Social democratic parties

The European Parliament is in the process of electing its President. For the position, the European Council the name of PES leader Sergey Stanishev was also considered. Late last night, however, his group raised the candidacy of the Italian David-Maria Sassoli.

The National Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) will meet on Friday to validate the bids for the party's leadership positions - chairman, executive chairman, and secretary general, but also to set the agenda for the extraordinary Congress due on Saturday, party sources said.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD), major at rule, might get an outsider for its presidential candidate, according to its acting national chair Viorica Dancila. "We have to establish several things [at the party's congress convention]. First, we have to change the statutes with regard to the election of the party's national chair. Second - we have to come up with a political manifesto.

The latest results, reported by the Croatian Central Election Commission, indicate that the ruling conservatives and the opposition center-left party have won the same number of MEPs in the future European Parliament, BTA said.

Mustafa Sarıgül, former mayor of the Şişli district of Istanbul from the ranks of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), has resigned from the CHP and said he would run independently for the same constituency in the upcoming local polls.

All the main political parties in Moldova on Wednesday or Thursday submitted their lists of candidates to the Central Electoral Commission for the parliamentary elections due on February 24.

Under the new and controversial "mixed" electoral system, half the winning candidates for the 101 seats will come from party lists and half will be elected in constituencies.

Supporter of Nelson Chamisa from Zimbabwe's opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have gathered in the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe, following a general election.

Zimbabwe police have been deployed to the center of the capital ahead of the election results being announced.

The Cypriot Parliament has passed legislation aimed at providing state guarantees to Hellenic Bank in its acquisition of Cyprus Cooperative Bank's healthy portfolio.

The final list of Turkish political parties' candidate MPs that will run in parliamentary elections on June 24 was published early today in the official gazette.

Is there a future for European (and Greek) social democracy? I could provide a straightforward answer: Given their existing organizational structures, their sadly inadequate leaderships and their parochial ideological and political character, Europe's social democrats are not very likely to win back their once-prominent position in the European political system.