Colombia, Poland, and Australia

As I had forecasted and regretted simultaneously, Juan Manuel Santos won the Colombian presidential election of 2010 on Sunday, June 20. He will follow Alvaro Uribe into the presidency on a national holiday, the Battle of Boyaca, on August 7. I just hope he can put Colombia on the path to peaceful progress it needs. I will have to live under his jurisdiction for four months, and I personally want to be safe as well. No war with Venezuela, please, Mr. Santos.

Also on the 20th, Acting President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski took the lead in the first round of presidential elections in Poland. I suspect based on polling that he will triumph against Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of the late Polish president who died in the plane crash in April, in the runoff on July 4.

Meanwhile, in Australia, an unforeseen coup in the Labor Party has replaced Kevin Rudd with Julia Gillard as Prime Minister on June 24. Rudd's poll numbers had nosedived in the past few months with unpopular legislation such as mandatory internet filtering and delayed carbon emissions regulations. The Australian Workers' Union changed its support to Deputy PM Gillard. Cabinet officials Arbib and Feeney publicly stated that the party would lose the coming election this fall should Rudd continue to lead Labor.