Coalition

NEW DELHI, India -- India's third election in as many years has returned the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party to power, this time at the head of a 24-party coalition government that must decide whether to continue with a costly nuclear arms program and whether to come to an arrangement with neighboring Pakistan over disputed Kashmir.The portents are not good. The same BJP officials will occupy key ministries -- External Affairs, Defense and the Home Ministry in charge of police and the judiciary -- leaving minor Cabinet posts to their coaltion partners.

The new head of Israel's Labor Party declared yesterday that he intends to pull out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's governing coalition, setting the stage for a period of political disarray that could bog down Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking efforts for months. "We will inform the prime minister that we wish to separate," Amir Peretz, best known for his leadership of Israel's biggest trade federation, said hours after his come-from-behind victory over veteran statesman Shimon Peres in the contest for the party leadership.

More than 1,000 members of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development -- a citywide coalition of churches, workers' groups and neighborhood associations -- hammered out their platform for the fall election yesterday and enlisted 663 volunteers to carry it to citizens."

A coalition of groups seeking expanded health coverage for Maryland's poor called on gubernatorial and legislative candidates yesterday to back a 36-cent cigarette tax increase and to stop the sale of the state's largest nonprofit insurer. The three-point pledge being sent out this week by the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative also asks candidates to support having the state negotiate with drug manufacturers to secure lower prices on medicine for senior citizens and others who lack prescription coverage.

EHUD Barak won Israel's election for prime minister because he is not Benjamin Netanyahu.But not all Barak votes were Labor Party votes. Mr. Barak must now stitch together a coalition with smaller parties, each having its own agenda. The frailty inherent in such arrangements finally brought down the hard-line Mr. NetanyahuThe Knesset elected yesterday may last less than the allotted four years. Its predecessor was elected three years ago.The world expects General Barak to reach an accord with the Palestinian Authority that includessafeguards for Israelis' security and that will win the approval of most Israelis and Palestinians.

Tokyo -- After four decades of the best governmental relations money could buy, the stewards of Japan Inc. are finding it hard to adjust to Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa's wildly popular -- new coalition government.And the stakes in this year of political turmoil couldn't be higher for the recession-weary companies that power the world's second-largest economy.What, executives wonder, will the reformist coalition mean to economic prospects -- and to the cozy business-government partnership cited as the key to Japan's postwar revival?

A grass-roots idea to bridge the gaps among racially divided neighborhoods has blossomed into an annual block party in West Baltimore that drew hundreds Saturday to a triangular park in Upton. At the fifth annual Boundary Block Party, sponsored by a coalition of five of the city's central-western neighborhoods, children frolicked near a fountain, a wooden platform served as a stage for local musicians and choirs, and dozens of people lined up for free hot dogs and potato salad.

Four unions of Anne Arundel County school employees have formed a coalition to share information on issues that affect members and to coordinate advocacy efforts. The Coalition of Educational Employees will represent more than 8,700 teachers, principals, secretaries, instructional assistants, custodians, school bus drivers and food service workers. "Over the course of the last year we've recognized there are many issues that we share," said Sheila M. Finlayson, president of the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County, at a news conference Wednesday.

Poland's former Communist Party, which came out ahead in national elections last month, formed a coalition with the Polish Peasants' Party yesterday. The move will allow the former Communists to form a government but could force them to pay homage to nationalistic and anti-European groups. The coalition will give the former Communists, the Democratic Left Alliance, control over a solid majority in the Parliament. But it could also complicate governing because the peasants' party is more hostile to budget austerity and other reforms necessary for Poland to win membership in the European Union.

WHILE THERE is little doubt that the fallout from the Nov. 3 elections rest heaviest on the Republicans, and will continue to do so for some time, Democrats have their own set of headaches to contend with.On election night, many Democrats could barely contain their glee over the GOP's misfortunes. There were reports of a snicker or two inside the White House.However, Democrats have to confront the spoils of their limited success.They must find ways to satisfy the disparate and sometimes warring factions within the coalition that propelled them to victory: minorities, women and labor organizations.