Parliamentary elections will be held in Kuwait to elect 50 members for the National Assembly (Majlis al-Umma). Members are elected by plurality vote in multi-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms and 15 members are designated ex officio.

The presidential election in Finland is by absolute majority through a two round system, for a 6 year period. The second round will be a contest between Sauli Niinistö, from the National Coalition, and Pekka Haavisto, from the Green Party.

The EU and India will celebrate their summit in New Delhi on 10 February. It will be attended by Herman Van Rompuy on behalf of the EU and by Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Parliament. The agenda includes bilateral, regional and global issues. The leaders will discuss the strategic partnership, with special attention to strengthening cooperation on security, energy, research and innovation.

The President is elected by absolute majority through a two round system for a 5 year period. The main candidates are Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov, Rejep Bazarov, Myratgeldi Jumageldiyev and Rozygeldi Rozgulyev, all from the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan.

During the summit to be held on 14 February in Beijing, the EU and China will discuss a broad range of issues, including their strategic partnership, the economic situation, trade and cooperation agreements, the G20, climate change, the peace process in the Middle East and strengthened cooperation on energy.

Egypt will hold the second phase of its parliamentary elections to choose 176 members to its Advisory Council. 88 members are elected by absolute majority for a 6 year period and 88 are appointed by the president for the same time period.

Latvia will hold a referendum to approve amending articles 4, 18, 21, 101 and 104 of the Latvian Constitution, which plans to attribute Russian the status of second national language.

The prospects for democratic transition in the country depend heavily on this presidential election. The President is elected by absolute majority in a two round voting system for a 7-year period.

London will host the Conference on Somalia 2012. The meeting will gather representatives of over 40 governments, multilateral organisations, the World Bank, the Intergovernmental Authority for Development, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the League of Arab States.

The main issues to be discussed are piracy and terrorism.

The Winter Meeting is the primary forum for Assembly Members and three General Committees to receive high-level briefings from OSCE officials and discuss draft reports for the upcoming Annual Session.

All sessions will be open to the media.

Senegal's presidential election will be held on 26 February 2012 to elect a new president for a 7 year period by absolute majority in a runoff voting system.

The main candidates are Abdoulaye Wade, from the Senegalese Democratic Party, and Macky Sall, from the Alliance for the Republic.

Syria will hold a referendum to amend the constitution and define the term of office of the president.

A year after the beginning of popular protests, violence and repression mount in the country.