PEACE-MAKER
July 2024 has been a pivotal month for global politics, with the elections in the United Kingdom, France, and Iran. These elections have the potential to reshape international relations and impact global peace in profound ways. Diplomatic efforts, trade policies, and security strategies adopted by these countries will reverberate through the global community, affecting everything from economic stability and peacekeeping efforts.
The results of the recently-concluded election in the United Kingdom are historic, with the Labour Party winning by a landslide, putting an end to 14 years of Conservative rule. Garnering 425 of the 650 parliamentary seats, the Labour Party has secured the largest majority in 25 years. Keir Starmer has become UK’s 58th prime minister and has started forming his Cabinet, including his country’s first-ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer, or finance minister.
In France, with the far-right party National Rally, or Rassemblement National (NR), leading the first round in parliamentary elections, more than 200 candidates from President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist camp and the left-wing alliance have stepped down in a bid to prevent the NR from securing majority seats in parliament.
Meanwhile, Iran’s snap presidential election will head to a second vote in a few days, with reformist lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian and ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili emerged as the two candidates with the most votes, with Pezeshkian leading by 3.9 percentage points.
We have earlier mentioned in this column what we in the International Conference of Asian Political Parties observed that Asia and the world are at an inflection point in history; that there are dark clouds of conflict posing a serious risk to regional and global peace and stability. Thus, we continue to stress the importance of avoiding bloc politics and emphasize cooperation over competition, as common challenges require a collective response; that meeting challenges of the 21st Century requires a conducive environment based on an unwavering commitment to peaceful coexistence, cooperation, and economic and cultural connectivity, with dialogue and negotiations as the only way out for a solution to disputes.
We continue to express our deep concern at the lingering and newly flaring up conflicts throughout our region and the world, and note that the current territorial issues in some parts of the world pose serious potential threats to overall security to all members of the global community due to the ever-increasing interdependence and interconnectivity among the countries.
We still note with apprehension that our region is also faced with grave security threats such as terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, human trafficking, environmental disasters, humanitarian catastrophe, and challenges accrued from the misuse of new and emerging technologies like cyber technology and artificial intelligence for malign purposes. We continue to recognize that the threat to cybersecurity poses serious obstacles to national and global cooperation, as it is an indispensable component of global communications, economic cooperation, and trade.
We continue to point out that crises are also coming in a multitude of forms, not just from geopolitical conflicts but also from climate change and public health emergencies. Rising prices of energy and food and disrupted global supply chains are also further aggravating global inequality, increasing the outflow of refugees and migrants, and intensifying fears of stagflation. We learned, through the last three years’ siege under the Covid-19 pandemic, that the global crisis requires a global response. In this regard, we resolve that international organizations should play a more pivotal role in making our region a safer and more secure place through closer and more frequent coordination and cooperation to ensure common and comprehensive strategy.
The July 2024 elections in the United Kingdom, France, and Iran are more than mere political contests. They are events that will shape the future of global peace and security. We watch closely the policies and diplomatic approaches of the new leaderships, hoping they will foster cooperation, stability, and lasting peace.