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Eastern Europe

In Italy’s elections, the fascists did scarily well

Italy’s elections may have ended in a political deadlock, no one party or alliance gained the 40% necessary to have an absolute Parliamentary majority , but the projected results of the vote signal that sweeping changes are on the horizon, changes that don’t bode well for liberal democracy.

The governing center-left Democratic Party received just 19% of Italians’ votes (a historic low) while anti-EU, populist and far-right parties like the Five Star Movement and the rabidly anti-immigrant League did very well (32% and 17.5%, respectively).

That former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his Forza Italia party (14%) are now seen as moderate shows how far the country that had Western Europe’s most robust political left for a century has shifted to the right.

Conservative Sebastian Pinera wins Chile’s election

Conservative former President Sebastian Pinera has won Chile‘s presidential runoff with 54.6 percent of the votes, whereas the centre-left opponent, Alejandro Guillier, received 45.4 percent.

Georgian ex President detained in Ukraine

Ukraine has detained the ex Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili on suspicion of assisting a criminal organisation.

Masked officers dragged Saakashvili from an apartment in the capital Kiev while his supporters protested on the street and tried to stop the police van from leaving, crowding the vehicle and setting up a barricade with tyres, wood and stones.