September 2004

1

Davis

Council of Europe: Terry Davis takes office as secretary-general.
Maldives: President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom gives up the defense and finance portfolios. He appoints Ismail Shafeeu as defense minister, Mohamed Jaleel as finance minister, and Umar Zahir as home affairs minister.
Pakistan: A new cabinet is sworn in. The portfolios are announced the next day. Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri keeps the foreign and Rao Sikandar Iqbal the defense ministry. Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao replaces Faisal Saleh Hayat as interior minister. Salman Shah becomes advisor to the prime minister for finance.

Torrijos

Lewis

Panama: Martín Torrijos takes office as president. Samuel Lewis Navarro becomes first vice president and foreign minister, Ricaurte Vásquez finance minister, and Héctor Alemán interior minister.
Vanuatu: An attempted no-confidence vote fails, with Prime Minister Serge Vohor's government winning the support of 31 of the 51 members of parliament.
Venezuela: Former foreign minister (1979-84) José Alberto Zambrano Velasco dies.

2

Bosnia and Herzegovina: In the Republika Srpska, Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic names Darko Matijasevic as interior minister, who is confirmed on September 16.

Sallé

Central African Republic: Daniel Nditifei Boysembe becomes finance minister and Col. Michel Sallé interior minister.
Tonga: Prime Minister Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata is replaced as foreign minister by Sonatane Tu'a Taumoepeau Tupou (with retroactive effect from August 24).

3

Lebanon: Parliament votes 96-29 to extend President Émile Lahoud's six-year term by three years. On September 9 Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri says that the cabinet will resign before the end of the month.

4

Australia: Former Queensland governor (1985-92) Sir Walter Campbell dies.
Dominican Republic: Former chairman of the Provisional Junta (1963) Víctor Elby Viñas Román dies.
Panama: Former foreign minister (1956-58, 1976-77) Aquilino Boyd dies.

5

Gabon: Clotaire Ivala is named interior minister in a cabinet reshuffle.
Germany: In state elections in Saarland, the Christian Democratic Union wins 47.5% of the vote (27 of 51 seats), the Social Democratic Party 30.8% (18), the Greens 5.6% (3), and the Free Democratic Party 5.2% (3). Turnout is 55.5%.
Mexico: In gubernatorial elections in Veracruz, Fidel Herrera Beltrán of the Institutional Revolutionary Party wins 35.9% of the vote, defeating Gerardo Buganza of the National Action Party with 34.9% and Dante Delgado of the Party of the Democratic Revolution with 29.2%.

7

Cook Islands: In parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Robert Woonton's Democratic Party wins 14 of 24 seats, the Cook Islands Party 9, and independents 1. Turnout is 81.6%.
United States: Former Mississippi governor (1992-2000) Kirk Fordice dies.

8

Australia: Former Western Australia governor (1990-93) Sir Francis Burt dies.
France: Former president of the Regional Council of Bretagne (1978-86) Raymond Marcellin dies.

9

Kvashnin

Russia: President Vladimir Putin appoints Anatoly Kvashnin as his plenipotentiary in the Sibirsky federal district, after Leonid Drachevsky resigned.

Boradzov

Russia: In North Ossetia-Alania, the government of Prime Minister Mikhail Shatalov is dismissed. The next day the parliament confirms Alan Boradzov as new prime minister.

10

United States: Former transportation secretary (1977-79) Brock Adams dies.

12

Djibouti: Former prime minister (1977-78) Ahmed Dini Ahmed dies.
Mexico: Amalia García Medina takes office as governor of Zacatecas.

13

Costa Rica: Federico Carrillo is named finance minister.
Nigeria: Former administrator of East Central state (1968-75) Ukpabi Asika dies.

Kozak

Russia: President Vladimir Putin dismisses Vladimir Yakovlev as his plenipotentiary in the Yuzhny federal district and appoints Dmitry Kozak in his place.

14

Pakistan: Former Balochistan governor (1984) Sardar F.S. Lodi dies.
Qatar: Former British political officer (1959-62) Sir John Moberly dies.
Tonga: 'Aloua Fetu'utolu Tupou is appointed to replace Prime Minister Prince 'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata as defense minister (backdated to September 13).

