February 2019

1

World Bank: Kristalina Georgieva takes office as acting president.

3

El Salvador: In presidential elections, Nayib Bukele (Grand Alliance for National Unity) wins 53.1% of the vote, Carlos Calleja (Nationalist Republican Alliance) 31.7%, and Hugo Martínez (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front) 14.4%. Turnout is 51.9%.

4

United States: President Donald Trump nominates David Bernhardt as interior secretary.

5

Lesotho: In a cabinet reshuffle, Mokoto Hloaele is appointed as home affairs minister.

7

Poland: Former prime minister (1991-92) Jan Olszewski dies.

10

African Union: Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi becomes chairman.

Marsilio

Italy: In presidential elections in Abruzzo, Marco Marsilio (centre-right) is elected with 48.0% of the vote, against 31.3% for Giovanni Legnini (centre-left) and 20.2% for Sara Marcozzi (Five Star Movement). Turnout is 53.1%. Marsilio takes office February 25.
Nigeria: Former governor of Midwest Region (1966-67) David Ejoor dies.

11

Afghanistan: Massoud Andarabi is appointed as acting interior minister.
Afghanistan: Former interim president (1992) Sibghatullah Mojadedi dies.
Russia: Former head of the administration of Chelyabinsk oblast (1991-97) Vadim Solovyov dies.
Uzbekistan: Bakhodir Kurbanov is appointed defense minister.

12

Gabon: Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda is sworn in as defense minister.
Indonesia: Heru Tjahjono becomes acting governor of Jawa Timur as Governor Soekarwo's term ends. On February 13 Khofifah Indar Parawansa is inaugurated as governor.
Kazakhstan: Yerlan Turgumbayev is appointed as internal affairs minister.

13

Abdou

Comoros: President Azali Assoumani takes leave as required by the constitution due to his candidacy in the coming presidential election, and Moustadroine Abdou becomes acting president. The governor of Ngazidja, Hassani Hamadi, is similarly replaced, Abdourahim Said Bacar becoming acting governor; so is the governor of Mwali, Mohamed Said Fazul, with Youssouf Said Moissi becoming acting governor.
Indonesia: Fachrori Umar is appointed governor of Jambi.
Spain: Parliament rejects (191-158) the 2019 budget submitted by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. On February 15 Sánchez announces early elections for April 28.
Switzerland: Former Landammann of Solothurn (1983, 1987) Walter Bürgi dies.

14

France: Former president of the Regional Council of Limousin (2014-15) Gérard Vandenbroucke dies.
United States: The Senate confirms (54-45) William P. Barr as attorney general. He is sworn in the same day.

15

Katrougkalos

Greece: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras appoints Giorgos Katrougkalos as foreign minister (effective February 18).
Lebanon: Prime Minister Saad Hariri's government wins a confidence vote in parliament (111-6).

16

United States: Heather Nauert withdraws her name from consideration as UN ambassador. On February 22 President Donald Trump nominates Kelly Craft for the position.

17

Argentina: Former cabinet chief (1995-96) Eduardo Bauzá dies.

Katz

Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appoints Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz as acting foreign minister.
Japan: Kotaro Nagasaki takes office as governor of Yamanashi.

18

Burkina Faso: Prime Minister Christophe Dabiré wins a confidence vote in parliament (84-19 with 23 abstentions).
Guinea-Bissau: Edmundo Mendes is appointed interior minister.
Norway: Former governor of Buskerud (1979-89) Ragnar Christiansen dies.

19

Congo (Kinshasa): Former foreign minister (1999-2000) Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi dies.
Pakistan: Former governor of the North-West Frontier Province (1988-93) Amir Gulistan Janjua dies.

20

Indonesia: Syamsuar is inaugurated as governor of Riau.
Portugal: The government of Prime Minister António Costa survives a no-confidence motion in parliament (rejected 115-103).

21

Mamin

Kazakhstan: President Nursultan Nazarbayev accepts the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev. Askar Mamin is named acting prime minister. On February 25 Nazarbayev appoints Mamin as prime minister and he is approved by parliament; the new cabinet is unchanged in key positions.

22

Ngrébada

Central African Republic: Prime Minister Simplice Sarandji resigns. On February 25 Firmin Ngrébada is appointed prime minister; he takes office February 27.
Congo (Kinshasa): The governor of Nord-Kivu, Julien Paluku Kahongya, resigns. Feller Lutaichirwa Mulwahale becomes acting governor.

Ebrahim

Ayala

Philippines: Members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (interim government for the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) are sworn in, with Murad Ebrahim as chief minister.
The Sudan: President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir dissolves the government of Prime Minister Mutaz Musa. On February 23 a new caretaker administration is named, the foreign and defense ministers remaining in place; Defense Minister Awad Ibn Auf is also appointed first vice president. Later that day Mohamed Tahir Ayala is appointed prime minister. On February 24 Ibn Auf and Ayala are sworn in, and Mustafa Youssef is appointed as finance minister.

23

Nigeria: In presidential elections, incumbent Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) wins 55.6% of the vote and Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) 41.2%. Turnout is 34.7%. In parliamentary elections, the APC wins 217 of 360 seats in the House of Representatives, the PDP 116, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance 11; in the Senate, the APC wins 65 of 109 seats and the PDP 43.
Norfolk Island: Eric Hutchinson is reappointed administrator for an additional two years.

24

Congo (Kinshasa): Former prime minister (1960-61 [in rebellion], 2007-08) Antoine Gizenga dies.
Italy: In presidential elections in Sardegna, Christian Solinas (centre-right) is elected with 47.8% of the vote, defeating Massimo Zedda (centre-left) with 32.9% and Francesco Desogus (Five Star Movement) with 11.2%. Turnout is 53.8%.
Moldova: In parliamentary elections, the Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova wins 31.2% of the vote (34 of 101 seats), the NOW Platform (Dignity and Truth Party + Action and Solidarity Party) 26.8% (27), the Democratic Party of Moldova 23.6% (30), and the Republican Socio-Political Movement Equality 8.3% (7). Turnout is 49.2%.
Senegal: In presidential elections, incumbent Macky Sall wins 58.3% of the vote, Idrissa Seck 20.5%, and Ousmane Sonko 15.7%. Turnout is 66.2%.

25

Fahie

British Virgin Islands: In parliamentary elections, the Virgin Islands Party wins 46.5% of the vote (8 of 13 elected seats), the National Democratic Party 28.2% (3), and the Progressive Virgin Islands Movement 17.4% (1). (With 2 ex-officio members there are 15 seats in total.) On February 26 Andrew Fahie is sworn in as premier.
Indonesia: Former governor of Kalimantan Tengah (1967-78) Reinout Sylvanus dies.
Iran: Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif resigns. President Hassan Rouhani rejects the resignation on February 26.

26

United States: In mayoral elections in Chicago, Lori Lightfoot wins 17.5% of the vote, Toni Preckwinkle 16.1%, William M. Daley 14.7%, and Willie Wilson 10.7%. Turnout is 33.6%. A runoff will take place on April 2.
Yemen: The president of the Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, appoints Rashid Aboud Sharian Abu Lahom as finance minister; he is sworn in on February 27.

27

Seychelles: Former prime minister (1976-77), president (1977-2004), and foreign minister (1984-89, 1997) France-Albert René dies.

28

Austria: Hans Peter Doskozil is elected as Landeshauptmann of Burgenland (20-12).
United States: The Senate confirms (52-47) Andrew Wheeler as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.