Eastern approaches

ELECTIONS are nearing and Romanian politics is heating up. On October 17th the ruling Social-Liberal coalition (USL) gathered 70,000 people from all over the country to launch their parliamentary candidates for the December 9th vote. Some participants from remote villages admitted to reporters they had taken the free bus trip to see Bucharest and the new football stadium where the rally was taking place.

But most polls give the Social-Democrat leader and Prime Minister Victor Ponta every reason to enjoy the cheering crowds.

THE ruling Party of Regions and its allies look set to win Ukraine’s parliamentary election on October 28th. They may even gain a constitutional majority with control of two-thirds of the parliament. This will likely happen despite the fact that most Ukrainians regularly tell pollsters their country is heading “in the wrong direction” and less than a quarter of them plan to vote for the Party of Regions.

PRIME MINISTER Petr Nečas' ruling Civic Democratic Party (ODS) suffered a sharp rebuke from the electorate in regional elections on October 12th and 13th. The Communist Party (KSČM) fared surprisingly well thanks to many voters' unhappiness with fiscal-austerity measures.

Voters were choosing regional assemblies in 13 of the country’s 14 regions, which means everywhere but Prague. Such votes often serve as a barometer for trends at the national level and can offer insight into results of a future general election.  Mr.

ACROSS Podgorica opposition activists have stenciled the name of Montenegro’s two main ruling parties on walls and underneath them have added the words: “Game Over”. It is not. The general election on October 14th has produced a result which means that the ruling coalition will almost certainly retain power. Whether Milo Djukanovic (pictured above), who has dominated the political landscape here for more than 20 years returns to the job of prime minister though remains to be seen.

No Montenegrin government has ever changed via the ballot box.

DONALD TUSK is one of the longest-serving prime ministers in Europe. His fans praise his steady, emollient style and the solid economic growth Poland has enjoyed under his stewardship. Foes blast sleaze, complacency and stagnation. Each year Mr Tusk gives an "exposé" to the Sejm, outlining his government's priorities for the coming year. 

This year, by his own admission, he offered "no fireworks". The priority was economic growth. The main specific was to extend maternity leave from six months to a year. He also asked for vote of confidence, to dispel speculation about the longevity of his coalition government.

CZECH POLITICS seems to be getting nastier. Polls indicate a far-right party could enter a regional assembly in the Czech Republic for the first time during regional elections on October 12th and 13th. A recent survey of high school students found far-left and right-wing parties are among the most popular. And a pellet gun attack at the end of September on President Václav Klaus by a self-proclaimed Communist Party (KSČM) supporter is casting political divisions in a new, less friendly light.

“It seems that a lot of people want to use their votes in the election as so-called protest votes.

ONE evening in late September, people filed into the Philharmonia building in Chernivtsi, a town near Ukraine’s border with Romania, that was known as Czernowitz under the Austro-Hungarian Empire They had not come to hear a string quartet. The night’s star was Andriy Shevchenko (pictured above), a hero of Ukrainian football, who has announced during the summer that he was leaving football for politics. He is now on the party list of “Ukraine – Forward”, second only to Natalia Korolevska, the party’s leader.

Mr Shevchenko and Ms Korolevska were in this tucked-away province to campaign for the parliamentary elections on October 28th.