By Alessandro RAIMONDI
LIESTAL, May 15
(THE GLOBE)
At the recent general elections taken place in Canton Basel Countryside, Switzerland, for the renewal of the local government and parliament, CDU, Center Democratic Union, has come out as the winning party so much so that it resumes governing status after five years of opposition.
Matter of fact the party has reconquered the executive seat that the previous elections, held in 1994, prevented it to occupy for the legislature. This time Erich Straumann has defeated with a sounding victory his opponent, socialist Andres Klein, by a margin of over 2,000 votes: 26,033 vs. 24,001.
The two politicians competed to fill Edi Belser�s seat, of the Socialist Party, being vacated by resignation. All other government executives have been reconfirmed.
But CDU�s triumph has spread also on the legislative body by grabbing 3 more seats, and by passing from 11 to 14 parliamentarians force it has become the third largest party in the canton.
In the 90-seat parliament, however, the most influential party has become the Socialist one that by gaining 1 seat � now it holds 25 of them � has toppled the Radical Party which has decreased its presence from 25 to 22 members.
As for the other political forces the Democratic Party has lost one seat fixing its weight to 12 presences, while the Swiss Democrats representativeness has increased from 7 to 9 seats. On the ebbe tide side the two Green parties and the Evangelic Party: the environmentalists have lost 1 seat, occupying now only 5 of them, while the �evangelists� declined from 4 to 3. Surprisingly the seat lost by the Greens is the one previously occupied by Rosy Frutiger, cantonal president of the environmentalist party�
May 18, 1920 Pope John Paul II was born. He was 264th pope of the Roman Catholic Church: the first Polish pope. Also this day was born singer Sandra. 1914 �The Mariner� was the first steamboat with cargo to pass through the Panama Canal. The United Nations weren�t always on current place. 1951 they moved out of its temporary headquarters in Lake Success, New York, for its permanent home in Manhattan. The first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, Jacqueline Cochran, piloted an F-86 Sabrejet over California on this day, at an average speed of 652.337 miles-per-hour. In 1980 The Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing.
May 19, 1952 was the lucky day for Japan boxer Yoshiro Shirai. He defeated flyweight champion Dado Marino in Tokyo to become Japan�s first world boxing champ. American ambassadors were much surprised when in 1964 they found 40 hidden microphones in the US embassy in Moscow.
May 20, 1944 was born English rock-singer Joe Cocker and two years after him was born American singer and actress Cher. In 1875 The International Bureau of Weights and Measures was established. In 1978 Mavis Hutchinson, 53, made it to New York City to become the first woman to run across America. The 3,000 mile trek took her 69 days. She ran an average of 45 miles each day. Now that�s what we call a daily workout. In 1989 after death of Chinese leader Who Yaoban there was a strike of thousands of students who demanded democratic reforms. One week later almost 100 thousand people came to square Tyananmen in Peking refusing to go away as authority demanded. This was also time when Russian president Michael Gorbachev came to visit China. Students asked him to help them. By May 20 there was difficult situation when more then million people demonstrated. Two weeks later it ended as army entered the capital.
May,18
The Kazakh Concert Hall. �The composers are joking�. Humorous scenes from operas. 6.00. p.m.
May, 21
The Kazakh Concert Hall. The �Traviata� opera. 6.00. p.m.
The Kosteyev State National Museum. Exhibition of the works of S. Kalmykov, I. Itkind, V. Eifert, and Rudolf Nuriev�s painting.
From 10.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Closed on Monday.
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
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