Laura Fernandez, 39, is set to become the next president of Costa Rica after winning a decisive firstround victory in Sunday's general election. With more than 80% of ballots counted, the Electoral Tribunal reported that the Sovereign People's Party (PPS) the political organization of outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves and Fernandez secured about 50% of the vote. The election also marked a symbolic turning point in Costa Rica's chronic problem of low voter turnout.
The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) claimed an overwhelming victory. One senior party official suggested the USDP, led by retired generals and often described as a civilian proxy for the military, had won more than 80 percent of seats contested in the lower house of the legislature. Rights advocates and Western diplomats have slammed the vote as a sham, citing the military's broad crackdown on dissent and the exclusion of parties critical of its rule.
When New Yorkers elected Zohran Mamdani as mayor in 2025, they did more than choose a political direction. They issued a mandate for structural change on housing, transit, affordability, and safety. Early voting check-ins reached historic levels, according to the NYC Board of Elections, and more than two million ballots were cast in the mayoral election, the highest turnout in at least 50 years.
Kamala Harris lost last year's US presidential election because she chased the wrong voters with the wrong message, ultimately demobilising the very base that she needed to win, according to an autopsy by a progressive grassroots advocacy group. The vice-president focused on courting moderate Republicans over motivating core Democratic working-class, young and progressive voters, a misstep compounded by her failure to break from Joe Biden on Gaza, says the report by RootsAction.
Hong Kong saw a near-record low turnout in Sunday's patriots only Legislative Council elections, with fewer than 32% of voters turning out, as the number of registered voters fell for the fourth consecutive year. At 31.9%, Sunday's turnout is marginally higher than 2021's record low of 30.2%. But fewer people overall voted this year: 1.3 million compared to 1.4 million in 2021. Hong Kong's population is about 7.5 million.
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump is a phenomenally effective vote-winner, capable of turning out millions of otherwise infrequent voters to deliver the White House and Congress to the Republican Party. But as president, Trump has been an albatross around the neck of his party. Consider his record as party leader. In the 2017 elections, Republicans suffered sharp defeats in the Virginia and New Jersey governor's races, with Virginia Democrats sweeping all three statewide offices and winning a majority in the state General Assembly.
On Tuesday, Democrats flipped the Virginia governor's mansion and expanded their majority in the state's House of Delegates. They also maintained control of New Jersey's governorship and held the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In California, voters approved a ballot measure that would allow the state legislature to redraw congressional districts in a way more favorable to Democrats after Texas enacted a similar initiative for Republicans. And in New York, voters elected a democratic socialist who will be the first Muslim mayor of the city.
The 2025 NYC Mayor's Race is destined for history, regardless of who wins the election. More than 1.7 million New Yorkers have already voted in the contest between Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, independent candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. The final vote total is expected to be the highest in more than 30 years and could wind up being a number not seen at the polls in a mayor's race in more than 50 years.
The New York State Democratic Committee is bullying people into voting next week with intimidating letters warning that it can easily find out which slackers fail to cast a ballot. . . . It ends with a line better suited to a mob movie than a major political party: "If you do not vote this year, we will be interested to hear why not." -New York Post
In addition to voting in the highly anticipated mayoral race this November, New Yorkers will make another consequential decision this election day. They'll also decide whether the city will begin holding elections only on even-numbered calendar years. While it may sound irrelevant, it's an important yay or nay. The measure, as written in Ballot Proposal 6, would mean that off-year primary and general elections would begin taking place in the same year as the presidential elections.
NEW YORK CITY - Nearly 300,000 New Yorkers have cast their vote in the mayoral general election during the first four days of early voting, according to data from the city board of elections. In four days of early voting, Brooklyn has seen the highest turnout among the five boroughs, with over 92,000 ballots cast, followed by Manhattan with 89,000. Queens came in third with nearly 69,000 votes cast. The Bronx had around 25,000 votes cast and Staten Island saw 22,400 votes cast.
Republicans are identifying voters who are less likely to turn out by examining their voting histories in off-year elections. Operatives are also poring over lists of voters the Trump campaign identified as less dependable heading into the 2024 election. The operatives plan to then reach those voters through phone-banking and digital and social media ads. In New Jersey, some money is being spent on mailers.
That's right - just more than 1 million New Yorkers voted in the primary, out of more than 5 million registered voters. There are about 8.5 million New Yorkers total, which means only one-eighth participated in that election. Of that one-eighth, 573,169 New Yorkers voted for democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani. In other words, he won just 1/16 of the total population of the city.
Trump is planning on hosting tele-rallies for Ciattarelli, in which he will address supporters by phone. Meanwhile, allies and surrogates to the president are helping to raise millions of dollars for a pro-Ciattarelli super PAC, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Senior Republican strategists say Trump could be most helpful by energizing his voters during an off year-election, when turnout is likely to be down. In recent elections, Republicans have struggled to turn out voters when Trump isn't on the ballot.
For many American citizens living abroad, making sure their ballots are returned correctly and on time hundreds or thousands of miles away, back in the United States, can be tough. But with the 2026 midterm election approaching, U.S. expatriates and their advocates say voting faces more uncertainty than usual, as Republican officials continue a push for more restrictions on overseas voters, including U.S. military members stationed abroad.
One of the most closely watched elections this fall is New York City's mayoral race. But New York voters will also weigh in on a lesser-known proposal that could move future city elections to even-numbered years. It's part of a growing trend to consolidate election dates adding local races to the ballot during presidential and midterm elections. Proponents of the effort say it counters persistently low turnout for local elections, despite concerns about local issues and candidates getting overshadowed.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has secured a third term in office, according to the preliminary results from Jamaica's fractious parliamentary election. The results released early on Thursday showed that Holness' Jamaica Labour Party won at least 34 seats in the previous day's vote. The governing party's main challenger, the People's National Party, secured 29 of the 63 seats in parliament.
