2020 in politics and government

Events

January

• January 1
• *All works published in 1924, except for some sound recordings, are now in the public domain in the United States. This is the first release of material to the public domain since 1978.
• * Crowds of protesters breach the US embassy compound in Baghdad, Iraq, and then withdrew after US Marines fired tear gas. The unrest occurred in response to US airstrikes on pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.
• *Recreational marijuana becomes legal in Illinois, United States.
• *State laws on bail, the gig economy, minimum wages, data privacy, and red flag gun control take effect in several U.S. states, including California, New York, Colorado, Nevada, and Hawaii.
• *Several new federal regulations take effect in the US as of this date, including new regulations on retirement funds, minimum wage rules, and overtime rules.
• January 2
• *The government of New South Wales, Australia, declares a State of emergency to take effect January 3 as bushfires rage, threatening human lives and property as well as wiping out as many as 500 million animals.
• * 750 US troops prepare to be deployed to Iraq to defend US Embassy in Baghdad.
• *Turkey reports a new refugee influx and possible crisis, as 250,000 Syrians flee Syria for Turkey, due to Syrian government attacks on rebel groups around Idlib.
• *Zoran Zaev, the prime minister of North Macedonia, resigns. Oliver Spasovski is interim prime minister until a new government can be organized after the April 12 election.
• *A female-majority Cabinet is sworn in for the first time in Austria. It is also the first time The Greens – The Green Alternative forms part of the ruling coalition, in alliance with the conservative Austrian People's Party.
• January 3
• *2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis: President Donald Trump approves the targeted killing of notorious Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad, Iraq. Fears of a conflict between Iran and the U.S. results in World War III trending on Twitter.
• *Spain's electoral commission prohibits Catalan president Quim Torra from serving in the regional parliament.
• January 4 – An airstrike against the military academy south of Tripoli, Libya, kills 16 and wounds 37.
• January 5 – Former Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic defeats President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović with 53% of the vote in the 2020 Croatian Presidential Election.
• January 6
• *Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledges that climate change plays a role in Australia's bushfires, in a reversal of his previous stance.
• *US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces she will introduce a resolution to limit President Trump's ability to take actions against Iran.
• *At a meeting of the Lima Group, Argentina and Mexico abstain from supporting Juan Guaidó as president of the General Assembly of Venezuela.
• January 7 – Pedro Sánchez takes office as President of the Government of Spain on a vote of 167 in favor, 165 against, and 18 abstentions.
• January 8
• *Two U.S. military bases in Iraq are hit with a dozen missiles fired by Iran; no casualties or serious damage reported. U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran "appears to be standing down" after the killing of Qasem Soleimani but announces new sanctions against Iran.
• *As many as 25 Crore people join a general strike in India in response to Bharat Bandh labor reforms.
• January 9 – The International Olympic Committee bans political gestures by athletes at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
• January 10
• *On January 11, 2020, Russia announced that a ceasefire had been agreed to in the area of Idlib and Northwest Syria, between Russia, Syria, Syrian rebels and Turkey. This was due to requests by Turkey for a ceasefire, in order to stop the flood of Syrian refugees into Turkey. However, some regional news outlets reported that Syria launched further attacks near Idlib, in Maarat al-Numan district and the villages of Maar Shoreen, Talmenes, and Maar Shamshah, even after the ceasefire had officially begun.
• January 11
• *Taiwanese general election: Progressive Tsai Ing-Wen is reelected with 7.8 million votes.
