LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN

Morales Declared Winner in Bolivian Election Despite Fraud Accusations
Bolivian President Evo Morales was proclaimed the winner of an October 20 election despite widespread accusations of electoral fraud. According to election officials, Morales received 47 percent of the vote, beating his main rival, Carlos Mesa, by slightly more than ten points. Candidates are required to win by a ten-percent margin in order to avoid a runoff. Election observers from the Organization of American States have accused Morales’s party of improperly using state resources during the campaign. They also expressed skepticism about the integrity of the vote count, saying that the only way to salvage the credibility of the election was to convene a second round. Numerous protesters have taken to the streets to demand a second round of voting.

INDO-ASIA-PACIFIC

Thai Officials Hope to Regain Trade Privileges With U.S.
After the suspension of more than a billion dollars in trade privileges on October 25 by the United States due to the country’s poor track record on workers’ rights, officials in the Thai government hope to soon hold talks with U.S. representatives to move the terms of trade between the two countries closer to their previous conditions. The American action against Thai trade was expected after the Thai government failed to effectively respond to several allegations of labor rights violations over the past several years. However, the move comes in the aftermath of a leak of U.S. letters to Thai officials asking the government to rethink its recent ban on a major Monsanto product, leading to speculation that the U.S. government was motivated by business interests to adopt the new policy.

MIDDLE EAST & CENTRAL ASIA

ISIS Leader al-Baghdadi Killed in U.S. Raid
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ideological leader of the Islamic State (ISIS), was killed during an overnight raid in northern Syria on October 26. The reportedly successful operation was announced by President Donald Trump on the morning of October 27. He declared the raid lasted four hours and resulted in no American deaths. The president also explained that he had received actionable intelligence regarding al-Baghdadi’s location before approving the operation, which was carried out by special forces. The operation is said to have dealt a significant blow to the terrorist organization, which had already been retreating from previously-occupied territories in Syria and Iraq. It also comes as the Trump administration is under intense scrutiny over its decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria, which has, among other consequences, allowed for hundreds of ISIS fighters to escape from prisons run by the United State’s Kurdish allies.

EASTERN EUROPE & RUSSIA

Estonian Finance Minister Blamed For Slow Reform
Estonia’s far-right finance minister, Martin Helme, has been criticized by lawmakers for the slow-paced reform of money laundering laws after the Baltic state became the focus of a major money laundering scandal in Europe. Danske Bank, Denmark’s biggest bank, is under investigation over suspicious payments totaling $220 billion which were moved through its Estonian branch. According to Reuters, Estonia, like every other member of the European Union, “is obliged to adopt a raft of European Union-wide reforms by January to make it easier to combat money laundering by sharing intelligence internationally and showing who really owns companies and trusts.” Helme, a member of the Eurosceptic EKRE party, has been accused of delaying the reforms because of his opposition to the EU.

AFRICA

Kenya Issues Identity Cards to Fight Illegal Logging, Fishing
Kenya issued its first set of Muivi identity cards to fishing communities on the country’s north coast. Muivi cards are designed to identify legitimate fishers and loggers as well as combat poachers that harm ecosystems. Poaching activities contribute to climate change by cutting down mangrove forests, which absorb carbon dioxide. The cards have fingerprints and photo identifications, which Kenyan authorities can read with smartphones. Samson Macharia, commissioner of Kenya’s Lamu county, believes these cards are important because, “There are people who pretend to be fishermen going out to sea but they are doing illegal logging of the mangroves.”

WESTERN EUROPE & CANADA

Trudeau, Liberal Party Win Election But Lose Majority
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party won a plurality of seats in the House of Commons in the October 21 federal election but lost its majority. Trudeau’s party fell short of the 170 seats needed for a majority, which means Trudeau will be running a minority government. Trudeau ruled out any possibility of a coalition government with another progressive party such as the New Democratic Party. Although the Liberal Party won a plurality of seats in the House of Commons, Andrew Scheer’s Conservative Party won a plurality of the popular vote in the election, edging out the Liberal Party with 34 to 33 percent. This was also the first time in Canadian election history that no party received more than 35 percent of the vote.