World in Brief - The Economist Roundup

 

World in Brief

The Economist Roundup

February 14, 2024

Voters headed to 800,000 polling stations in Indonesia, the world’s third-biggest democracy. Once their ballots are counted, Indonesians will probably know their new president, as well as local and parliamentary legislators. Prabowo Subianto, a 72-year-old former general with a dark past, is the favourite to be the country’s next leader. He must win 50% of votes to avoid a run-off election in June.

 

Britain’s annual inflation rate remained at 4% in January, defying predictions that it would increase. The figures are a boost for the Bank of England, who may soon lower interest rates to tackle weak economic growth. GDP has risen by only 1.5% since 2019. “Core” inflation, which excludes volatile categories such as food and energy, hit a peak of 7.1% year-on-year last May.

 

Two apparently army-blessed parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-N and Pakistan Peoples Party, said they would form a coalition government after last week’s elections. Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the PML-N, will nominate Shehbaz Sharif, his brother and a former prime minister, for the premiership. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party—which won the most seats in the election, despite a de facto ban—has refused to form a coalition with the PPP or PML-N.

 

A landslide in Turkey trapped nine workers in a gold mine. Footage of the incident showed a torrent of mud surging through the valley where the mine is located. A rescue is under way but may be slowed by the presence of cyanide in the soil. The chemical, which is used in gold extraction, poses a contamination risk to a nearby river.

 

Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, ruled that the hundreds of booksellers along the Seine in Paris could stay during this summer’s Olympics. Local police had originally planned to remove most of them before the opening ceremony on July 26th due to security concerns. The vendors have been a permanent fixture in the capital for more than two centuries.

Pakistan’s complex parliament

Coalition talks are under way in Pakistan after last week’s shock election results. Candidates backed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf—the party of Imran Khan, a former prime minister now barred from parliament and jailed—won the most seats. But a revival of the Pakistan Democratic Movement, which led parliament until August, is on the cards. Led by the Pakistan Muslim League, a centre-right party backed by the army, it will feature the Pakistan Peoples Party (which dominates Sindh province) plus a smattering of regional parties. Parliament must convene by February 29th and elect a prime minister soon after.

The authorities forced candidates of Mr Khan’s party to run as independents; some are already being wooed by other parties. Mr Khan has warned his rivals against “forming a government with stolen votes”. Delays in releasing the election results sparked protests, though the election commission insisted that “accuracy, not speed” is what matters. Its critics think that it had other motives in mind.

Indonesia picks a new leader

Indonesians voted in the world’s biggest single-day election—held in its fourth-most populous country. They will elect a new president and more than 20,000 local and national legislators.

Prabowo Subianto, a controversial former general, is the favourite for the top job. Gibran Rakabuming, his running-mate, is the son of one of the most popular leaders anywhere—Indonesia’s current president, Joko Widodo (known as “Jokowi”), who is stepping down after two terms. Many Indonesians are voting for Mr Prabowo because they think he will continue Jokowi’s policies, including ambitious infrastructure projects to link up the country’s vast network of 17,000 islands.

But Jokowi faces charges of interfering in the election. Mr Prabowo’s opponents, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, both former governors, accuse state agencies of arbitrarily cancelling their rallies and intimidating Jokowi’s critics. “Dirty Vote”, a documentary released on YouTube showing Jokowi’s anti-democratic shenanigans, has gone viral since its weekend release. Yet none of these worries seems likely to scupper Prabowo’s road to the presidency.

Renewables: must try harder

Energy ministers are gathered in Paris this week for the International Energy Agency’s annual get-together. Founded 50 years ago to ensure the security of oil supplies among energy importers, the agency has lately been bullish about the speed at which the world can get rid of the stuff. Fatih Birol, its boss, has clashed with big-oil producers over when peak petroleum will be reached (imminently, he thinks) and says they face ruin unless they invest in green energy.

The IEA’s latest report states that global renewable capacity rose by almost 50% in 2023, the fastest rate in the past two decades, thanks to an acceleration in Europe, America, Brazil and especially China. However, it warns of a slowdown: the increase in renewable capacity is on track to be just 2.5 times its current level by 2030, it says. That is short of the goal set at COP28, a climate summit, last year, of a tripling in capacity. Governments must work harder, reckons the IEA.