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2020 'year of pandemic' also in Central- and Eastern Europe

In the region some political upheaval, confirmations in power

29 December, 13:00
(by Stefano Giantin) (ANSA) - BELGRADE, DEC 29 - 2020 will be remembered as the "year of the pandemic" also in Central-Eastern Europe and in the Balkans. The region was relatively little affected by the first wave in spring, but was hardly hit by a second wave in summer and autumn. As of mid-December, cumulative cases in countries in Central- and Eastern Europe climbed to over 7 million, with over 140,000 deaths registered since the beginning of the pandemic.

However, hope started being restored by the distribution of the first vaccines, at the end of December.

The year started with the resignation of Macedonian Social Democrat Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, a step required by the early vote scheduled for April 12th, then postponed to July because of the epidemic. At the elections, the Social Democrats led by Zaev defeated the conservative party Vmro-Dpmne. In January, leftist former prime minister Zoran Milanovic won the presidential run-off vote in Croatia, defeating the incumbent conservative leader Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

The leader of Austria's conservatives Sebastian Kurz was sworn also in January as head of a coalition with the Greens, following the collapse of an alliance with the far-right of Christian Strache. Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Sarec announced in January his decision to resign, stating that "with these members of parliament and this coalition I cannot fulfil the people's expectations." At the elections, the leader of the centre-right party Sds, Janez Jansa, prevailed and was sworn in as prime minister in March. A month earlier, in Kosovo, Kosovo's parliament approved a new prime minister, Albin Kurti, dubbed as the "Kosovo Che Guevara" as he organized protest against the Milosevic regime in the 1990s. However, Kosovo's government was toppled by a no-confidence vote less than two months after.

Subsequently, a new government led by the centre-right LDK party came into power in June. The new prime minister was the 44-year-old economics professor, Avdullah Hoti. In December, however, Kosovo started preparing for new elections after the constitutional court ruled the election of Hoti was unconstitutional. This year will be remembered in Kosovo also for the resignation of Kosovo's president Hashim Thaci, who pleaded not guilty to war crimes charges in the 1990s war against Serbia as he appeared for the first time at a special international court.

In June, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic declared a landslide victory for his ruling Progressive party in the parliamentary election characterised by the boycott from the main opposition's parties. Again in June, conservatives of PM Andrej Plenkovic scored a re-election victory in a parliamentary vote in Croatia.

Plenkovic had to deal immediately with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and with the consequences of the earthquake that hit Zagreb in winter, provoking serious damages to the Croatian capital. In October, four months after the general elections, the Serbian Parliament approved a new government led again by Ana Brnabic.

In August, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term with 80.23 percent of the vote in an election marred by irregularities. Tens of thousands of supporters of the opposition and of candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya gathered for months in protest, as Lukashenko rejected calls to step down and use the force against demonstrators. In August, Montenegro's ruling DPS party conquered a narrow victory after a tight election, but it was subsequently knocked from power for the first time in three decades after opposition camps united. In December, Montenegro's parliament voted in a new government led by Zdravko Krivokapic in the first transfer of power in three decades.

In November, the pro-European challenger Maia Sandu won Moldova's presidential election ahead of the pro-Russian incumbent Igor Dodon. In December, Moldovan Prime Minister Ion Chicu announced his resignation. Romanian MPs in December approved a new centre-right coalition government headed by Florin Citu, who has pledged to overcome the Covid crisis in 2021. (ANSA).

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