What will be the test of legitimacy for Afghanistan’s elections?
No-one is using the age-old electoral mantra “free and fair”.
It is hard to find anyone who expects Afghanistan’s third major poll since 2001 to be fully free or fully fair.
These are the first elections since 2001 run primarily by Afghans – albeit with international support.
There’s been an unprecedented level of political debate and lively campaigning in this first truly contested poll.
But one embittered election expert described it as a “squandered opportunity”.

The Honduran interim government defied international pressure on Wednesday and vowed there was “no chance at all” of ousted President Manuel Zelaya returning to office.
World leaders from U.S. President Barack Obama to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have told the new rulers of the Central American country to restore Zelaya, a leftist who was toppled by the army on Sunday and sent into exile after a dispute over presidential term limits.

Silvio Berlusconi is an Italian politician, entrepreneur. He is the second longest-serving Prime Minister of the Italian Republic.

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj is a Mongolian politician and the President of Mongolia.

Tsakhia Elbegdorj won the presidency in with a narrow election win over incumbent Nambaryn Enkhbayar in May 24 2009. He was set to take office later in the month.
Standing for the opposition Democratic Party, Elbegdorj won just over 51% of the vote, to 47% for Enkhbayar, whose ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) said it accepted the result as fair.

Mauritania’s military rulers and opposition leaders have signed an agreement to end a political crisis following a coup last August.
Under the deal, former junta leader General Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz is suspending his campaign in presidential polls that had been set for 6 June.
The vote is now due to take place in July, and the opposition is expected to contest it.

Moldova — Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin failed on Wednesday to secure the parliament’s election of a compliant ally as his successor who would have allowed him to continue running the country behind the scenes.
Voronin’s plan to win parliamentary support for fellow Communist Zinaida Greceanii came unstuck when opposition parties torpedoed the ballot with a boycott that denied her, by just one vote, the required tally of votes for election.
The outcome triggers new parliamentary elections, though Voronin took no immediate steps to dissolve the chamber.

Voters in Mongolia are electing a new president, a year after vote-rigging claims in parliamentary polls triggered deadly riots in the country.
Current President Nambaryn Enkhbayar of the former Communist party is being challenged by Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj of the main opposition Democratic Party.
Polls opened at 2300 GMT on Saturday are due to close at 1400 GMT on Sunday.

Iran has blocked its citizens from accessing the social networking site Facebook to allegedly prevent campaigning before June’s presidential poll for a leading opposition candidate.
The local ILNA news agency reported on Saturday the prohibition of use of the site for several days.
The elections are on June 12.
The ministry of communications and information technology had announced the decision, according to one internet service provider employee, although this has not been confirmed by authorities.

About 150 opposition activists from South Ossetia have held an unapproved protest in front the Russian Duma in Moscow, RFE/RL’s Russian Service reports.
The protesters object to the policies of South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity.
Alan Gassiev, a member of the political council of the opposition People’s Party, told RFE/RL that Kokoity is implementing “antidemocratic politics.”