Elections results

Sweden Democrats break through in parliamentary election, socialists remain biggest party

The Social Democrats achieved their worst result in a century, while the Sweden Democrats will have their biggest-ever faction in parliament following Sunday's election, according to results, with 99 percent of the votes tallied.

The center-left Social Democrats are in first place with 28.4 percent - 3 less than in 2014, the center-right Moderates follow them in second place with 19.8 - down 4 - and the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats are close behind with 17.6 percent. The party first made the Riksdag in 2010, and has boosted its vote by 5 percent in the last four years.

We will gain huge influence over what happens in Sweden during the coming weeks, months and years," Jimmie Akesson told the media, calling his party "the real winner" of the election.

A detailed breakdown commissioned by national broadcaster SVT on the basis of exit polls showed that while just over half of the Sweden Democrats supporters had voted for the party four years ago, the second biggest faction, nearly one-in-five, were defectors from the Social Democrats, a party that spent the campaign explicitly labeling the upstarts "Nazis"and "racists." Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson's nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric also appears to have played well with former supporters of the Moderates, the party that appears to be squeezed uncomfortably between the socialist left, and a more outspoken right.

Elections results

Leftist Wins Mexico Presidency in Landslide With Mandate to Reshape Nation

Riding a wave of populist anger fueled by rampant corruption and violence, the leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected president of Mexico on Sunday, in a landslide victory that upended the nation’s political establishment and handed him a sweeping mandate to reshape the country.

Mr. López Obrador’s win puts a leftist leader at the helm of Latin America’s second-largest economy for the first time in decades, a prospect that has filled millions of Mexicans with hope — and the nation’s elites with trepidation.

The outcome represents a clear rejection of the status quo in the nation, which for the last quarter century has been defined by a centrist vision and an embrace of globalization that many Mexicans feel has not served them.

Elections results

Local elections 2018: Mixed picture for Labour and Tories

Labour and the Conservatives have both lost control of key councils in local elections across England.

Labour failed to take several targets from the Tories but did win back Plymouth, become the largest party in Trafford and is making gains in London.

The Tories benefited from a collapse in UKIP's vote in many areas, celebrating wins in Basildon and Peterborough.

The Lib Dems regained control of Richmond in South London and gained seats elsewhere.

A total of 4,371 seats are up for grabs in 150 local councils in what is the first England-wide test of political opinion since last year's general election.

With nearly half of results in so far, Labour have held on to 35 councils while taking Plymouth from the Conservatives - a result Tory MP Johnny Mercer blamed on the government's handling of defence issues.

Elections results

What to expect from Ecuador’s new president

IT WAS hardly a ringing endorsement. With nearly all the votes counted, Lenín Moreno, the political heir of Ecuador’s left-wing president, Rafael Correa, won the presidential election by barely more than two percentage points. That victory brings to an end a series of defeats for left-wing governments in Latin America. Mr Moreno will try to continue Mr Correa’s free-spending populism, but he will have less money and will exercise less power than his predecessor did during more than a decade in office.

Mr Moreno’s narrow victory on April 2nd came after an ugly fight with Guillermo Lasso, a conservative former banker. Mr Moreno’s party, Alianza PAIS, unjustly attacked his rival as one of the authors of Ecuador’s financial crisis in 1999-2000. (Mr Lasso was briefly finance and economy minister at the time, but quit because he opposed Ecuador’s decision to default on its bonds.) Mr Lasso’s connection to Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organisation, probably counted against him.

Elections results

WikiLeaks' Assange asylum winner in Ecuador election



WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will likely be able to remain at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London after voters in Ecuador on Sunday narrowly elected ruling party candidate Lenín Moreno over conservative Guillermo Lasso.

Moreno, the political successor to President Rafael Correa, had said he would allow Assange to stay. Correa in 2012 granted asylum to Assange, who hasn’t left the embassy since.

Moreno won the presidential runoff with 51% of the vote, according to an official quick count by by the National Electoral Council, although Lasso was seeking a recount after three exit polls showed him winning by a comfortable margin. Minutes earlier a separate quick count by a respected local group said the race was a technical tie with a difference of less than 0.6 percentage points separating the two candidates. The group refrained from saying which candidate was leading until the electoral authorities made their pronouncement.

Elections results

EU COLLAPSE? Blow for Brussels as Eastern European countries ‘begin siding with RUSSIA'

Two countries in particular - Moldova and Bulgaria - are reportedly seeing a big rise in the popularity of Pro-Russia forces, and recent election results have provided more proof the countries look set to ditch their European neighbours in favour of closer Russian ties.

Bulgaria – who joined the bloc in 2007 – recently elected pro-Russian candidate, Rumen Radev, as their new president, while Igor Dodon - whose ambition to be closer to Russia was a large part of his campaign manifesto - was elected Moldova’s president last week.

...After Brexit and increasing speculation that other nations - including France and Sweden - could be considering leaving the trade bloc, Eastern Europe may begin to question whether it would be more beneficial to align with Russia rather than remain part of the crumbling EU.

The readiness of some countries to move closer to Russia could see a revival of the Russian sphere of influence, which would redistribute power in Europe and could even spell the end for the EU.