2015 Bronx Legionnaires' disease outbreaks
Legionnaires Disease is an acute type of pneumonia that is caused by the inhalation of aerosolized water containing the Legionella bacteria. Forty-two Legionella species have been classified to date, and these bacteria can grow in areas where there is warm water, such as cooling towers.


2015 Bronx Legionnaires' disease outbreaks, January 2015
In January 2015, Legionnaires' disease sickened 8 people near Co-op City's cooling towers in the northeast Bronx. Twelve people were diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease between December 2014 and the end of the outbreak in January 2015.


2015 Bronx Legionnaires' disease outbreaks, August 2015
In an unrelated July and August 2015 outbreak, the disease affected at least 120 people and caused at least twelve deaths in the South Bronx area. The cause of the outbreak was traced back to the Opera House Hotel on July 10, 2015 and was declared as over as of August 20. Following the Morrisania outbreak, city officials stated that they would be pursuing new regulations for cooling towers. Affected buildings were also ordered to be decontaminated within 14 days, under the threat of misdemeanor charges.


2015 Bronx Legionnaires' disease outbreaks, September 2015
On September 21, 2015, 13 more cases of Legionnaires Disease were identified and were said to be unrelated to the outbreaks from previous months. 35 cooling towers were inspected and 15 of these tested positive for the Legionella bacteria. After the cases surfaced, city officials put legislative programs into effect that require building owners to perform quarterly inspections and to verify that the cooling towers have been tested and are free of the Legionnella bacteria.


2015 Brown Bears football team
The 2014 Brown Bears football team represented Brown University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by 18th-year head coach Phil Estes and played their home games at Brown Stadium. They were a member of the Ivy League. Brown has a record of 5–5 in the season with a 3–4 mark in Ivy League play to finish in a tie for fourth place.


2015 Brown Tournament
The Jim Brown Shield Tournament is an annually awarded interstate ice hockey championship trophy in Australia for senior men aged 17 years and older with the condition that players of the Australian Ice Hockey League that are 24 years and older must have played less than 6 games to remain eligible. The current trophy is in the form of a shield and is the third trophy to bear the Brown family name. The trophy is named after Scottish born James Archibald Brown. The Jim Brown Shield is competed for in a series of games between state representative teams in what is called The Brown Tournament.


2015 Brown Tournament, Jim Brown Memorial Trophy Tournament
The 2015 national tournament will be held from 8 October - 11 October and will consist of 6 teams, 5 representing a state each and 1 representing a territory. The Australian territory that is competing in the tournament is Australian Capital Territory. The states competing are Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the 2014 champions Western Australia.


2015 Brown Tournament, Jim Brown Memorial Trophy Tournament
The tournament will be held at the O'Brien Group Arena, in Docklands, Victoria.


2015 Brownlow Medal
The 2015 Brownlow Medal was the 88th year the award was presented to the player adjudged the fairest and best player during the Australian Football League (AFL) home and away season. Nat Fyfe of the Fremantle Football Club won the medal by polling thirty-one votes during the 2015 AFL season. He became the first Fremantle player to win the Brownlow Medal.


2015 Brownlow Medal, Voting procedure
The three field umpires (those umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award three votes, two votes, and one vote to the players they regard as the best, second-best and third-best in the match, respectively. The votes are kept secret until the awards night, and they are read and tallied on the evening.


2015 Brownlow Medal, Voting procedure
A change was made in 2015 to the rules under which players could become ineligible for the Brownlow Medal. Under previous rules, players were ineligible if found guilty at the AFL Tribunal of an offence with a base penalty equal to or greater than a one-match suspension, even if the player then avoided suspension by taking an early guilty plea after the Match Review Panel's findings. Under the new rules:


2015 Brownlow Medal, Voting procedure
Due to these changes, there were just 34 players ineligible in 2015, compared with 61 in 2014.


2015 Brownlow Medal, Voting procedure
On 3 July 2015, the round 14 match between Adelaide and Geelong was cancelled following the death of Adelaide coach, Phil Walsh, resulting in players from those teams having one fewer game available to them to poll votes.


2015 Brownlow Medal, Voting procedure
Various commentators made proposals to remove this disadvantage, such as removing all round 14 votes from the count or awarding double votes for the return match between Adelaide and Geelong in round 23; but the AFL rejected all proposals, pointing out that the disadvantage to the players involved was no different from the case of players who had missed the chance to poll votes in previous Brownlow medals due to their participation in interstate matches. The missing game ended up having no impact on the medal, as the highest-polling player from those clubs (Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield) was still nine votes behind the winner.


