On April 28, 2025, federal elections were held in Canada, resulting in a victory for the Liberal Party led by Mark Carney, which won 155 seats in the House of Commons out of 343. However, this is not enough to form a majority, which requires 172 seats, meaning that a minority government will have to be formed or coalition agreements sought. Distribution of seats by party
Party Leader Seats Change
Liberal Party Mark Carney 155 +3
Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre 133 +13
Bloc Québécois Yves-François Blanchet 21 -11
New Democratic Party Jagmeet Singh 5 -20
Green Party Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedne 1 -1
Independents and others 28 —
Possible scenarios for forming a government
Given the results, the Liberal Party does not have an absolute majority and must seek support from other parties to form a stable government. Possible options:
Minority government: The Liberals may try to govern without a formal coalition agreement, securing the support of other parties on key issues.
Coalition with the New Democratic Party: Despite significant losses, the NDP could become a partner of the Liberals, as has happened in the past.
Cooperation with the Bloc Québécois: Although the Bloc Québécois lost some seats, its support could be critical for the Liberals, especially on issues related to Quebec.
Implications for the opposition
The Conservative Party, led by Pierre Poilievre, improved its position, winning 133 seats, but this was not enough to secure victory. Poilievre also lost his seat in the Carleton riding, which could affect his leadership of the party.
The New Democratic Party suffered significant losses, reducing its representation to five seats. Party leader Jagmeet Singh announced his resignation after losing in his riding.
The election took place against a backdrop of heightened tensions with the US, particularly after President Donald Trump’s statements about the possible annexation of Canada as the 51st state. Mark Carney strongly criticized Trump, stressing the need to protect Canadian sovereignty and strengthen national unity.
International leaders, including representatives from the UK, the EU, Ukraine, and China, congratulated Carney on his victory and expressed hope for stronger cooperation in trade, defense, and democratic values.
Earlier, the Experts Club think tank released a video analysis dedicated to the most important elections in the world in 2025. For more details, see here —
https://youtu.be/u1NMbFCCRx0?si=K4EMR3-a5cYQM_Ab
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the government will soon launch contracts for the recruitment of 18-24 year olds into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“Next week, the government intends to launch lucrative recruitment contracts to attract young people aged 18-24 – up to draft age – to the Armed Forces to help eliminate labor shortages,” he told Reuters.
However, Zelensky declined to say how many men are expected to sign up.
As reported, the special representative of US President-elect Donald Trump, Mike Volz, believes that to stabilize the front in Ukraine it is necessary to lower the mobilization age, which would allow to call into the army “hundreds of thousands of new soldiers”.
Earlier, Zelensky commented on the discussion on lowering the mobilization age in Ukraine, pointing to the understaffing of Ukrainian brigades and the lack of weapons.
The government has appointed Stanislav Banchuk as acting director of the state enterprise of alcohol and liquor industry “Ukrspirt”, according to the official website of the government.
“To agree with the proposal of the State Property Fund on the appointment of Stanislav Yaroslavovich Banchuk as acting Director of the state enterprise of alcohol and distillery industry “Ukrspirt”, – noted in the order of the Cabinet of Ministers № 386 from April 30.
On the website of the FGI and Facebook-page “Ukrspirt” so far there is no additional information about the new head. According to information on the Internet, a person with the same surname and initials was the deputy regional prosecutor of Chernivtsi region until 2014, after which he ran an individual law practice in Kyiv region.
According to Youcontrol, Banchuk S.Y. is the founder of a number of companies, in particular, Law Company Standard LLC, Gaztehkom LLC, Newest Energy Systems LLC, Trading House P.E.G.O., VOGA Resources LLC and SpetsOil LLC, which specialize in oil and gas trading.
77.6% of the polled Ukrainians believe that the president is directly responsible for corruption in the government and military administrations.
This is evidenced by the data of a public opinion poll on the adaptation of Ukrainians to life in war conditions, conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology in July by order of the Ilk Kucheriv Foundation for Democratic Initiatives.
“Delaying solutions to problems that undermine people’s faith in victory will also hit the president himself. The poll showed that according to 77.6% of citizens, “the president is directly responsible for corruption in the government, military administrations,” – said the executive director of the Foundation “Democratic Initiatives” Petro Burkovsky.
As the sociologist noted, “the widespread argument that ‘the government does not have time everywhere’ does not work after 16 months of war and will no longer play the role of an indulgence for abuse, indifference and incompetence of persons who were elected and appointed precisely so that they ‘had time to do everything and everywhere’ using their powers, all the more expanded under martial law.”
