBLIC The two round parliamentary elections which were conducted in 2006 was shaded off by a dishonor, resulting in reformation of government in 2007. Mirek Topolanek who leads the Civic democrats formed a new center-right government in January 2007.
This government consisted of Topolanek’s Civic Union, the Greens, and the Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People’s Party. Jan Fisher has been the prime minister since 8 May 2009.FRANCE Legislative elections for the national assembly took place in June 2007 in France. President Nickolas Sarkozy’s UMP won the elections. Sarkozy was elected as the president in 2007. This was only because of the center-right voters. They elected Francois Fillon of the UMP as their prime minister. In the 2009 elections, Sarkozy’s UMP received 28%. French MEP Joseph Daul who is theEPP-ED group chairman stated his party had won because it had verbalized “about Europe” andwas away from any controversies. ITALY Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitan, who is a former leader of the Italian Communist Party, was elected in April 2006. But in the 2008 elections Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party won the elections. Berlusconi constituted a center-right cabinet of ministers which included his People of Freedom coalition and the Northern League. Berlusconi’s ‘Party of Liberty’ (PdL) secured 39%, of the votes against 27.5% which its main rival, the centre-left PD secured.IRELAND Ireland’s elections to the lower house of parliament were conducted in May 2007.
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and his Fioanna Fail Party were victorious. Fianna Fail continued as the largest party but its coalition partners -the Progressive Democrats- were not as victorious. Mary McAleese has been the president of Ireland since 1997. LATVIA The Center-right party won the June 2004 elections in Latvia. The majority coalition consisted of People’s Party and other center-right parties. The party led by Aigars Kalvitis became a minority coalition with the departure of one party. In 2007, Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis the head of the center-right Latvian Way party formed a center-right coalition government. LITHUANIA The center-left government was replaced by the center-right in the elections conducted in October 2008.
The center-right party is headed by prime minister and leader of the Homeland Union Lithuanian Christian Democrats Party Andrius Kubilius. Dalia Grybauskaite is Lithuania’s first female president who was elected in May 2009. POLAND Lech Kaczynki was the elected president in October 2005 elections. But in the Snap elections on October 21 2007 resulted in the victory of the center-right opposition party which is led by Donald Tusk. Tusk became Poland’s prime minister in November 2007 and led a coalition government of his civic platform party and the Polish People’s Party.