15

Ásgrímsson

Iceland: Prime Minister Davíd Oddsson switches positions with Foreign Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson.
Mexico: Ismael Hernández Deras takes office as governor of Durango.
Niger: Former chairman of the National Reconciliation Council (1999) Daouda Malam Wanké dies.
Organization of American States: Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría takes office as secretary-general.
São Tomé and Príncipe: President Fradique de Menezes fires Prime Minister Maria das Neves. On September 17 he invites Damião Vaz d'Almeida to head a new government. It is sworn in on September 18 and includes Adelino Castelo David as finance minister.

18

Myanmar: Maj.Gen. Nyan Win is appointed foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle.

19

Austria: In state elections in Vorarlberg, the Austrian People's Party wins 54.9% of the vote (21 of 36 seats), the Social Democratic Party 16.9% (6), the Freedom Party 12.9% (5), and the Greens 10.2% (4). Turnout is 60.6%.
Germany: In state elections in Brandenburg, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) wins 31.9% of the vote (33 of 88 seats), the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) 28% (29), the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 19.4% (20), the German People's Union (DVU) 6.1% (6), the Greens 3.6% (0), and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) 3.3% (0); turnout is 56.6%. In Sachsen, the CDU wins 41.1% of the vote (55 of 124 seats), the PDS 23.6% (31), the SPD 9.8% (13), the National Democratic Party (NPD) 9.2% (12), the FDP 5.9% (7), and the Greens 5.1% (6); turnout is 59.6%.
Kazakhstan: In the first round of parliamentary elections, President Nursultan Nazarbayev's Otan (Fatherland) party wins 33 seats in the 77-seat assembly, the pro-presidential Aist (Stork) bloc 10, the Asar (All Together) party 3, the Ak Zhol (Bright Path) party 1, and independents 8.

20

Congo (Kinshasa): Former foreign minister of Zaire (1990-91) Mushobekwa Kalimba wa Katana dies.
Indonesia: Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono wins the presidential election runoff with 60.6% of the vote, defeating incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri (39.4%). He is to be sworn in on October 20.

22

Ukraine: President Leonid Kuchma sacks his defense minister, Yevhen Marchuk. Former defense minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk is again appointed to the post on September 24.
United States: The Senate confirms the nomination of Porter Goss as CIA director (77-17). He is sworn in on September 24.

23

France: Former president of the Regional Council of Poitou-Charentes (1986-88) Louis Fruchard dies.
Saint Lucia: Former prime minister (1981-82) Winston Cenac dies.

27

Machimura

Japan: In a cabinet reshuffle, Nobutaka Machimura becomes foreign minister and Yoshinori Ohno defense minister.

28

Munkh-Orgil

Mongolia: Parliament approves a new cabinet including Tsendiyn Munkh-Orgil as foreign minister, Badarch Erdenebat as defense minister, and Norov Altankhuyag as finance minister; Tsendiyn Nyamdorj remains interior minister.
Palau: In the presidential primary, Tommy Remengesau and Polycarp Basilius qualify for the November election, while Ben Roberto comes third.

29

Walker

Chile: In a cabinet reshuffle, Ignacio Walker Prieto is named foreign minister and Jaime Ravinet defense minister.
Hungary: Parliament endorses Ferenc Gyurcsány as prime minister with 197 votes to 12 out of 384. On September 30 a new cabinet is named, with key posts unchanged, except that Ferenc Somogyi is designated foreign minister, to be sworn in on November 1 when László Kovács is to become EU commissioner.

Ahern

Ireland: In a cabinet reshuffle, Brian Cowen becomes finance minister, Dermot Ahern replaces Cowen as foreign minister, and Willie O'Dea becomes defense minister.
Rwanda: Christophe Bazivamo is named as new interior minister in a cabinet reshuffle.
Universal Postal Union: Édouard Dayan of France is elected as new director-general. He will take office on Jan. 1, 2005.

30

Canada: Prime Minister Paul Martin extends Governor General Adrienne Clarkson's term of office, which was set to expire on October 7, until September 2005.
Sri Lanka: Former governor of North Eastern province (1995-98) Gamini Fonseka dies.