AZERBAIDJAN
On 2 June 2008, the National Assembly adopted amendments to the Electoral Code reducing the period for official election campaigning. The deadline for announcing elections was reduced from 120 days to 75 days before polling day, and the duration of the election campaign was reduced from 60 to 28 days. Due to the shorter campaigning period, the number of signatures required to run for the presidential elections was reduced from 45,000 to 40,000. The amendments also abolished the deposit formerly required for candidates to register in the election without having to collect a sufficient number of signatures.

ITALY
On 11 and 23 July 2008 respectively, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate approved a bill giving top State officials immunity from prosecution. These include the President of the Republic, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, and the Prime Minister. Any legal proceedings brought against them - including those relating to incidents that occurred before they took up their posts - will be suspended for the entire duration of their mandate. The governing majority, led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, supported the bill, while opposition parties, including the Democratic Party and Italy of Values (IV-LDP) were opposed to it. The latter pledged to collect signatures for a referendum to repeal the law. President Giorgio Napolitano signed the bill into law on 24 July. The law took effect on 25 July upon its publication in the Official Gazette.

LATVIA
Following a year-long confrontation between parliament on the one hand and trade unions and civic groups on the other, the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS) undertook in March 2008 a signature collection campaign with a view to amending the constitution. The Constitution allows citizens to submit a draft constitutional amendment to the President, who shall then present it to the parliament. If the latter rejects it or adopts it with changes, it shall then be submitted to national referendum. The proposed amendment would allow citizens to submit a draft resolution calling for the dissolution of parliament. The requisite number of signatures was obtained by the 10 April deadline, following which a bill with the constitutional amendments was tabled before parliament. The parliament rejected the draft amendments, thereby triggering a constitutional referendum which took place on 2 August. Although 97 per cent of voters supported the amendments, turnout did not reach the 50 per cent needed to validate the referendum. As a result, the President remains the only person entitled to propose the dissolution of the parliament via a referendum.

NEPAL
On 10 April 2008, elections to a 601-member Constituent Assembly were held. These elections had originally been due before mid-June 2007, but were postponed twice due mainly to disagreements among the ruling alliance of political parties and Maoists over the electoral system and the future status of the King. The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) won a total of 220 seats. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's Nepali Congress Party (NC) and Mr. Jhal Nath Khanal's Nepali Communist Party (Unified Marxist-Leninist, UML) took 110 and 103 seats respectively (
See in PARLINE). The very first act performed by the Constituent Assembly when it convened in May 2008 was to abolish the monarchy and declare Nepal a federal democratic republic. Mr. Ram Baran Yadav, General Secretary of the NC, was elected as the first-ever President of the Republic in July, defeating the Maoist candidate Ram Raja Prasad Singh in a run-off. Mr. Subas Nembang (UML), who had served as Speaker of the House of Representatives and the interim Legislative Parliament, was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the Constituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly is tasked with adopting the country's new Constitution within two years. It exercises the power of the Legislative Parliament, whose term ended after the first sitting of the Constituent Assembly.

QATAR
The 2005 Constitution increased the membership of the Advisory Council, a 35-member appointed legislative body, to 45. Two thirds of these members will be directly elected while the remaining members will be appointed by the Emir. On 19 May 2008, the Advisory Council adopted an electoral bill which stipulates that citizens – both men and women – of 18 years of age or over may vote in the elections. It also regulates campaign funding and prohibits vote-buying. The bill will need to be reviewed by the government and approved by the Emir before it enters into force. On 2 July 2008, the Emir extended the term of the current Advisory Council by two years to 30 June 2010.

SUDAN
In August 2007, the National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC) submitted a draft electoral bill on elections to cabinet, which subsequently sent it to the National Assembly for deliberation in October 2007. However, the parties in parliament were unable to reach a compromise, in particular regarding the percentage of seats elected under the majority and the proportional representation systems, women's representation and the number of constituencies. On 7 July 2008, the National Assembly approved the bill stipulating that 60 per cent of the 450 seats in the parliament will be elected according to the majority system and 15 per cent according to the proportional representation system. The remaining 25 per cent will be reserved for women. The bill also allows Sudanese citizens living abroad to run for presidential elections and participate in national referenda. Presidential and parliamentary elections are expected to be held before July 2009, which will end the transitional period started in July 2005, when the now deceased former rebel leader John Garang was appointed as the First Vice-President and the interim constitution was adopted.

TUNISIA
On 24 July 2008, the Chamber of Deputies adopted constitutional amendments which, among other things, lower the voting age from 20 to 18 years and allow the incumbent leaders of all recognized political parties to nominate themselves as candidates for the next presidential elections, scheduled for 2009, provided that they serve in the post of party leader for at least two consecutive years. Previously, presidential candidates needed to be backed by 30 deputies or a mayor. Five opposition members voted against the amendments, claiming that they were tailor-made for the ruling party.

ZIMBABWE
On 21 July 2008, President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), paving the way for talks to resolve the country's political impasse following the March and June 2008 parliamentary and presidential elections. President Mugabe's ZANUPF party lost its majority in parliament for the first time since the country gained independence in 1980, although he himself was re-elected unopposed as President following Mr. Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the controversial presidential run-off elections on 27 June. The MoU stipulated that all parties should not take any decisions involving the convening of Parliament or the formation of a new government outside the established dialogue. However, on 19 August, President Mugabe announced that he would unilaterally convene the parliament the following week. On 25 August, parliament held its first session, nearly six months after the elections. Two MDC members elected to the House of Assembly were arrested on their way to parliament. In the contest for the post of Speaker of the House of Assembly, MDC Chairman Mr. Lovemore Moyo, won 110 votes, while the candidate endorsed by the Arthur Mutambara Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-AM) and backed by the ZANUPF, Mr. Paul Themba-Nyathi, took 98 votes. On 15 September, the ZANU-PF, the MDC and the MDC-AM signed a Power-Sharing Agreement under the mediation of the then South African President Mbeki. Mr. Mugabe remained President, while Mr. Tsvangirai assumed the post of newly created Prime Minister. However, the leaders of the ZANU-PF and the MDC disagreed over key posts in the new government. As at 10 November, the new government had not been formed.