The Kosovo crisis and the elections to the European Parliament were the two topics that affected politics in most of the 29 countries treated in this issue of the Political Data Yearbook. The military actions of NATO countries against Serbia were mostly approved of, except in Greece, where the general public supported the Serbs, placing the Greek government in a rather difficult position. Political parties in Italy, a country deeply involved in the military operations, were divided on the issue. And Central European countries learned the consequences of their recent membership of NATO, in that they were asked to support Western military action against a country in Eastern Europe.

The year 1999 was dominated by debates about taxation reform, whether Australia should become a republic and the future of East Timor. In all three cases there appeared to be a conclusion to a debate going back some 20 years, or more. The outcome was in favour of taxation reform, against Australia becoming a republic (at least by the target date, 1 January 2001, the centenary of Federation) and in favour of Australia assisting its neighbour East Timor to declare its independence from Indonesia.

The elections to the European Parliament on 13 June were clearly treated as secondary by the political parties, compared to the elections to the national parliament due on 3 October. As in the 1996 elections (see Political Data Yearbook 1997), nearly all parties tried to present well-known faces, rather than experienced politicians, at the top of their lists of candidates. The SPÖ, on the advice of party chairman and Chancellor Viktor Klima, chose a journalist and non-party member, Hans-Peter Martin. The choice disappointed the party base and especially the Viennese party organisation, which had proposed the present leader of the SPÖ delegation, MEP Hannes Swoboda, who was only ranked fourth on the SPÖ list. As a reaction, the Viennese party initiated a preference voting campaign for Swoboda (and following the elections, the SPÖ delegation relegated its top candidate to the second rank and re-elected its previous leader).

In retrospect, the year 1999 will surely be considered as an historical year in Belgian political history. On 13 June, the elections for the federal (House and Senate), regional/community and European parliaments coincided in ‘the Mother of all elections’. Following these elections, the Christian Democrats (CVP and PSC) suffered a severe defeat and were pushed into opposition for the first time since 1958. This political family had remained uninterruptedly in power since World War II, except from 1954 to 1958. This spectacular evolution, as well as the negative or positive fortunes of the different parties, can be explained by several factors.

One important change to the institutional structure of Canada took place during the year. It is not likely to affect large numbers of Canadians directly but points, as did a number of other events (see discussion below), to the country’s continuing attempts to respond to the claims of some of its aboriginal peoples. On April 1, the new territory of Nunavut (which means ‘our land’ in Inuktitut) was carved out of the Northwest Territory. This followed from a decision made by referendum (see the Political Data Yearbook 1993) to create a self-governing territory for the eastern and central Artic that would have a native majority. The new territory (a status somewhat less than that of the constitutionally sovereign provinces) of over two million square km spans three time zones but has a population of less than thirty thousand.

Chamber of deputies. The party composition of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic was very stable. Only one change took place, the first since the beginning of the term of the Parliament. On 26 October, Marie Machatá seceded from the political group Freedom Union (US) and became an independent deputy. The reason for her secession was disappointment with the ‘inconsistent right-wing opposition policy of the Freedom Union’. On 15 November Machatá entered the Czech National Social Party (ČSNS). She assessed her change as an expression of courage and responsibility and refused admonitions that she had betrayed the voters. As of 31 December, there were 5 political clubs in the Chamber of Deputies, and one deputy was independent. The political group of ČSSD consisted of 74 members, ODS – 63, KSCM – 24, KDU-Č SL – 20, US – 18 members. The number of deputies of the party in power ČSSD and the main opposition party ODS remained unaltered.

The main issues dominating national politics during 1999 were yet another leadership change in the Conservative People’s Party, the internal struggle for power in the Progress Party resulting in the return of the founder of the party, Mogens Glistrup, as de facto leader of the party with his old position as campaign leader, the election to the European Parliament and finally the passing of the annual state budget.

