6 important stories you may have missed

Elections around the world have slowed in the summer months, and our 2020 project is roughly at its halfway point. We’re using the quiet season to highlight some of the stories you may have missed. 

Guinea: “Hail to the Editor-in-Chief”

In March of this year, Guinea voted on a new constitution. In April, the newly-approved constitution was published, but it was significantly changed from the version the public had voted on — and those changes further entrench the power of Guinea’s president, Alpha Condé. In an interview with The Ballot, lawyer Frederic Loua explained what went wrong and how the country can proceed.

Guyana: “How Oil Changed Everything and Then Didn’t”

This was supposed to be the year Guyana’s economy grew faster than any other on earth. In 2015, an estimated 8 billion barrels of oil were discovered in the waters surrounding the South American country. But the oil revenue has brought little but political uncertainty. Revenues from oil sales were not distributed equitably. In March, the country held an election after widespread calls for the ruling party to step down over their mishandling of the discovery.

But the election was plagued by accusations of fraud. Neil Marks, a Reuters correspondent in Guyana, walked us through this underreported story that raises crucial questions about who’s entitled to a country’s resources and what to do when an untrusted government is clinging to power. 

India: “Is it the Housework” and “In Shaheen Bagh”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party is using autocratic tactics to stir nativist resentment, sow religious division and consolidate his own power. In two essays for The Ballot, correspondent Snigdha Poonam gave us a closeup view of what that process has looked like on the ground. In January, Poonam wrote for us about the women who have taken to the streets of Delhi singing protest songs and quoting Bertolt Brecht to voice their opposition to a law that sidelines Muslims. In June, she described the deadly exodus of workers from India’s urban factories after businesses shuttered because of coronavirus. Both stories are worth your time.

Poland: Where the Postmen Fear a Mail-in Ballot

In April, as the coronavirus crisis hit its first peak across Europe, Poland’s conservative ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS) tried to rapidly coordinate the country’s first-ever mail-in presidential election, assuming it would benefit their preferred candidate, Andrzej Duda. Ahead of the vote, our correspondent Maria Wilczek interviewed postal workers who were skeptical they could pull the election off— and skeptical of the motives. The story is fascinating and disconcerting for what it says about Poland (Duda eventually won in a run-off election), and what it suggests  for other countries trying to arrange vote-by-mail elections. 

Switzerland: Where Everyone Votes All the Time

And then there’s the rare bit of good news. Isabelle Mayault took a deep dive into the referendum-happy Swiss, who has voted recently on the dehorning of cattle, phasing out of nuclear energy and the establishment of a national minimum wage of 4,000 Swiss francs per month. Everyone’s favorite neutral nation is once again taking things slow while the countries around it scramble.