Some intriguing votes took place over the weekend, none more exciting than in the Banana Republic (Honduras, for those not familiar with its nickname, definitely not referring to that atrocious retail outlet). Former First Lady, Xiomara Castro representing the left-wing Libre Party took the Presidency after the first round of voting. She was denied the top job in 2017 when the incumbent stuffed ballots (sadly, still a common Central American election trend) in his favour, no longer eligible for reelection, his counterpart Nasry Asfura (son of Palestinian immigrants) failed to keep the right-wing National Party of Honduras in power. FYI: Asfura is the mayor of the capital, Tegucigalpa (a city where murder thrives, a topic that should get more traction on podcasts).
Let's all rejoice that another nation on the North American continent elected its first ever female President. That's right, Good Ol' US of A, since 2010 Costa Rica and Honduras outright elected Presidents of the fairer sex, best you could do was elect two white male septuagenarians. Joey temporary transferring power to Kamala for 85 minutes due to a colonoscopy does not count.
Kyrgyzstan, a country that Freedom House deemed not free (scored 4/100 for political and 24/100 for civil liberties) had their first parliamentary election since the October 2020 protests. The uprising didn't bring the change to democracy that was hoped, but there has been some small wins. It's now required that party lists for elections meet the following requirements: minimum 30% from each gender, 15% ethnic minorities, 15% of candidates under 35, and two candidates with disabilities. As for the results (turnout was only 35%), not one party has received a majority, 6 parties and 35 independents are set to make up the 90-seat Supreme Council.
Talking about lack of freedom, it's an opportune time for a segue into global photography...Who said the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was not making waves (pardon the pun) at the world's most overrated beach (if you guessed Malibu, you're wrong, keep going south some 7500 miles).