• *Legislators in Northern Ireland form a government for the first time since the Executive of the 5th Northern Ireland Assembly collapsed in January 2017.
• *Iran takes responsibility for "unintentionally" shooting down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 that killed 176 people on January 8. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau demands "transparency and justice for the families and loved ones of the victims."
• *British police say it was an "error of judgment" to label 'Extinction Rebellion' a terrorist group.
• January 12
• *13,000 participate in a "Run Against Dictatorship" in Bangkok, demanding that Thai prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha step down.
• *A nuclear alert about Pickering Nuclear Generating Station was erroneously sent to millions in Ontario, Canada.
• *Same-sex couples can legally register for marriage in Northern Ireland.
• January 14
• *Alejandro Giammattei is inaugurated as President of Guatemala.
• *Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso is under fire for describing Japan as a single race and single language country, ignoring 200,000 indigenous Ainu people and 760,000 ethnic Koreans.
• *New Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei takes office after a five-hour delay due to protests. Outgoing president Morales is pelted with eggs.
• January 15
• *The Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev announces that the entire Russian government will resign. This occurred due to a proposal from Putin for new laws and reforms that would vastly increase his power.
• *U.S. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi names the seven managers of the impeachment team and the House votes to send its impeachment resolutions to the Senate for a trial of President Donald Trump.
• *Filipe Nyusi is sworn in for another term as president of Mozambique while the opposition boycotts the ceremony amidst charges of electoral fraud.
• *Turkey lifts its ban on Wikipedia, due to a ruling by the Turkish High Constitutional Court.
• January 16
• *Pope Francis names Italian lawyer Francesca Di Giovanni as the under-secretary in the Section for Relations with States, the arm of the Catholic church that handles the foreign relations of the Holy See. She is the first woman appointed to a post at that level.
• *The impeachment of Donald John Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate.
• *Guatemala breaks off diplomatic relations with Venezuela
• *Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin is appointed as Prime Minister of Russia. He previously served as Director of the Federal Tax Service from 2010 to 2020. He was nominated for Prime Minister of the Russian Federation by President Vladimir Putin. Hearings on his appointment were held in the State Duma on January 16, and he was confirmed to the office that day.
• January 18
• *French police called for backup as protesters tried to storm a theater where President Emmanuel Macron and his wife were watching The Fly.
• *Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urges leaders of the European Union to support the government of Libya in peace talks in Berlin. Libyan opposition leader General Khalifa Haftar seeks support in Greece.
• *Violence escalates in Beruit, Lebanon, with 377 protesters and 142 members of security forces injured during nine hours of clashes; 43 people were arrested and later released.
• January 20 – Norway's ruling coalition falls apart after repatriation of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant bride.
• January 22 – Katerina Sakellaropoulou is elected the first female president of Greece.
• January 23 – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, 58, says Greta Thunberg, 17, should study economics if she wants to talk about climate change. Mnunchin has a bachelor's degree in economics.
• January 26 – 2020 Peruvian parliamentary election. No party wins a majority, but centrists dominate.
• January 27
• * Manzoor Pashteen, a leading activist against corruption in the Pakistani military, is arrested.
• January 31 – The United Nations Security Council approves an extension of an arms embargo against the Central African Republic only until July 31, 2020.

