Tunisia&#39;s democratic future &#39;still bleak&#39;
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Another sweeping re-election win by Tunisia&#39;s long-time president is a slap in the face for democratic reforms and political change in a country run with an iron fist, critics said on Monday.
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Iraq&#39;s elections were thrown into renewed doubt only days after the interim government won international backing for its decision to hold the poll at the end of January.
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Tunisians voted on Sunday in general  elections boycotted by several opposition parties but praised  by President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's leader for 17  years, as a boost to democracy.
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Senegal has long been a bastion of stability in turbulent West Africa but with less than three months to go before presidential elections, cracks are showing in the region's model democracy.
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Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was widely expected to win a fourth term on Monday in presidential and parliamentary elections marred by a boycott by an opposition party that called the vote a sham.
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Shi'ites may have won the lion's share  of the vote in Iraq's elections but the main alliance will  still have to find new allies if it wants a majority in the new  parliament and to secure passage of a new constitution.  And while Sunni Arabs, who for decades provided Iraq's ruling  elite, failed to win more than a slither of the vote and will  be marginalized in the National Assembly, they still have to be  brought on board for the constitution to be agreed.
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LA DISCUSSIONE                                          Democratici e socialisti, il futuro Ã¨ l'Europa
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President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was headed for an almost certain five-year extension of his mandate when Tunisians voted in presidential and parliamentary elections yesterday.
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But many young activists are still struggling to maintain the movement that followed in the wake of Hariri's death.
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An internal report prepared by Israel&#39;s foreign ministry paints a gloomy picture for the future of the country&#39;s global standing, giving warning that in the coming decade it could
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One that&#39;s winning the peace and one that isn&#39;t. A country that will hold democratic elections in January and another that can&#39;t possibly succeed without some big changes.
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On the 25th anniverary of Anwar Sadat's assassination, Egypt faces an uncertain political future. Democratic reform has largely stalled and the current president's son looks positioned to succeed him.
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ROME, Jan 30 (IPS) - Following the resignation of prime minister Romano  Prodi last week after just 20 months in office, the future of  economic and social reforms due to be implemented by his  centre-left government appears uncertain.
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Polling stations opened in Tunisia on  Sunday in presidential and parliamentary elections boycotted by  several opposition parties and seen as test to the U.S.  administration's drive to boost democracy in the Middle East.
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U.S. News & World Report - In a sign of things to come, a dose of negativity has entered the Democratic presidential campaign.
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Despite an uptick in the birthrate, the country is still heading for demographic disaster
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News reports on Iraq paint a picture of a country trapped in a cycle of violence and destruction. The sceptics and nay-sayers don&#39;t believe Iraqis are ready for democracy.