Andrzej Duda won a 52-48 percent victory over incumbent Bronislaw Komorowski in the Polish Presidential elections. His Law and Justice Party is socially conservative and less business-friendly than the former government and the outcome rattled Polish financial markets. In many respects the outcome mimics much of what is going on in Europe: a distrust of traditional parties, a move toward a nationalist right-wing, and a protest vote against perceived corruption and growing economic inequality in the country.
Local elections in Spain indicate that anti-austerity parties are getting a big boost, complicating the outcome of national elections scheduled for later on. Much of the support for these parties comes from people who are dissatisfied with the mainstream parties which opposed Greek calls for austerity relief. The mainstream parties did so largely because they did not wish Greece to get a “special” deal from the troika. Apparently, these voters think that Spain should ask for a special deal for itself. We will have to see if this electoral outcome affects the way the IMF treats the Greeks when the debt payments are scheduled to be paid–the IMF may not wish to provoke an even greater backlash.
India has been hit by a severe heat wave that has killed about 500 people. The majority of deaths have occurred in the south states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Temperatures have hit about 48 degrees Celsius (118 Fahrenheit). The heat wave in these states has actually been going on since mid-April, but most of the deaths have occurred in the last week. The heat wave is expected to persist for at least a few more days.
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