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Democracy in the Globe .. Woman elected Greece Pres., Biden to enter WH

Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez after the Spanish parliament approved his inauguration as prime minister
Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez after the Spanish parliament approved his inauguration as prime minister
By Shaimaa Al-Ruwaished KUWAIT, Dec 29 (KUNA) -- The world has witnessed democratic changes throughout 2020 including winning of a female judge in Greek presidential elections and Joe Biden defeating US President Donald Trump in the American elections.
Following are major democratic events in 2020: Jan. 1: Croatia, for the first time since it joined the European Union in 2013, took over the EU Chairmanship for a six-month tenure.
Jan. 7: Spanish Parliament endorsed the Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez as prime minister after winning elections.
Jan. 9: The British House of Commons endorsed a bill for the UK exit from the EU (Brexit).
Jan. 16: The Russian parliament (the Duma) approved a decision by President Vladimir Putin, appointing Mikhail Mishustin as prime minister succeeding Dmitry Medvedev.
Jan. 22: Greece elected Katerina Sakellaropoulou as president after winning majority of votes in parliament. She was the first woman to occupy the top post.
Feb. 8: US President Donlad Trump sacked the Ambassador to the EU Gordan Sondland after the latter testified in the Congress in a bid to impeach the president.
Feb. 13: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared a cabinet reshuffle affecting eight posts, while the Treasury chief Sajid Javid suddenly resigned.
Feb. 18: The independent Afghan electoral commission announced Ashraf Ghani won the elections for a second term, garnering 50.6 percent of the votes.
Feb. 20: US President Donald Trump declared appointing the ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as the acting intelligence chief.
Feb. 29: The Malaysian Royal Palace declared that the King, Sultan Abdullah, named Muhyiddin Yassin as the new prime minister.
March 3: The sole official news agency in Australia, The Australian Associated Press news agency, closed after serving for 85 years.
March 4: Ukrainian news agency UNIAN declared that the Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk tendered his resignation only six months after taking the post.
April 4: Keir Starmer was elected leader of the UK's main opposition Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn who stepped down his post last December.
May 17: President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani and his political rival Abdullah Abdullah signed a power-sharing deal in capital city Kabul.
June 4 : Turkey's parliament stripped two pro-Kurdish lawmakers and one MP from the main opposition party of their parliamentary status.
June 6: Former vice president Joe Biden won the democractic party nomination for the presidential election against the current president Donald Trump.
June 9: US senate approved unanimously that General Charles Brown to be the first African-American Air Force Chief.
July 3: French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and his government submitted resignation to French President Emanuel Macron.
July 3: President Macron named Jean Castex as the country's new prime minister, following the resignation of Edouard Philippe.
July 7: Turkish parliament reelected the candidate of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party Mustafa Sentop as speaker of house.
July 10: Turkey's top court rejected a 1934 Cabinet decree that had ordered Istanbul's Hagia Sophia to have become a museum.
July 11: Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won general election amid Coronavirus crisis.
July 13: Polish President Andrzej Duda won a second five-year term in office.
July 29: UK named diplomat Richard Moore as new chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, the foreign spy service known as MI6.
Aug. 7: US to ban TikTok, WeChat from app stores in 48 hours, saying the move aimed to "safeguard the national security" of the country.
Aug. 10: Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko wins a sixth term in office.
Aug. 19: Former US Vice President Joe Biden officially won the Democratic candidacy for the US presidential elections.
Aug. 24: The Republican Party chose US President Donald Trump as the nominee for presidential elections.
Aug. 27: TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer resigned three months and 20 days after announcing suspension of the company's activity in the US.
Aug. 28: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned for health reasons.
Sept. 8: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the Commission's Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis would be the EU's new trade commissioner following the resignation of Phil Hogan.
Sept. 12: Mauricio Claver-Carone was elected President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the first president from outside Latin America to lead the bank since its inception 61 years ago.
Sept. 30: Belgium appointed the Finance Minister Alexander de Kroo as new Prime Minister.
Oct. 3: Prime Minister Alexander De Croo's new 20-member government in Belgium gained the backing of a majority of MPs in a confidence vote.
Oct 12: Tajik President Emamoli Rakhmon was re-elected to serve for a second term retaining the top post by a landslide win.
Nov. 7: Democrat Joe Biden won the US Presidential Election 2020 with more than 270 electoral college votes to be the 46th leader of the United States.
Nov. 9: US President Donald Trump announced Secretary of Defense Mark Esper "has been terminated." Nov. 12: US President-elect Joe Biden announced the appointment of Ron Klain as White House Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President.
Nov. 13: Myanmar's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) of the State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, won nationwide elections by landslide Nov. 18: US President Donald Trump fired chief of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Chris Krebs.
Nov. 18: Democrats, in a closed session, re-elected Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House of Representatives.
Nov. 23: US President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday his picks for Secretary of State and national security team.
Nov. 30: US President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team announced several nominees and appointments for the incoming administration's top economic posts.
Dec. 2: Afghan Government and the Taliban agreed on procedural rules for peace negotiations.
Dec. 9: US President-elect Joe Biden named the retired general of African origin, Lloyd Austin, as Secretary of Defense.
Dec. 17: Spanish parliament endorsed a draft law allowing mercy death joining 20 other nations that recognize this globally controversial right. (end) sr.eng