The 1999 parliamentary election campaign never reached the same intensity as the 1995 campaign. In part, this was a result of the cabinet’s composition. Paavo Lipponen’s five party cabinet had governed the country since the 1995 election, leaving the Centre Party as the only major party in opposition. The government is called the Rainbow coalition as it covers many different political colours ranging from the former Communists (Left-Wing Alliance) on the left to the conservative National Coalition on the right. This unique form of consensus left little room for active opposition politics. The Centre Party had profiled an opposition policy during these four years that was critical of centralisation at the national and European level. After the deep recession in the early 1990s, the Finnish economy had rapidly recovered in the southern urban centres, leaving the rural regions in the east and north in stagnation. Therefore when the party leaders from the three biggest parties, the Social Democrats, the Centre Party, and the National Coalition, announced that they would be nominated in the constituency of Helsinki, it was speculated that this would open a political battle.

The campaign for the European elections began very early. The reason was not a particular interest in Europe, its monetary unification symbolised by the Euro or any prospect about the future of the European Union. The European Parliament was not at stake. In fact, the importance of the election held in June 1999 came from its place in the French electoral calendar. Coming after the 1995 presidential election, the 1997 general elections and the 1998 local elections, the European election was not only a new test of the balance of political forces (plural left/moderate right and extreme right), but a new challenge for the right wing camp as well.

In January, Home Secretary Otto Schily announced a thorough reform of German citizenship laws which would enable a majority of immigrants to obtain German citizenship without requiring them to give up their original citizenship. CDU/CSU reacted highly critically and mobilized against this proposal by collecting signatures for a petition; the Hesse Christian Democrats, who faced a Land election on 7 February, were in the forefront. The campaign against the intended introduction of dual citizenship, which was not without xenophobic undertones, was widely considered to have contributed to the bitter defeat of the ruling red-green Hesse Land government and marked the beginning of a series of electoral defeats for the new red-green federal government. Whereas the SPD could marginally increase its share of the vote, the Greens lost 4.4 percent. As a result, a Christian-Liberal government was formed and Chancellor Schröder unilaterally sought a compromise with the opposition over the issue of citizenship. Initially, this led to harsh reactions from the Green coalition partner, who had, in the end, to accept that the majority in the Bundesrat required a compromise which restricted dual citizenship to German-born children of immigrants, who will have to make a choice once they reach the age of 23.

The year 1999 began with continuing turmoil and chaos in public secondary schools, promoted by both the KKE and ND, and provoked by the reforms and tactics of Minister of Education G. Arsenis. Ironically, when this frustrated aspirant to the PASOK leadership had been moved by Simitis, in 1996, from National Defense to Education, he was presumably expected to do less damage in his new post (see Yearbook 1997, p. 381). Nevertheless, in January Arsenis survived a personal motion of no confidence in Parliament (a procedure rarely invoked against individual ministers).

The political atmosphere remained tense in 1999 because – as the government side has often been accused of – the governing majority sought to introduce majoritarian practices and acquire domineering positions in the political sphere. These attempts became manifest in several areas. For example, sessions of the parliament were held only every third week after February (previously plenary sessions were held on three days each week). As a result, in 1999 parliament was sitting for 16 weeks as opposed to 37–42 weeks in the previous years. The opposition turned to the Constitutional Court to re-establish the old practice and although the CC ruled that the continuity of the working of the parliament is a constitutional requirement, it did not specify the details. By the end of the year even the coalition partners of the largest governing party (Fidesz-MPP-Alliance of Young Democrats), that is the FKGP (Smallholders) and the MDF (Hungarian Democratic Forum), became critical of the new timetable.

The Althingi election of 1999 saw a major reshuffling of party alternatives in Iceland. Only the two partners in the right wing coalition, the Independence Party and the Progressive Party, remained of the six parties which won representation in 1995. The others merged in the Alliance, an electoral alliance aiming at the unification of the left in Iceland. Two additional parties, however, managed to win seats in 1999. The Liberal Party was formed primarily to oppose the system of fisheries management and the Left-Greens emerged as a left wing splinter group from the attempt at amalgamation on the left. Despite this re-organisation the co-operation of the governing parties was renewed after the election.

In 1999 most issues in Irish politics fall into one of three categories; Northern Ireland, the economy or the revelations about and attempts to reform the political process.

