On being elected to office in free and fair elections in 2007, the president knew he needed to make tough choices if he was going to deliver change for his people.
Nursultan Nazarbayev has led Kazakhstan as president, since independence in 1991, extending his tenure through a series of constitutional revisions and elections in which he has faced only token opposition.
All presidential and parliamentary elections held during the independence era have been deemed flawed by independent western monitoring groups.
Northern Ireland secretary John Reid has until Saturday night to find a compromise between Sinn Fein and David Trimble's Ulster Unionists on decommissioning, police reform and demilitarisation, or again suspend the assembly (either indefinitely or for six weeks) or call fresh elections.
We're now just under two weeks away from one of the closest fought British elections in decades.
It's only the first couple of weeks of 2015, but the year may as well be over: with the 2016 presidential and congressional elections looming, Republicans are pushing full steam ahead on economy and jobs in an attempt to improve their chances at capturing the White House next year.
As Iran enters a critical period in its history, with elections in June, sanctions biting and the increasing threat of an Israeli attack, the Guardian has formed a partnership with the award-winning Tehran Bureau to open a window on life in the Islamic republic.
Orbán is not Putin, and Hungarian elections are not rigged in the way Russian ones are.
Do we really know how Britain voted in the European elections?
Related: Rightwing Northern League makes gains in Italian elections Although welcomed by the Italian government, the proposals have done little to deter the anti-immigrant rhetoric of the country's rising far right.
He also noted that "elections are coming up, and we are watching you".
