Introducing the 43rd 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 March 10, 2024 and April 17, 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 the Czech Republic, the governor of the Moravia-Silesia Region Jan Krkoška, who was found guilty of bribery by a Prague court on Thursday has resigned from office. He has also quit as regional councillor and will leave the ranks of the ANO party at the request of its leader Andrej Babiš. The case, which relates to large-scale bribery of doctors by pharmaceutical companies, is 12 years old and involves close to 200 people. Krkoška, who pleaded guilty, committed the act in his former position as a representative of a pharmaceutical company. He was ordered by the court to pay a fine of 200,000 crowns. He is to be replaced as governor of Moravia-Silesia by Josef Bělica from the ANO party.   

Shifting our focus to Pakistan, a delegation comprising political leaders from different parties including PML-N, NP and MQM-P as well as former parliamentarians and ex-Interior Minister Sindh on Friday visited Jam Kamal Khan and congratulated him on assuming charge of the Minister of Commerce. Former Chief Minister of Balochistan and president of the National Party (NP) Abdul Malik Baloch, along with his MNAs and MPAs, convenor of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Jafar Khan Mandokhel, and former senator Mir Kabeer Ahmed Muhammad Shahi, ex-Interior Minister Sindh Brig. Retired Haris Nawaz and Dr. Hussain Islam were part of the delegation, said a news release. The meeting served as an opportunity for discussions and well-wishes, highlighting the importance of collaboration and camaraderie in the political landscape.  

In Serbia, Ana Brnabić, Former Serbian Prime Minister, was elected Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic. The appointment of Ana Brnabić as Speaker of the Parliament was supported by 153 deputies out of 158 present. Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia, praised Ana Brnabić’s work at the head of the government. Since 2013, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia has been an observer in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. In December 2023, the CSTO parliamentarians monitored the preparation and holding of parliamentary elections in the Republic.

In the realm of regulatory affairs, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) requested comments on its Customer Identification Program (CIP) requirements for banks. The agency is exploring ways to modernize these requirements and has issued a request for information on the topic, FinCEN said in a Thursday (March 28) press release. The CIP Rule requires banks to collect a taxpayer identification number from a customer before opening an account, according to the release. For individuals from the United States, this generally means collecting a full Social Security number.

Shifting our attention to legal advancements, in the United Kingdom, a former councillor who raped teenage boys he met in Swindon in the mid-1990s has been jailed for 22 years. Timothy Darch, originally from Salisbury, groomed three victims in their mid-teens between 1996 and 1997 after meeting them through support charities for young gay men. Judge Taylor said the 62-year-old defendant from South Road Kingsway in Quedgely had “not shown one iota of remorse” for these crimes, in which Darch had “preyed on” the teenagers and “remorselessly prioritised [his] sexual gratification over their welfare”. The rapist, who had been a member of Lyneham and Bradenstoke Parish Council’s planning committee as recently as 2020, sent the 14 and 15-year-olds to pubs and clubs and gave them money, gifts and accommodation. This, the judge added, “was cynically and manipulatively designed to make them so dependent on [Darch] that they would submit to [his] sexual desires”.