DECEMBER 11, 2000 VOL. 156 NO. 23

Milestones
By KATE DRAKE

RE-ELECTED. JEAN CHRETIEN, 66, as Prime Minister of Canada for the third consecutive time; in Ottawa. Despite predictions that the newly-formed conservative Canadian Alliance party might reduce Chrétien's Liberals to a minority government, voters gave the Liberals 11 more seats for a majority of 172 in the 301-member House. Chrétien had promised to cut taxes and revitalize Canada's universal health-care system.

LECTED. JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE, 47, populist former Roman Catholic priest, as President of Haiti, capturing nearly 92% of the votes in an election boycotted by the major opposition parties; in Port-Au-Prince. First elected President in 1990, Aristide was toppled by a military coup in 1991. Restored to power in 1994, his term of office finished in 1995, and he was constitutionally barred from serving a second consecutive term. Opposition leaders say the election council was biased against them and have questioned the high voter turnout it reported.

ELECTED. ASHA DEVI, 45, also known by her male name Armarnath Yadav, as India's first openly transsexual mayor; at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh state. One of the highly marginalized group of transsexuals known in India as eunuchs, Devi ran as an independent candidate and defeated representatives of India's main political parties by a landslide.

AWARDED. TO WOLFGANG TILLMANS, 32, German photographer, Britain's perennially controversial Turner Prize for art; in London. The judges cited Tillmans' ability to present sensitive subject matter, such as gay sex and a man urinating on a chair, in ways that challenge conventional definitions of art. He beat out competition from three other artists to claim the $28,420 prize.

DIED. SIR MALCOLM BRADBURY, 68, erudite author, professor and cofounder of the highly successful creative writing program at the University of East Anglia; in Norwich, England. A prolific author of biographies, literary criticisms, novels and television scripts, he is best known for penning The History Man, a biting tale of British campus life in the 1960s, which was later adapted for television starring Anthony Sher.

RESIGNED. HIROMU NONAKA, 75, as Secretary General of the dominant Liberal Democratic Party; in Tokyo. Nicknamed the "shadow control tower," he is widely believed to have more power in the party than the Prime Minister. A consummate back-room deal-maker, Nonaka helped Mori survive a no-confidence vote last month. But his departure may be seen as a manuever to pressure Mori out of office.

DIED. PANTELIS SFINIAS, 55, key executive of the Minoan Flying Dolphins shipping company, who committed suicide by jumping from the sixth floor of his office; in Port of Piraeus, Greece. His company owned the Express Samina, the ferry that sank off Paros island in September, killing 80 people--the country's worst maritime disaster in 35 years. Sfinias, along with other officials, faced charges of endangering the lives of passengers and was said by friends to have felt unjustly blamed for the tragedy.

TIME CAPSULE

The victory of JEAN CHRETIEN, 's Liberals marks the first time in 55 years that a party has won the right to form its third straight Canadian government. Chrétien's journey to becoming a three-time Prime Minister began when he was still a teen.

"The 18th of 19 children born to a machinist in Shawinigan [Quebec], a bleak pulp and paper center, [Jean Chrétien] is a third-generation Liberal Party activist who began campaigning for candidates in local pool halls at 15. After earning a law degree, he hung out a shingle in his hometown and awaited his chance at elected office. He was undeterred by a mild facial paralysis that had plagued him since childhood--a disability that worked in his favor in the recent campaign when a tasteless Tory TV ad took clumsy aim at it. Chrétien first won a seat in Parliament in 1963. When he arrived in Ottawa at 29, he spoke virtually no English, but he quickly learned the language of politics."
--Time, Nov. 8, 1993