During historical parliamentary elections in Spain, for the first time since 1977 - the year in which the first democratic parliamentary elections were held in Spain since 1936 - the two-party system has been broken. Both the ruling conservative People’s Party (PP), led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as well has the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) lost major support, going down from 45% and 28,8% to 28,7% and 22% respectively. Newcomers Podemos, a populist socialist party, and Ciudadanos, a liberal party dealt a blow to the political establishment by securing third and fourth places, winning 20,7% of the vote and 13,9% of the vote. As a result of the election, the PP lost its absolute majority in the Parliament. Coalition talks have to be pursued now, which could prove to be difficult, as either a grand coalition between the two mainstream parties PP and PSOE would have to be forged - which never happened - or a broader coalition which would either include several regional parties or the PSOE, CiU and Podemos combined. 

Several conclusions regarding migration (including the effective protection of the external borders of the European Union) and the referendum in the UK on the possible withdrawal of the country from the EU were adopted during the meeting. European leaders also discussed topics such as the Economic and Monetary Union, the Single Market, and combating terrorism. In addition, it was decided to prolong sanctions against Russia for another 6 months.

Libyan politicians have signed a UN-sponsored peace deal in Skhirat, Morocco, that is supposed to unify the country’s two rival governments into a single Government of National Accord (GNA). Around 80 of 188 lawmakers from Libya’s internationally recognised House of Representatives (HoR) based in Tobruk and 50 of 136 members of the Islamist Tripoli-based General National Congress (GNC) signed the agreement. The deal is however seen as illegitimate by certain groups in the government due to it being forced on Libya by external powers and due to the speakers of the two parliaments being absent from the voting. Under the agreement, a nine-member Presidency Council and a seventeen-member interim Government of National Accord are to be formed, with a view to holding new elections within two years.

For the first time in more than 20 years, the presidential election witnessed a competition of more than two candidates. In the second round of voting from 16 to 18 December, the incumbent James Michel from the People’s Party who intended to run for a third and final term, secured his re-election. He received 50.15% of the votes, defeating opposition leader Wavel Ramkalawan (49.85%) by just 193 votes in the second round.

The meeting of Ministers of the WTO Member States is held every two years. This year’s program focused on agriculture, food security and environmental protection which are key issues for the group of least developed countries (LDC – Least developed countries).

Between 14-16 December, the 4th International Cultural Forum was held in St. Petersburg. Representatives of nearly 70 countries attended the event, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova. The event was held by the General Assembly and devoted to the 70th anniversary of UNESCO. During the event, 20 agreements were signed related to cultural cooperation. Furthermore a Declaration on the protection of culture in the areas of armed conflict was presented.