  February

• February 1 – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas threatens to cut security ties to the United States and Israel.
• February 3
• *The Supreme Court nullifies the results of the 2019 Malawian general election due to widespread irregularities. President Peter Mutharika will stay in power until new elections on July 2, 2020.
• *"Technical irregularities" delay the vote counting of the Iowa Democratic caucuses, the first step in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries in the United States.
• February 5
• *Thomas Kemmerich of the Free Democratic Party is elected governor of Thuringia, Germany, with support from the AfD party. This is the first time in modern history that a state governor has been elected with the support of the far-right AfD.
• *The US Senate voted on whether or not to convict the president on the charges and evidence as they were presented and debated upon. The senators voted 52 to 48 to find President Trump not guilty on the charge of abuse of power. They voted 53 to 47, in a party line vote, to find him not guilty on the charge of obstruction of Congress
• February 9
• *Sudanese leader Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
• * Former deputy Prime Minister Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi of Sudan states that it would be good to normalize relations with Israel.
• February 11
• *Palestinians withdraw their request for the UN Security Council to discuss the proposed peace plan offered by the Trump Administration of the United States.
• *President Trump submits a new federal budget for the upcoming fiscal year. It would increase defense spending and cut social programs.
• *2020 Azerbaijani parliamentary election The ruling party takes about 65 of 125 seats.
• *2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election's results announced with Aam Aadmi Party securing 62 of 70 seats.
• February 14
• *German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticizes the United States for rejecting "even the idea of an international community." He also criticized Russia and China.
• *The U.S. issues a travel ban against Sri Lanka general Shavendra Silva for human rights violations.
• *Benjamin Griveaux, 42, French President Macron's preferred candidate for mayor of Paris, withdraws his candidacy after a sex video is leaked.
• February 15
• *Thousands protest in eastern Germany against the role Christian Democrats and the Free Democratic Party in supporting a far-right political party in Thuringia.
• *U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper says that a "reduction in violence" deal reached with the Taliban in Afghanistan "looks very promising." The agreement is expected to be formally announced on February 16 and to go into effect on February 17.
• *Venezuela carries out military exercises and drills amidst growing tensions with the United States. Opposition leader Juan Guaidó returns after a three-week tour that included a visit with the U.S. president.
• *Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg supports increased taxes in Europe for Silicon Valley tech giants.
• February 16
• *A Saudi jet crashes in Al Jawf Region after being shot down by Houthi rebels. 31 civilians are killed and 12 injured in a retaliatory strike in Yemen.
• *2020 Guinean legislative election.
• *Tesla is ordered to stop work on a factory in Germany due to environmental concerns.
• *North Macedonia's parliament is dissolved ahead of the April election.
• *Software problems force the suspension of the 2020 Dominican Republic municipal elections.
• *Ivanka Trump praises Saudi Arabia and other Mideast countries for the advances they have made on women's rights.
• *French Health Minister Agnès Buzyn announces her candidacy for mayor of Paris, after Benjamin Griveaux drops out.
• *Strikes among seasonal ski resort workers break out against unemployment reforms at 50 locations in France, from the Alps to the Pyrenees.
• February 17 – 3,000 interns in the public service sector of Spain protest against the lack of a permanent contract. 21.6% of Spanish government employees are considered "temporary."
• February 18 – Incumbent Ashraf Ghani is declared the winner of the 2019 Afghan presidential election with 50.64% of the votes.
• February 19 –President Trump replaces acting director of national intelligence Joseph Maguire with the inexperienced ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell after Maguire's office tells the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that Russia intends to interfere in the 2020 United States elections.
• February 20
• *A terrorist attack by a right-wing extremist Hanau, Hesse, Germany, leaves eleven dead including the suspect.
• *Israel asks that the Carnaval parade in Aalst, Belgium be canceled because of anti-Semitism.
• *The U.S. sanctions five Iranian clerics after they blocked 7,000 candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
• February 21 – 2020 Iranian legislative election.
• February 22 – 2020 Togolese presidential election. Incumbent President Faure Gnassingbe wins reelection with 72% of the vote.
• February 23 – Police in Haiti violently protest against money being spent on a carnaval celebrations instead of their salaries.
• February 24 – Seven people, including a police officer, are killed in protests against new immigration laws in New Delhi, India before a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump.
• February 29
• *Egypt says it will use "all means" to defend its interests in a dispute with Ethiopia and Sudan over a dam on the Nile River.
• *The United States and the Taliban sign an agreement that may lead to the end of the war in Afghanistan.
• *Eight members of Hezbollah are killed by Turkish troops in Syria. Last week, 33 Turkish soldiers were killed in the fighting.
• *10,000 to 22,000 people march in Moscow in memory of slain dissident Boris Nemtsov.

