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 governing centre-right party of Albania’s Prime Minister has claimed victory in elections held last weekend.
With most results in, the Democrat party headed by PM Sali Berisha was narrowly ahead of its Socialist rivals, but possibly short of a majority.
However, the Socialists accused their rivals of manipulating the vote in order to win the election.
Election observers said the vote showed a marked improvement on previous polls, though there were still some concerns.
Mr Berisha said the results were a "vote of confidence" for his party and pledged …

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.

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.

Moldova’s parliament has failed to elect a new president – increasing the possibility the country will have to hold a new general election.
The last election sparked violent scenes as protesters claimed the Communist Party victory was fraudulent.
The Communists needed 61 votes in the 101-seat parliament to elect their candidate Zinaida Greceanii – but only mustered 60 amid an opposition boycott.

Germany’s federal president is not chosen through a popular vote. Instead, a special committee formed for the sole purpose of choosing the president votes in the next officeholder.
The Federal Assembly only gathers for the election of the president. It is made up of all the members of the Bundestag – the German parliament – and an equal number of representatives chosen by Germany’s 16 states. The 2009 Assembly will have 1,224 members: 612 members of parliament, and 612 state representatives.

Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika is due to be inaugurated for a second term after a landslide election win.
The election commission said he had won more than 2.7m votes, with nearest rival John Tembo taking nearly 1.3m.
Mr Tembo cried foul but his opposition coalition backer, ex-President Bakili Muluzi, congratulated the incumbent.
Mr Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) also won a majority in parliament. Regional heads of state are in Malawi for the inauguration.
Zambia’s President Rupiya Banda, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and Tanzanian Vice-President Ali Mohammed Shein are also due to …

India’s ruling Congress party looked set to take an unexpectedly decisive general election victory as the 400 million-plus votes cast during the month-long election were counted this morning.
The party defied exit polls and analysts’ predictions, which had indicated a much closer result. With more than 70% of the vote counted the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was set to take more than 250 seats and the opposition alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) forecast to take 160.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance said on Saturday the ruling Congress party-led alliance had the biggest mandate after a general election.
“The Congress has the biggest mandate,” said senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
“I think if Congress wants to compliment some of its leaders in this hour of victory, I think they’re entitled to do so.”
The Congress-led alliance was projected to get about 250 seats of a total 543 parliamentary seats.

The name list of the 300 members of Macao Special Administrative Region’s (SAR) Chief Executive (CE) Election Committee was Monday published in the SAR’s latest edition of the Official Gazette.
By law, Macao’s new chief executive will be elected within the 300-member CE Election Committee, the tenure of which is five years and their memberships become effective as the name list was official published on Monday.