Netanyahu’s cabinet lost its majority in the Knesset towards the end of 1998 and Netanyahu’s position as the Likud leader and its candidate for premiership in the 1999 elections was challenged. This led to a number of changes in Netanyahu I. Shaul Amor of Likud joined the cabinet as a Minister without portfolio on 18 January 1999. The Knesset approved his nomination on 20 January. On the evening of 23 January 1999, Netanyahu decided to sack Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai. This followed Mordechai’s negotiations with the leaders of the new Centre Party. (Later, Mordechai was chosen as Centre’s leader and its candidate for the premiership.) Mordechai’s term came officially to an end on 25 January. A day later, Netanyahu nominated Moshe Arens of Likud as his newMinister of Defense. The Knesset approved the nomination on 27 January. On 23 February, Netanyahu nominated Meir Shitrit of Likud to the post of Finance Minister. The Knesset approved this nomination on the following day.

The main issues in Italian politics in 1999 included the Kosovo crisis, the further fragmentation of the party system, the variegated results of the municipal elections, the endless and fruitless attempt to introduce institutional reforms, the presidential election and the appointment of former Prime Minister Romano Prodi to the head of the EU Commission, and the waning/fading of the government coalition. At the societal level, one can mention the resurgence of a Catholic/laic divide on the public/private school question and on the third party sperm donors for assisted pregnancy, the trials of former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti charged with having ties to the Mafia, the unexplained revival of red terrorism with the killing of an official close to the trade unions and the DS Ministry of Labour, the raising of the security and immigration issues, and the advent of the new economy epitomised by the take-over of the former public telecommunication company (Telecom) by a rival group.

In 1999, Japanese politics appeared to move toward more stability after the ups and downs of party politics since 1993. First, the LDP and its new coalition partners, the Liberal Party (LP) and the Komeito (CGP), won a stable majority, which the LDP coalition government had lacked since 1996. Second, with the new coalition partners, the LDP-centered government passed many laws. Despite these apparent signs of stable rule, there was much potential for change. The governing coalition, which had managed to achieve a policy agreement at the beginning, continued to disagree over specific policies to be proposed and passed in the Diet. These conflicts, alternatively, exacerbated different views and strategies of coalition formation inside the LDP and increased the cleavages between intraparty groups that were more fragmented than the existing factions. However, despite declining popular support, the three party coalition continued to rule primarily because of the ineffective opposition coalition in which a major opposition party, the Democratic Party (DP), was centered.

1999 was an election year par excellence in Luxembourg. Parliamentary and European elections in June were followed by municipal elections in October, which pretty much confirmed the trend, namely a remarkable performance of the Liberal Party, DP, all over the country and especially in the City of Luxembourg where it achieved its best result ever (almost 35% of the votes) with Paul Helminger as main contender for the mayor’s position. Helminger managed to administer a severe blow to his main challenger, Jacques Santer (CSV), President of the European Commission until March 1999, when he was forced to resign prematurely. Santer and the CSV fared so badly that he did not even choose to take up his seat on the Municipal Council of Luxembourg City. The municipal elections of October confirmed as a matter of fact the trend already obvious after the June elections, where the two coalition parties CSV and LSAP were severely sanctioned after fifteen years in power. The Liberal Party DP had waged its electoral campaign on the theme that political change was overdue, concentrating its attacks on the junior partner LSAP. The outcome of the parliamentary elections confirmed the lesson that it is always the junior partner in a coalition government with the CSV that has to take the blame for the shortcomings of the outgoing team. The CSV managed to limit the blow inflicted to the outgoing coalition largely thanks to the remarkable personal performance of Prime Minister Juncker.

With the expiry of the term of office of Ugo Mifsud Bonnici as President of the Republic, the House of Representatives elected by simple majority the Cabinet’s nominee, Guido Demarco. The Government had originally invited the Opposition to agree on the retention of the incumbent, while the Opposition put forward its own candidate. Whereas it is normal for the President to be the Government’s nominee, the political climate was never less suggestive of bi-party consensus, on this as on most other matters.

Members of the Eerste Kamer or Upper House of Parliament were elected on 29 May by the 760 members of the twelve provincial councils (Provinciale Staten), who were elected themselves on 8 March 1999.