The EconomistJune 1st 2019 71The world this week Politics
At elections for the European
Parliament, a predicted surge
by populists and nationalists
failed to materialise, though
such parties gained seats in
Italy and Britain. The new
parliament will be much more
fragmented than the old one,
thanks to a strong showing by
green and liberal parties. The
traditional main groupings,
the centre-right European
People’s Party and the centre-
left Socialists and Democrats,
both lost ground, falling well
below a combined majority of
the chamber for the first time.Greece’sprime minister, Alex-
is Tsipras, said he would call a
snap election after his left-
wing Syriza party flopped in
the Euro polls. In Austria,
Sebastian Kurz lost a vote of
confidence thanks to the
break-up of his coalition with
the hard-right fpö, so a fresh
election will be held there, too.
In a state election in Bremen,
Germany’sSocial Democrats
lost for the first time in 70
years.Romania’sruling party did
terribly in the European elec-
tions. The next day its leader,
Liviu Dragnea, was jailed for
corruption.Theresa Maysaid she would
resign as Britain’s prime min-
ister, after repeatedly failing to
deliver Brexit. The 12-week-old
Brexit Partywon the most
votes of any party at the Euro-
pean elections in Britain. The
anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats
and Greens won more votes
than the Brexit Party but fewer
seats. The traditional parties of
government, the Conservatives
and Labour, did miserably.Britain’s Labour Partyexpelled
Alastair Campbell, a formeradvisertoTonyBlair,forback-
ingtheLiberalDemocratsin
theEuropeanelections.Party
memberswhomakeanti-
Semiticcommentshavesel-
dombeendumpedsoswiftly.
SeveralotherprominentLa-
bouritesalsobackedother
parties,mostlyoverBrexit.Disparatelives
Brazil’ssupremecourtruled
thatdiscriminatingagainstgay
ortransgenderpeopleisequiv-
alenttodiscriminatingon
groundsofrace.Homophobic
andtransphobicactsaretobe
punishedunderexistinglaws
banningracialdiscrimination
untilCongresspassesa bill.
Brazillegalisedsame-sex
marriagein2013,butatleast
420 gaypeoplearethoughtto
havebeenmurderedlastyear.MexicochargedEmilioLozoya
Austin,a formerheadof
Pemex,thestate-runoilcom-
pany,withfraud.It isthefirst
bigcasebroughtbythegovern-
mentofAndrésManuelLópez
Obrador,whosecampaignlast
yearpromisedtocrackdown
oncorruption.Allofthetopleadersof
AmnestyInternational, a
human-rightsgroup,offeredto
resignafteraninternalreview
uncovereda “toxic”workplace
culture,includingreportsof
bullying.Back to the polls!
The IsraeliKnesset voted to
hold a fresh election in Sep-
tember, five months after a poll
in April, as talks led by Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,
to put together a new coalition
government failed. The stick-
ing point was an attempt to
end the exemption from the
military draft for ultra-Ortho-
dox Jews, which their parties
refused to countenance. Mr
Netanyahu pushed for a new
election rather than let another
party try to form a government.
It is the first time in Israel that
a governing majority has not
been formed after an election.The Syrian regime of Bashar
al-Assad pounded Idlib prov-ince,thelastrebel-heldstrong-
hold.Scoresofcivilianshave
diedinthebombardment,
whichbeganlastmonth.Some
300,000havefled.DonaldTrumpdeclareda
nationalemergencyoverten-
sionswithIraninorderto
pushthroughthesaleof
$8bn-worthofweaponsto
SaudiArabia, Iran’sregional
rival.Bydeclaringtheemer-
gency,MrTrumpwasableto
bypassCongress,whichhas
criticisedSaudiArabia’scon-
ductofthewarinYemen.Mr
Trumpsaidheisnotseeking
regimechangeinIran—unlike
hisnational-securityadviser,
JohnBolton.CyrilRamaphosanameda new,
smallercabinetfollowinghis
re-electionasSouthAfrica’s
president.Halftheappoint-
mentswerewomenandthe
newintakewasgenerallytaken
asa signthatMrRamaphosais
seriousaboutcrackingdown
oncorruption.Theywillall
havetosignperformance
agreements.The end of Mueller’s time
Robert Mueller, who led the
Department of Justice’s
investigation into Russian
meddling in the election of
2016, gave a rare public state-
ment. He explained that be-
cause the department works
for the president, indicting
Donald Trump was “unconsti-
tutional” and “not an option
we could consider”. He also
suggested that he has nothing
to say beyond what is already
in his report.America’s Supreme Court
rejected a law in Indiana that
would have banned abortions
sought because of the fetus’s
sex or disability. However, it
upheld Indiana’s requirement
that aborted fetuses be buried
or cremated. Louisiana passed
a bill banning abortions if a
fetal heartbeat is detected. The
Democratic governor has said
he will sign it. Both pro-life
and pro-choice activists expect
a big battle over abortion dur-
ing next year’s presidential
campaign.America laid fresh charges
against Julian Assange, this
time for being “complicit with”
Chelsea Manning in leaking
hundreds of thousands of
sensitive documents, starting
in 2009. Mr Assange, who is in
a British prison for jumping
bail and is too ill to attend
court, has already been ac-
cused by the Americans of
abetting the hacking of a gov-
ernment computer.WrestleMania it ain’tOn a state visit to Japan,
Donald Trump met the new
emperor and attended a sumo-
wrestling tournament, where
he presented a trophy. He
startled his hosts by saying that
North Korea’srecent missile
tests did not bother him and
didn’t violate unresolutions.
Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime
minister, called the missile
tests “extremely regrettable”.John Bolton, Mr Trump’s
national security adviser,
enraged Chinaby meeting his
Taiwanesecounterpart in
Washington. It was the first
meeting between the top
national-security officials
from both countries since 1979,
when America ended formal
relations. China says Taiwan is
part of its territory.After weeks of political tumult,
Peter O’Neill bowed to pressure
and resigned as prime minister
of Papua New Guinea. He was
replaced by James Marape, a
former ally who recently
stepped down as finance
minister. Mr O’Neill had faced
mounting opposition to
energy deals with foreign
companies, including Total
and ExxonMobil. Many locals
complained that they had been
overlooked in the process.