2015 Broxbourne Borough Council election
The 2015 Broxbourne Borough Council election took place on 7 May 2015 to elect members of the Broxbourne Borough Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections.


2015 Broxtowe Borough Council election
Elections to Broxtowe Borough Council were held on 7 May 2015 to elect all 44 members to the Councils 20 electoral wards each electing between 1 and 3 members who will each serve a 4-year term expiring in 2019.


2015 Broxtowe Borough Council election
The Conservative party held overall control of the council from its foundation in 1973 until 1995 when the Labour party took control. The 2003 election saw Labour lose overall control of the council. Since 2003 the council has been under no overall control with Labour and the Liberal Democrats sharing power.


2015 Broxtowe Borough Council election
The previous full Council election were in 2011, the result was as follows: Conservatives 18, Labour 16, Liberal Democrats 9. Labour were the controlling party in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats until the 2015 election. The 2015 election saw the Conservative party become the controlling group on the Council when they regained control after 20 years in opposition. Following boundary changes (to the Boroughs ward boundaries) the 2015 Election still saw 44 Councillors elected but this time to 20 electoral wards.


2015 Broxtowe Borough Council election
The 2015 election also saw the youngest Councillor ever elected in the councils history when 18 year old Adam Stockwell won a seat in Stapleford South East. Stockwell was also the youngest Councillor in the UK at the time.


2015 Broxtowe Borough Council election, Overall Election result
A total of 44 councillors were elected from 20 Wards. The Council became a majority controlled Council for the first time since 2003, the Conservative party became the controlling party with Labour being reduced to the opposition and the Liberal Democrats remaining the third party with Independent (Richard MacRae) elected also.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election
The 2015 Greater Bengaluru Municipal Corporation (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) election was held on 22 April 2015 in all 198 Wards of Bangalore(Bengaluru)


