WORLD LEGISLATIVE ELECTION RESULTS

The following table is a guide to the principal political parties and coalitions of the world. All countries that were independent on Dec. 31, 1998, are included, except the Vatican City State. In most instances parties are included only if represented in elected parliaments (in the lower house in bicameral legislatures). (Party names may be condensed or omitted for reasons of space or to more clearly indicate party groupings.) The first column under "Parliamentary representation" indicates the number of seats obtained in the most recent general election and excludes nonelective seats and seats still undecided. If only a portion of the seats were at stake, the figure given indicates the total number of seats held by each party after the election. The column in parentheses represents the number of seats won in the penultimate election. Single-party penultimate election results may be combined if a coalition was formed at the most recent election. The date of the most recent election follows the name of the country. The capital letters in the column "Affiliation" show the relative positions of the parties within the political spectrum of each country. The key chosen is as follows: ER-extreme right; R-right; CR-centre right; C-centre; CL-centre left; SD-social democratic; S-strictly defined socialist; L-broadly defined left (may or may not be Marxist); K-strictly defined communist; and EL-extreme left. In addition, within some countries there are political organizations that exist chiefly to advance a special interest as distinct from a political orientation. These are represented by lowercase letters as follows: x-parties that have repudiated former communist affiliation; e-parties based on distinct regional, ethnic, or linguistic identity; r-parties based on religion, often fundamentalist; g-environmental, or Green; and p-parties based largely on personalities. The number in the column "Voting strength" indicates proportions of the valid votes cast for the respective parties. (STEPHEN NEHER; MELINDA C. SHEPHERD)