Global Briefs: Progressives sweep Aussie polls

Fact Box Source: The World Factbook-CIA

Australia

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese won a second term in office on May 3 as his progressive Labor Party swept the federal elections. Labor needed just 76 seats for a majority in Parliament’s House of Representatives but took 89. Both opposition leader Peter Dutton and Greens party leader Adam Bandt, a previous Labor ally, lost their seats to Labor candidates. Albanese says he will improve Australian relations with other nations, particularly China. He also promises to ease his country’s housing shortage by building more houses for first-time buyers, and he plans to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses with another 8.5 billion Australian dollars for Medicare, the country’s universal health insurance program. This year, generally progressive millennial and Gen Z voters outnumbered baby boomers for the first time. —Amy Lewis

Colombia

President Gustavo Petro announced May 6 he would sign a “letter of intent” to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The move further frays Colombia’s strained relationship with the United States, a close trade and security partner. That relationship soured in January when Petro denied entry to two U.S. military planes carrying Colombian citizens deported from the United States. After U.S. President Donald Trump responded by threatening 25% tariffs on Colombian goods, Colombia sent its own planes to get the migrants. Petro has since talked about moving the country’s trade toward China, and Chinese officials in Bogotá have pressured him to join the pact before his term expires next year. Colombian business groups fear such a move away from the U.S. will be economically detrimental to Colombia. —Jenny Lind Schmitt

Faure Gnassingbé, the president of Togo Li He / Xinhua via Getty Images

Togo

Longtime President Faure Gnassingbé was sworn in as the new “President of the Council of Ministers” in the West African country on May 3—a position opponents fear permanently secures his rule. The new office is the highest in the government’s executive branch. Reforms to Togo’s constitution last year downgraded the presidential position to an honorary role while also creating a system where elections are decided by parliament instead of universal suffrage. Opponents to Gnassingbé and his family’s nearly six-decade rule likened the constitutional changes to a coup. Togo’s July municipal elections will be the first under the new constitution, which opposing parties still consider illegal and illegitimate. —Elisa Palumbo

Fact Box Source: The World Factbook-CIA

Bangladesh

The Election Commission on May 12 canceled the registration of the Awami League, the political party of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, barring it from participating in the next national election expected to be held by June 2026. Bangladesh’s interim government also banned all Awami League activities until a special tribunal concludes a trial of the party and its leaders over the deaths of hundreds of students and other protesters during last year’s anti-government uprising that ended Hasina’s autocratic 15-year rule. The crackdown on the Awami League came after Hefazat-e-Islam, an influential Islamist group, organized a rally in the capital of Dhaka on May 3, drawing about 20,000 demonstrators who demanded the ban on the party and the dissolution of a women’s rights commission in the Muslim-majority nation. —Joyce Wu

Fact Box Source: The World Factbook-CIA

Poland

Poles celebrated this year’s May 3 Constitution Day, commemorating the adoption of the country’s 1791 constitution, amid a national defense buildup that signals a nation on edge. Since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, Poles are worried that the 10,000 U.S. troops stationed in Poland as part of NATO will pull out, leaving them vulnerable to becoming Russia’s next target after Ukraine. While Warsaw purchases artillery systems, planes, and missiles from foreign nations, there is overwhelming civilian participation in a voluntary program called “Train With the Army” that teaches shooting, hand-to-hand combat, and first aid. The government plans to double the number of servicemembers to half a million, which would make Poland’s military the second largest in NATO after the U.S. —Evangeline Schmitt

Sebastian Castaneda / Reuters / Redux

Peru

The Ministry of Defense ordered a full military takeover of the province of Pataz starting May 9 following the death of 13 mine workers abducted from area goldfields. Armed criminals kidnapped the workers in late April and demanded bribes for days before torturing and murdering them. Mining violence has escalated nationwide since 2020, as COVID-19 quarantines allowed gangs to confiscate and exploit Peru’s vast mineral reserves. The government ordered the suspension of local mining in Pataz until further notice, but Mayor Aldo Mariño has blamed the government for mishandling the crisis. Peru is one of the largest gold producers in the world. At least 40% of its gold exports are illegally extracted. —Carlos Páez