  March

• March 1 – The Prime-Minister-designate of Iraq, Mohammed Allawi withdrew from his run for the post, accusing political parties of obstructing him, creating a domestic crisis and also a possible power vacuum. This decision occurred hours after the Iraqi parliament declined for the second time in a week to approve his cabinet.
• March 2
• *The U.N. envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, 69, steps down because of health concerns. Peace efforts seem further off than ever.
• *2020 Israeli legislative election.
• *Russian President Vladimir Putin submits changes to enshrine God and heterosexuality in the constitution.
• March 6 – Thousands march in Brussels for the European Climate Strike as the warmest winter on record comes to a close.
• March 7 – The Saudi government arrests three members of the royal family in a move to consolidate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's power.
• March 8 – Women's marches
• *Pakistan – Aurat March in Pakistan.
• *Mexico – 100,000 women march in Mexico City, Monterrey, and other cities in Mexico.
• *Chile – Between 190,000 and 300,000 people march in Santiago, Chile and 800,000 across the country.
• *Other countries – Three masked men attack demonstrators in Kyrgyzstan. Hundreds protest in the Philippines. Marches in several countries are canceled or have lower attendance than in 2019 due to COVID-19.
• March 9 – Women strike across the country, demanding an end to violence against women in Mexico. The Chamber of Deputies and banks are forced to close.
• March 11 – Lawmakers in Russia approve legal changes that will allow President Vladimir Putin to remain in office until 2036. The changes still have to be approved the Constitutional Court and in a nation-wide referendum scheduled for April.
• March 15
• *Voters in France participate in local elections despite concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. A second round will be held on March 22.
• * Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz is asked by Israel's president to form a government.
• *Pro-government protesters march across Brazil, ignoring social distancing recommendations.
• *Saudi authorities detain 298 government employees, including members of the military, accusing them of abuse of power, bribery, money laundering, and corruption. 379 million riyals are involved.
• *Anti-immigrant protests turn violent in Chios and Lesbos, Greece.
• *King Felipe VI of Spain renounces the inheritance from his father, King Emerit Juan Carlos I, who is accused of receiving €88 million in Saudi Arabian kickbacks. King Felipe will also take away Juan Carlos's pension.
• March 16 – Governments across Latin America impose strict measures to control the coronavirus.
• *Peru puts military personnel on the streets, blocking major roads and suspending freedom of assembly.
• *Costa Rica closes its borders.
• *Colombia closes its maritime, river, and land borders but shares information with Venezuela, where there are 33 cases of coronavirus.
• *In Chile, at least six passengers from the cruise ship are treated in hospitals in Patagonia after they tested positive for coronavirus.
• *Paraguay restricts crowds and enforces an 8 p.m. curfew.
• *President Lenin Moreno of Ecuador plans to begin a curfew on March 17.
• *Panama reports 69 cases of coronavirus.
• March 16
• *China and the United States accuse one another of fear-mongering about the coronavirus. U.S. President Donald Trump calls COVID-19 "the Chinese virus" and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian suggested in a tweet that patient zero came from the U.S., not Wuhan.
• *French President Emmanuel Macron announces the banning of social gatherings and the postponement of the second round of the 2020 French municipal elections.
• March 17
• *Heavy fighting kills 38 in central Yemen.
• *The Niger Armed Forces say they have killed 50 members of Boko Haram in Toumour.
• March 20
• *India hangs four men convicted of a violent gang rape in 2012.
• *Luis Almagro is reelected Secretary-General of the Organization of American States.
• *The United States continues its high-pressure sanctions against Iran despite the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran; the sanctions do not prohibit humanitarian aid.
• March 21 – North Korea test-fires two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.
• March 24 – A diplomatic dispute between China and Brazil ends when the former offers to help Brazil cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Brazil reports 1,891 cases and 34 deaths; São Paulo is on lockdown.
• March 25 – The Group of Seven cannot agree on a joint statement about the coronavirus pandemic because the United States Secretary of State insists on referring to it as the “Wuhan virus”. At a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, France proposes "general and immediate cessation of hostilities in all countries," including a 30-day pause in conflicts, to allow coronavirus-related supplies to flow. The United States insists that the resolution include a reference to the Wuhan, China, origin of the coronavirus. Russia insists that ambassadors vote in person.
• March 27
• *Prime Minister Boris Johnson tests positive for COVID-19, and will self-isolate in 10 Downing Street.
• *Health Secretary for the United Kingdom, Matt Hancock tests positive for COVID-19 and reports that he is working from home and self-isolating.
• *Seven ships from the Russian Navy are monitored by the British Royal Navy in the English Channel and the North Sea.
• *Saudi Arabia says it intercepted two ballistic missiles in an attack that Yemen's Houthi launched towards Riyadh and areas near the Yemeni border. The attacks came days after Yemen's warring parties welcomed a U.N. call for a truce to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.
• *Monuments across the world turn off their lights at 8:30 p.m. in honor of Earth Hour.
• March 30 – The National Liberation Army rebels in Colombia have declared a unilateral ceasefire for a month starting April 1. There are 700 infections and 10 deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia.

