Introducing the 51th edition of The PEP Weekly Digest, where we present to you the most recent updates and news on the global political stage.

Recent and upcoming elections influence the worldwide political landscape in eight nations, slated between May 05, 2024 and June 06, 2024. These elections hold significant importance, as they will determine the direction and governance of each respective country’s future.

One noteworthy event has occurred in Taiwan, William Lai Ching-te sworn in as Taiwan’s sixth democratically-elected president, a role where he is expected to continue steering Taiwan in the same direction as set by his predecessor Tsai Ing-Wen. Lai’s victory at the polls in January marked a narrow but unprecedented win for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Since Taiwan transitioned to democracy in 1996, the DPP and its more Beijing-friendly rival the Kuomintang (KMT) have switched power every eight years, but Lai’s victory broke with that tradition as the DPP won a third term in office. Tsai’s vice president, Lai will have big shoes to fill. During her eight years in office, Tsai dramatically raised Taiwan’s profile abroad while treading a fine line around its disputed political status, lest it upset China or the United States. Tsai’s tenure coincided with a new wave of Taiwanese nationalism, as well as a vision of Taiwan as distinct from China despite its deep historical and cultural ties. She also oversaw major changes for the island, including the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2019 and the introduction of same-sex adoption in 2022.       

Shifting our focus to Iran, President Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash in East Azerbaijan province on Sunday, Iranian media said. Elections to elect the next President will be held on June 28, it added. The chopper carrying Iran President Raisi and his foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had disappeared over a mountainous region. There was “no sign” of life among passengers of the helicopter, Iran’s state television said. “Upon finding the helicopter, there was no sign of the helicopter passengers being alive as of yet,” the state TV said. This incident follows a period of heightened regional tensions, particularly in light of the Gaza conflict and Iran’s recent escalations with Israel. President Raisi, who has been in office since 2021, has pledged Iran’s steadfast support for Palestine, a stance reiterated during his recent dam inauguration speech. Iran state media shared videos of the leader on board the chopper on Sunday. The video shows the Iranian leader looking out of an aircraft window as the camera pans to show several senior officials including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian seated opposite him.

In Vietnam, the country’s Communist Party has named police minister To Lam as the state president, the government said, and also nominated a new head of the parliament in a major leadership reshuffle. Unprecedentedly for a one-party nation once known for its stable politics, two state presidents and a parliament speaker have stepped down in less than 18 months, all for unspecified “wrongdoing” amid a major anti-graft campaign which is unnerving foreign investors because of its chilling effect on bureaucracy. After approval from parliament, General Lam, 66, will replace Vo Van Thuong, who stepped down in March after being accused of violating party rules, just over a year after his appointment. Lam will retain his police minister job even after being elected as state president, according to Bui Van Cuong, the parliament’s general secretary. “The Politburo hasn’t nominated a new Minister of Public Security, and therefore the National Assembly will not vote to dismiss this post during its upcoming session,” Cuong told a press conference yesterday. Widely considered one of the most powerful figures in the country, Lam was chosen by the party’s Central Committee earlier this week, but authorities and state media revealed the nomination only on Saturday. The president holds a largely ceremonial role but is one of the country’s top four political positions. The others are the party chief, the prime minister and the parliament speaker.

In the realm of regulatory affairs, British regulators on Wednesday dished out a combined £61.6 million ($79 million) in fines to U.S. investment bank Citi for failings in its trading systems and controls. The fines were issued by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, whose investigation focused on the period between April 1, 2018, and May 31, 2022. Citi qualified for a 30% reduction in the amount of the penalty after agreeing to resolve the matter. “Firms involved in trading must have effective controls in place in order to manage the risks involved. CGML [Citigroup Global Markets Limited] failed to meet the standards we expect in this area, resulting in today’s fine,” Sam Woods, deputy governor for prudential regulation and the chief executive officer of the PRA, said in a statement Wednesday. The regulators said that certain system and control issues persisted during the probe period and led to trading incidents, such as so-called fat-finger trading blunders. The main incident highlighted took place on May 2. 2022, when an experienced trader incorrectly inputted an order, which resulted in $1.4 billion “inadvertently being executed on European exchanges.” “Deficiencies in CGML’s trading controls contributed to this incident, in particular the absence of certain preventative hard blocks and the inappropriate calibration of other controls.

Shifting our attention to legal advancements, A former Iranian minister has been sentenced to three years’ jail for corruption, state media reported, citing the judiciary, in a rare conviction of a senior government official. “Following a trial, former agriculture minister Javad Sadatinejad was sentenced to three years in prison,” chief justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, said quoted by the official Iran newspaper. Sadatinejad, 51, was agriculture minister from August 2021 to April 2022, when he resigned after the case came to light. He had previously been a deputy for the central city of Kashan. The minister had been prosecuted as part of a major corruption case linked to the import of livestock supplies into Iran, for which 10 people have already been convicted. He can appeal the ruling. The judiciary also said two former ministers had been summoned and 45 other people charged in another corruption case, worth $3.7 billion, involving one of Iran’s biggest tea trading companies. In September 2020, a former high-ranking judicial official, Akbar Tabari, was jailed for 31 years for corruption, one of the heaviest sentences handed down to a former official in the Islamic republic.