Foreign Digest Updates: Nicaragua, Italy and Russia

Nicaragua: the Marxist government gives into protesters

            The Marxist Sandinista Nicaraguan Government acquiesced last week to the demands of protestors who had opposed the increasingly authoritarian government’s plans for insurance.  The demonstrations earlier this month were deadly because of the regime’s crackdown.

Italy: update on the Italian Parliamentary Elections

            The President of the Italian Republic gave an exploratory mandate over a week ago to the President of the Senate, a member of the leading conservative party, to see if a coalition government could be formed between the right-wing bloc, which won the most votes and seats in the parliamentary elections in March, and the anti-establishment populists, who were the single party that won the most votes and seats.  After the failure of this mandate, because the populists refused to govern with the Senate President’s party, that of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the President granted an exploratory mandate last week to the President of the lower Chamber of Deputies, who is a member of the populist party, to try to form a government between his party and the center-left party, which won the second most votes, but which was the party’s worst ever result.  The liberals are split over whether to remain in opposition or to try to negotiate the formation of a coalition government with the populists.  There are some areas of agreement between the two parties, but clear differences between the anti-European populists and the pro-European liberals.  A likely result is the failure of this mandate, followed by the calling by the President for new elections.  Both the leading right-wing party and the populists suggest a return to the urns in June.  Based upon polls and the results of regional elections, the right-wing bloc is confident it will again win the most votes and seats, with probably more than it did in March.  The question then would be whether it can gain a majority and which of its two main parties would gain the most votes and thus make a claim to the premiership.

Russia: more protests

           There were more protests in Russia over the weekend as demonstrators took to the streets to protest censorship of the Internet by Vladimir Putin’s oligarchic, authoritarian Russian Federation regime.  There have been protests over the last few months against corruption and the barring of the democratic opposition leader from being a candidate for President.  The freedom of the press and assembly are not respected by the regime and elections in Russia are hardly free and fair.