  April

• April 4
• *Vietnam protests after a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel rammed a fishing boat near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
• *Sir Keir Starmer is confirmed as the new leader of the Labour Party, succeeding Jeremy Corbyn.
• April 5
• *Queen Elizabeth II makes a rare broadcast to the UK and the wider Commonwealth, something she has done on only four previous occasions. In the address she thanks people for following the government's social distancing rules and pays tribute to key workers, and says the UK "will succeed" in its fight against coronavirus but may have "more still to endure".
• *Prime Minister Boris Johnson is admitted to hospital for tests after testing positive for coronavirus ten days earlier.
• April 6 – Prime Minister Boris Johnson is taken into intensive care after being admitted to hospital for coronavirus the day before. It is announced that First Secretary of State Dominic Raab will deputise for him.
• April 9 – Prime Minister Boris Johnson is moved out of intensive care, but remains in hospital.
• April 12
• *Bangladhesh executes Abdul Majed for the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of the country.
• * 2020 North Macedonian parliamentary election.
• *Three civilians are killed in India after fighting between India and Pakistan along the border of Kashmir.
• *COVID-19 pandemic – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan turns down an offer from Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu to resign after a stay-at-home order led to panic buying.
• *Prime Minister Boris Johnson is discharged from hospital after being treated for coronavirus and will continue his recovery at Chequers.
• April 15 – 2020 South Korean legislative election is held despite the pandemic. President Moon Jae-in's Democratic Party wins 163 of 300 seats in parliament. Its satellite party, the Platform Party, is expected to win 17 seats for a combined total of 180. The main conservative party of the United Future Party and its satellite party, the Future Korea Party, are expected to take 103 seats.
• April 18 – Denmark and Poland announce they will not give stimulus money to businesses registered in tax havens.
• April 19 – Vietnam protests China's establishment of administrative units in the South China Sea. Malaysia also contests China's more aggressive moves.
• April 20
• *Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz agree to the formation of a national emergency government in Israel.
• *For the second time in four days, a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 intercepts a U.S. Navy aircraft in the eastern Mediterranean. A similar incident happened on June 8.
• April 22
• *United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres says the impact of COVID-19 is "immediate and dreadful" but there is "another, even deeper emergency—the planet's unfolding environmental crisis."
• *After U.S. President Trump threatened to shoot Iranian patrol boats that get close to U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf, Tehran says it will destroy "any American terrorist force" if its security is threatened.
• *The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launches its first satellite.
• April 24
• *COVID-19 pandemic: France and Holland pledge almost $10 billion to bail out their national airlines.
• *China closes its border with Myanmar after fighting in Jiegao, Yunnan. Artillery fire and bullets destroy a gas station in China, but there are no reports of injuries in either country.
• April 26
• *The Southern Transitional Council in Yemen declares self-governance. The government said local and security authorities in the provinces of Hadramawt, Abyan, Shabwa, al-Mahra, and the island of Socotra dismissed the move as a “clear and definite coup."
• *Saudi Arabia abolishes capital punishment for minors, except for terrorism cases. Floggings are also banned.
• * Referendum on new constitution in Chile.
• April 27 – Boris Johnson returns to work after three weeks of illness. In his first speech outside 10 Downing Street since recovering from coronavirus, he urges the public not to lose patience with the lockdown, warning that the UK is at the moment of "maximum risk".
• April 28
• *A bombing believed to have been carried out by Kurdish fighters in Turkish-controlled Afrin, Syria kills at least 20 civilians.
• *Libyan General Khalifa Haftar is accused of carrying out a coup d'état as he puts the eastern part of the country under direct military rule.
• *Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro appoints key allies to head the Justice Ministry and Federal Police after the Supreme Federal Court authorized an investigation into allegations that Bolsonaro had tried to interfere illegaly with the police agency.

  May

• May 1
• *North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un inaugurates a fertilizer factory, dispelling rumors of his death after twenty days when he was not seen in public.
• *Fifty-seven people are arrested in a May Day demonstration in Santiago de Chile. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, gatherings of more than fifty people are prohibited. Police say one arrested man was supposed to be in quarantine until May 9.
• *Canada bans 1,500 kinds of assault weapons.
• May 6 – Congressman Ken Buck is caught on tape allegedly pressuring a district GOP party chair to sign a false affidavit certifying the results of that district assembly's vote on the nomination of candidates for a Republican primary to replace its term-limited state senator.
• May 10 – 2020 Polish presidential election. The president is expected to win in a landslide as the opposition calls for postponement. It was announced on May 6 that the election will be postponed indefinitely.
• May 12 – A bomb explosion attributed to the Islamic State of Afghanistan kills 24 at a funeral in Nangarhar Province, eastern Afghanisatn. Unknown attackers killed 24 and injured 16 others, including new-born babies, mothers, and nurses at a maternity hospital in Kabul.
• May 16
• *Thousands in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, many wearing masks, demonstrate against a Roam Catholic Mass for Croatia’s Nazi-allied soldiers and civilians killed by partisan forces at the end of World War II.
• *Protests against Stay-at-home orders result in arrests in Warsaw and London.
• *Satellite pictures show 200 buildings burning in a village in Let Kar, Myanmar. Villagers say the fires were set by government soldiers, but the government says guerrillas from the Arakan Army are responsible.
• May 17 – Dominican Republic presidential election
• May 20 – 2020 Burundian presidential election Evariste Ndayishimiye, 52, wins with 69% of the vote and will not face a second-round of voting. President Pierre Nkurunziza will step down and be granted the title ″Supreme Guide.″
• May 22 – May 2020 New Zealand National Party leadership election. Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye won.
• May 24 – China clamps down on dissidents in Hong Kong; authorities warn that U.S. backing of dissidents could set off a new Cold War.
• May 26 – The U.S. says Russia has sent fighter jets to Tripoli to support the mercenaries trying to topple the government of Libya. Russia says this is ″disinformation.″
• May 31
• *Opposition leader Mikola Statkevich is arrested in a protest in Minsk, Belarus. 50 opposition activists have been arrested in the last few days, including blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, who was arrested in Grodno.
• *People in cities around the world including London, Berlin, and Rio march against police brutality and the death of George Floyd.