“That is, it is the officials who do not fulfill their duties that are no less a dangerous enemy at this stage than Russia. And citizens expect Vladimir Zelensky’s determination to remove such individuals from power, to listen to and promote performers who honestly point out problems and competently offer solutions,” Burkovsky continued.
“Therefore, the cleansing of the TCC from “invaluable personnel” should be a starting point, not a point in the process of change in the defense sector. In this case, we should not go the way of simple solutions. In particular, we can reasonably assume that the majority of citizens may support such a “simple idea” as “transferring military offenders to the front line.” However, can we trust weapons and soldiers’ lives to people who cynically peddled certificates to evade service? It is unlikely that such a decision will be supported in combat units. But the proposal to replace corrupt officials with veterans will resonate with the public,” summarizes the political analyst.
According to the survey, 72.9% of Ukrainians support the dismissal of wounded military personnel from the ranks of the AFU with the payment of all due compensation for treatment and rehabilitation, and 46.3% – transfer at will to positions in military commissions instead of current employees.
All-Ukrainian survey “Public and Political Attitudes of the Population of Ukraine” was conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in July 2023 at the request of the Foundation for Democratic Initiatives. The survey was carried out by the method of personal interviews using a tablet. Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts were immediately excluded from the sample due to security issues. Kherson region was initially included for calculations, but due to security issues the task for Kherson region was implemented in the neighboring Mykolaiv region.
A total of 2011 interviews with respondents living in 135 localities of Ukraine were conducted as part of the study. Under normal circumstances, the statistical error of the sample does not exceed 3.3%
A representative of the Citizens for Democratic Development of Bulgaria-Union of Democratic Forces (GERB-UDS) coalition, Maria Gabriel, on Monday returned to President Rumen Radev a mandate to form a government, Bulgarian National Radio reported.
“The folder I am returning is empty because I will not allow it to contain the names of people who got there not through open and clear negotiations, but through backroom deals,” she said in a meeting with Radev.
Shortly before her meeting with the president, Gabrielle briefed the Bulgarian National Assembly. It was also attended by Nikolai Denkov of the Continuing Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition.
According to Gabrielle, the two coalitions have worked out a formula based on reason rather than emotion in the last 48 hours. The two coalitions, in particular, came to an agreement to run the government on a rotating basis. The plan was for Denkov to lead the cabinet for the first nine months, with Gabrielle as foreign minister, and for the next nine months they would swap portfolios.
According to observers, the rotational management of the government, among other things, served as a stumbling block to the successful formation of the cabinet.
The Cabinet of Ministers has provided funding for the state-owned enterprise National Project Air Express to stop the implementation of a project of passenger railway communication between Kyiv and Boryspil airport.
The government adopted the relevant resolution at a meeting on Wednesday.
According to an explanatory note to the document, this will minimize Ukraine’s losses associated with the termination of credit and commercial agreements concluded between the SOE National Project Air Express and the China National Complete Engineering Corporation together with the Export-Import Bank of China.
It is expected that as a result of the resumption of negotiations and termination of agreements, about $73.7 million can be returned to the Ukrainian side.
The explanatory note also states that at the moment the SOE National Project Air Express is not solvent, and in order for the enterprise to be able to terminate the contracts under the mentioned project, it is necessary to pay off debts on salaries and payments to the state budget, as well as accumulate funds for participation in litigation.
In particular, the state-owned enterprise National Project Air Express has arrears in wages – UAH 831,000, in payment of personal income tax – UAH 341,000, in military fee – UAH 28,500, and in single social security tax – UAH 222,000.
As reported, in Ukraine for a long time there was an unrealized national project Air Express – railway passenger communication Kyiv-Boryspil International Airport, construction of other infrastructure facilities in Kyiv region. For its implementation in 2011, under state guarantees, a loan agreement was concluded with the Export Import Bank of China in the amount of $372.3 million. CCEC was appointed as a general contractor for the turnkey construction works.
In June 2015, it became known that Ukraine and China were ready to discuss the possibility of redirecting credit funds provided for Air Express to other projects, and in March 2016, the Ministry of Infrastructure received the consent of Chinese partners to reformat the Air Express project.
On November 30, 2018, Ukrzaliznytsia launched an express train to Boryspil airport with a floating schedule of 21 to 30 voyages per day. To this end, about 4 km of non-electrified track was added to the existing railway infrastructure, including a 272 m long railway overpass over the M03 Kyiv-Kharkiv highway. Two passenger platforms were built. For operation on the route Central Kyiv Railway Station-Boryspil Airport, Ukrzaliznytsia repaired five rail buses manufactured by Pesa Bydgoszcz SA previously purchased for operation on other routes.
