December 2 — Africa: IVORY COAST
Ivory Coast’s electoral commission announces that opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara has won the presidential run-off election. (December 3): The country’s Constitutional Council overturns the previous poll results and declares incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo the election winner. The Council is staffed with the president’s supporters. The international community endorses Ouattara and calls for Gbagbo to accept the defeat. (December 4): Both candidates take oaths as new heads of state and the dispute escalates into violence between supporters of the two opposing camps. (December 23): The post-election clashes have claimed 173 lives so far. The West African regional organization ECOWAS warns it will take military action if Laurent Gbagbo does not step down.
December 3 — North America: UNITED STATES
The U.S. Labor Department says that the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in November and the job creation was much smaller than expected. There are 15.1 million unemployed; 6.3 million of them are long-term unemployed.
December 5 — Africa: EGYPT
As a result of the second run of parliamentary elections in Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak’s governing National Democratic Party wins 83 percent of the parliamentary seats, with the opposition parties and rights groups alleging widespread fraud. The two main opposition groups, the Muslim Brotherhood and Wafd parties, boycott the elections. The Muslim Brotherhood, which holds 20 percent of the seats in the current parliament, will end up with no representation at all in the new one. The critics say that the election turns Egypt into a one-party system.
December 7 — Middle East/North America: ISRAEL/PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES/UNITED STATES
After weeks of negotiations, the United States says that it has failed to resolve the impasse of the direct peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The sticking point of the talks has been Israel’s refusal to renew its ban on settlements in the West Bank.
December 8 — Europe/International Organizations: RUSSIA/EUROPEAN UNION/WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
The European Union (EU) announces its support for Russia’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) after Russia agreed to phase out export tariffs on raw materials such as timber. Russia is the only large economy outside of the 153-member WTO, the organization that regulates world trade.
December 17 — Latin America: VENEZUELA
The outgoing Venezuelan parliament, which is dominated by President Hugo Chavez’s supporters, grants him powers to rule by decree for the next 18 months. The move is to counter the incoming parliament which will house many more members in opposition to Chavez. Although Chavez says his new powers are to streamline decision making in the face of recent devastating floods and landslides, they, in fact, extend beyond relief and reconstruction issues and include such areas as banking, finance, security, and defense. The critics say the move leads to a dictatorship.
December 19 — Former Soviet Republics: BELARUS
Belarus officials announce that President Alexander Lukashenko has won 80 percent of the vote in the country’s presidential election. Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader labeled as Europe’s last dictator, will serve his fourth consecutive term as president. While international observers denounce the poll as fraudulent, 10,000 protesters storm a government building in the capital, Minsk. Riot police detains several hundred demonstrators as well as seven out of nice opposition presidential candidates.
December 21 — North America: UNITED STATES
According to the 2010 United States Census, the U.S. population has grown by about 10 percent in the last decade, reaching 308.7 million. This has been the slowest growth since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The changes in population growth and decline in various states will affect the redistribution of congressional seats. The number of electoral votes each state has in the House of Representatives is apportioned according to the population. Eight mostly southern and western states will gain votes, while many northeastern and midwestern states will lose votes.