  June

• June 1
• *Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announces a "new normal" of partial reopening with a road trip to Cancun and the inauguration of the Mayan Train. Mexico has nearly 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nearly 10,000 deaths.
• *Nationwide protests continue in the United States a week after the death of George Floyd at the hands of four police officers.
• June 1 to 5 – Protests against the killing of George Floyd and other instances of police brutality extend to hundreds of cities across at least 40 countries.
• June 6 – Han Kuo-yu, mayor of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is recalled in a special election.
• June 11 – President Donald Trump authorizes economic and travel restrictions on International Criminal Court employees who investigate war crimes committed by Americans in the War in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Imad Khamis was dismissed by President Bashar al-Assad, amid anti-government protests over deteriorating economic conditions.
• June 15
• *Twenty-two Indian soldiers die in a border clash with Chinese troops in the Ladakh region.
• *Kyrgyzstan Prime Minister Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev resigns amidst scandal and is replaced with Kubatbek Boronov.
• June 23 – 2020 Malawian presidential election: Opposition alliance leader Lazarus Chakwera, 65, wins with 58.57% of the vote.
• June 28 – 2020 Polish presidential election: Populist conservative incumbent, Andrzej Duda will face off against the liberal mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski in a second round.

  July

• July 1 – 2020 Russian constitutional referendum: President Vladimir Putin is allowed to extend his presidency to 2036.
• July 5 – 2020 Croatian parliamentary election The conservative Croatian Democratic Union wins 66 of 151 seats in parliament.
• July 9
• *Agnès Callamard, an independent U.N. human rights expert, issues a report insisting an American drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in January was a “watershed” event in the use of drones and amounted to a violation of international law.
• *Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signs a decree handing over Hagia Sophia to Turkey’s Religious Affairs Presidency, changing its status from a museum to a mosque.
• July 10
• *2020 Singaporean general election: The ruling People's Action Party maintained its power, winning 83 of 93 seats in parliament.
• *The body of Seoul mayor Park Won-soon is found on a mountainside. Park was seen as a reformer but had recently been accused of sexual assault.
• July 11
• *Thousands protest the arrest of Khabarovsk Governor Sergei Furgal on murder charges in eastern Russia.
• *Thousands protest against corruption by the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
• *COVID-19 pandemic
• **Thousands protest Israel's economic response to the pandemic.
• **Thousands of protesters, many masked, march for the fifth night in a row to demand the resignation of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. The protests are mostly against the president's handling of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia, where 18,073 cases and 382 deaths have been confirmed.
• July 12
• *500,000 voters participate in primary elections for pro-democracy candidates in Hong Kong, in what organizers say is a vote against the national security law.
• *Second round of Polish presidential election.
• *Thousands of protesters march in Kinshasa, Bukavu, and Kananga; Democratic Republic of the Congo, against the selection of a new election chief aligned with former president Joseph Kabila. Five people were killed in similar protests on July 8.

  Scheduled events

• August 10 – 2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election.
• August 30 – 2020 Belarusian presidential election.
• September 19 – 2020 New Zealand general election.
• September
• *2020 Jordanian parliamentary election.
• *2020 Sri Lankan general election.
• October 4 – 2020 Kyrgyz parliamentary election.
• October 11 – 2020 Lithuanian parliamentary election.
• October 20 – The 2020 World Expo will open in Dubai.
• October 31 – 2020 Ivorian general election.
• November 3 – United States presidential election.
• The 2020 G20 Riyadh summit will be the fifteenth meeting of Group of Twenty. It will be held on November 21–22, 2020 in the city of Riyadh, the new future city of Saudi Arabia.
• November 9 – November 19 – The 2020 United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Glasgow, UK.
• December 31 – If implemented, the Brexit transition period will expire.

  History by world issue

Climate change

Coronavirus pandemic

Police brutality and racism

Specific situations

• 2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis
• Timeline of the Syrian Civil War

  Countries and regions

• 2020 in United States politics and government
• 2020 in United Kingdom politics and government
• 2020 United States elections

  Categories

Draft articles

Articles on specific world issues

US-Iran conflict

• .The bottom line: It'd be hell on earth. By Alex Ward. January 3, 2020