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
The tenure of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike was scheduled to end on 22 April 2015. A new election was necessary to elect new Corporators and Mayor by that time. The Government of Karnataka had the intention of trifurcating BBMP and hence not notified for the elections till 2015 March end.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
On 30 March 2015 Bharatiya Janata Party corporators B. Somashekar (Shakambarinagar Ward) and CK Ramamurthy (Pattabhiramanagar Ward) filed a writ petition to conduct elections before end of the tenure The court on 10 March 2015 ordered notices to the state government, the state election commission and BBMP on a petition from two corporators seeking directions to hold municipal polls on the expiry of the term of the BBMP Council.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
Justice BV Nagarathna sought to know from the government about the preparedness for the polls and whether the urban development department had finalised the roster (ward wise reservation for SC, ST, women and OBCs). The State Cabinet on 17 April 2015 decided to supersede Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and a notification of the same was issued on 18 April 2015 to avoid conducting polls to the civic body in April 2015. But Ward reservation list was already published on 13 April 2015.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
If the State government supersedes the council before the end of the term, it gets six months’ time to hold elections to the civic body. The government was keen on dissolving the BBMP and replacing it with three corporations. The Rajendra Kataria Committee reported on various financial and administrative irregularities in floating of tenders, execution of civil works and failure to generate revenue through hoardings in the BBMP ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party during the council's term from 2010 to 2015 and it was used as a weapon to supersede the civic body.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
The Cabinet also approved an amendment bill to constitute three new corporations replacing the BBMP. The Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2014, was planned to be tabled at the one-day special session of the state legislature on 20 April 2015. The government decided to summon the special session as its move to promulgate an ordinance but the same was stalled by Governor Vajubhai Vala stating that he was not satisfied with it.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
Amidst stiff opposition from both Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular), Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed a bill to trifurcate Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, the city civic body, with a voice vote on 20 April 2015. Following this, many Pro Kannada organisations and Youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party protested opposing Government's move to Trifurcate BBMP. After failing to get the Governor's assent for an ordinance on trifurcation of the city civic body, a one-day session of Karnataka legislature was convened to pass the Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill 2015.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
Opposition maintained their stiff reservation to the government's attempt to trifurcate BBMP. But the time bill was introduced by Indian National Congress in the House to the time it was passed. They even walked into the well of the House and tore the copy of the bill as the procedures to pass the bill through voice vote were being conducted.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
As the House met for the day, Bharatiya Janata Party led by then Opposition Leader Jagadish Shettar demanded that the issue of crop damage due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms should be taken up first, but Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa wished that to be discussed later on. Opposition criticised the government for going ahead with the plan to trifurcate the city even when the committee constituted by it to study on the matter is yet to submit its final report. It called the government's act as an attempt to postpone BBMP elections, with fear of losing it.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
The division bench of the Karnataka High Court, too, refused to stay a single bench order to conduct the elections before 30 May 2015. The Karnataka High Court on 24 April 2015 put off elections to the city's Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) civic body. Setting aside a single bench order, which directed the state election commission (SEC) to conduct the civic poll by May 30, a division bench headed by Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice Ram Mohan Reddy told the state government to hold the elections by six months, as per the 74th constitutional amendment.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
The state government filed a review petition on April 7 seeking a stay on the March 30 order of Justice B.V. Nagarathna to the SEC for holding the civic poll by May 30, as its five-year term was ending on April 22. State advocate general Ravivarma Kumar assured the bench that the state government would abide by its order and facilitate the SEC to hold the civic election in 198 wards across the city within six months.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
The two original petitioners (CK Ramamurthy and B Somashekar), who were Bharatiya Janata Party (Bharatiya Janata Party) corporators in the dissolved BBMP, said they would approach the Supreme Court next week against the civic poll postponement. The state government sought more time to hold the civic poll on the grounds that delimitation of the wards, restructuring of the civic body and reservation in many wards as per the 2011 census were not completed for various reasons.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
The State government claimed that the trifurcation of the BBMP was necessary to deliver better services to the citizens while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the JD(S) oppose the move, stating that it is a ploy to postpone polls. G. Kumar Naik took charge as the 61st Commissioner of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on 20 April 2015, two days after the state government issued an order on superseding BBMP.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
The Karnataka Congress government's bill to divide Bengaluru city into three or more smaller administrative units was passed by the state legislative assembly on 21 July 2015 after the legislative council, where the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is in a majority, rejected the bill 20 July 2015. The Karnataka Municipal Corporations (Amendment) Bill 2015 had initially been passed by the state assembly on April 20, 2015 but was defeated by the council on 20 July 2015.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
The assembly where the Congress has a clear majority of 123 members in the 224 member house passed the bill again on 21 July 2015 to send it to Governor Vajubhai Vala for his assent. Under the proposed law the urban area of Bengaluru called the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike spread over 198 wards was proposed to cease and planned to be redrawn as smaller corporations.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
An expert committee on Restructuring of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in a report submitted to the state on 13 July 2015 recommended division of the BBMP into five municipal corporations with mayors to be directly elected by the people for the purpose of smooth administration, the report claimed.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
The passage of the new law was expected to buy the Congress government more time to conduct elections to the city council that had earlier been ordered by the high court and the Supreme Court after the Congress government dissolved the city council in April at the end of the elected council's tenure and took administrative control of the city. The Supreme Court's order brought certainty to the timeline for the BBMP elections after few months legal to's and fro's. The Court ordered extending the deadline for the completion of BBMP polls by August 28, 2015.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background
Setting the process for the August 22 election of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in motion, The commissioner of BBMP, G Kumar Naik issued the notification on 3 August 2015. A calendar of events was released by Naik as an affirmation of the notification announcing the election dates issued by State Election Commissioner P N Srinivasachary on 16 July 2015.


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Background, Organization
New Mayor will be elected for a term of one year and Corporators will be in office for 5 years


2015 Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike election, Schedule
The schedule of the election was announced by the State Election Commission on 16 July 2015. It announced that polling would be held in a single phase on 22 August and that results would be declared on 25 August 2015. It also declared that the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct came into force with immediate effect" with the said announcement.


2015 Brunei Super League
The 2015 Brunei Super League is the third season of the Brunei Super League. It is organized by the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam and sponsored by DST Group.


2015 Brunei Super League
On 23 October 2015, MS ABDB clinched the title with two games left to play. A 6–1 victory over Kilanas FC had put them 13 points ahead of second-placed Indera SC, guaranteeing the Armymen's first league title since 1985.


2015 Brunei Super League
On 25 October 2015, the match between Tabuan Muda and Indera SC was initially ruled as a 3-0 walkover to Tabuan Muda after a third sending-off of an Indera player. However, this was against tournament rules (based on the Laws of the Game) which ruled that a match cannot continue with seven players in a team, and the referee of that match was deemed to have made an error of judgment.


