This week's electoral news is from Paraguay, Turkey, Cuba, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Category: Middle East
Recommended weekly reading
A new feature: links to some recent material that readers should find interesting.
Easter election roundup
Election news from around the world. This week: Costa Rica, Egypt, Sierra Leone and New Caledonia.
Self-determination, here and there
Catalonia has no chance of getting a credible vote for independence this week. Kurdistan has already got one, but it's not doing it much good.
Europe heads for a Turkish divorce
As Turkish membership of the EU disappears from the agenda, Angela Merkel can at least claim the virtue of consistency. But it remains a major policy failure.
Kurdistan’s turn
Iraq's Kurds say they're pushing forward with a referendum on independence, but the nature of their strategy remains a little unclear.
The war against Arab democracy
The conflict with Qatar is fundamentally about the possibility of democracy in the Arab world. That's why Saudi and Trumpian autocrats are on the same side.
Election preview: Iran
Iran's presidential election has been an acrimonious contest between the moderate incumbent and his conservative challenger. But no Iranian president really runs things.
Brexit moves east
Another victory for authoritarianism, this time in Turkey, but the closeness of the result conveys some hope for the future.
Amazing hypocrisy on free speech
A Palestinian activist falls foul of the federal government's highly selective concern for freedom of speech.