2015 Brunei Super League
The match was scheduled to be replayed on 22 November, but this time Tabuan Muda did not field enough players for the match and thus resulted in a 3-0 walkover to Indera SC. Tabuan Muda were retrospectively fined BND$500 for their no-show in a statement by NFABD on 9 April 2016.


2015 Brussels lockdown
From 21 to 25 November 2015, the government of Belgium imposed a security lockdown on Brussels, including the closure of shops, schools, public transportation, due to information about potential terrorist attacks in the wake of the series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on 13 November. One of the perpetrators of the attack, Belgian-born French national Salah Abdeslam, was thought to be hiding in the city. As a result of warnings of a serious and imminent threat, the terror alert level was raised to the highest level (four) across the Brussels metropolitan area, and people were advised not to congregate publicly, effectively putting the city under lockdown.


2015 Brussels lockdown, Impact
On the first day of the lockdown, Haaretz described, "an atmosphere of war. Army convoys passed through the streets. Armored cars were posted at central points, outside the royal palace, and at underground railway stations." Police requested a social media blackout to prevent disclosure of police operations. Twitter users responded with cat pictures (a reference to security level Four, or in French, quatre pronounced cat).


2015 Brussels lockdown, Impact
On 23 November, the third day of the lockdown, all schools and universities remained closed along with the Metro. Prime Minister Charles Michel announced that the lockdown measures would stay in place, "for at least another week. But schools and the metro can be reopened gradually from Wednesday."


2015 Brussels lockdown, Impact
The lockdown caused disruption to major institutions and organizations headquartered in the city, such as NATO, which removed all non-essential personnel on 23 November, and the European Union, which opened on Monday with reinforced security measures. Belgium's biggest bank KBC Bank entirely closed its headquarters on Monday.


2015 Brussels lockdown, Impact
As the lockdown continued into its third day, the BBC described the city as having "come to a standstill." After 5 days, the lockdown was lifted on 25 November, schools reopened and the metro resumed service but some stores remained closed. Like Paris, which saw a drop in tourism, Brussels saw an immediate drop in visitors and an increase in last minute hotel cancellations. Some shops, cafes and hotels that remained open reported 90% to 100% drop in business.


2015 Brussels lockdown, Impact, Costs
The lockdown is estimated to have cost €51.7 million per day, counting both the outlay on security and lost business income. Belgium is also facing a demand from the police for a budgetary increment of €100 million to cover ongoing increases in costs due to the terrorism threat.


2015 Brussels lockdown, Impact, Costs
The total cost was estimated at €350 million, and tourist numbers in December 2015 were down 20% on the previous December. In January, in order to restore the city's reputation after the lockdown, Visit Brussels launched an initiative Call Brussels in which members of the public could call public telephones in the city via their computer.


2015 Brussels lockdown, Arrests and charges
A reported 1,000 police officers were involved in the search for Salah Abdeslam. Over the weekend police conducted at least 20 raids around the city and nearby areas, making 16 arrests but releasing 15 of these people. Belgium's federal prosecutor's office said 23 November that a man had been charged with involvement in the Paris terrorist attacks and for membership of a terrorist organization. On Monday 21 more arrests were made, with 17 released.


2015 Brussels lockdown, Arrests and charges
On 24 November, evening prosecutors announced terrorism charges had been filed against four men:


2015 Brussels lockdown, Aftermath
King Philippe of Belgium addressed the Brussels lockdown and Paris attack in his annual Christmas Address. He said during his speech, "My special thanks go to all those who have fought for it and continue to work to ensure our safety, to identify the perpetrators of these attacks and to prevent new ones. These events have shown how important it is to invest in the judiciary, police, army and intelligence services. I also want to thank you all, and especially the people of Brussels, for your dignified and responsible behavior during this difficult time."


2015 Brussels lockdown, Precedents
Extended lockdowns of entire urban areas because of terrorism have been rare; the European Union called the Brussels lockdown "unprecedented". The extent of the lockdown went well beyond measures taken the last time Belgium declared a level four alert in 2007. One previous example of a citywide lockdown was the one-day lockdown of Boston in April 2013 as police hunted for the Islamist terrorists responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing.


2015 Bryant Bulldogs football team
The 2015 Bryant Bulldogs football team represented Bryant University during the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by twelfth year head coach Marty Fine and played their home games at Bulldog Stadium. They were a member of the Northeast Conference. They finished the season 5–6, 3–3 in NEC play to finish in a three way tie for third place.


2015 Bryant Bulldogs football team, Previous season
In 2014, Bryant finished with a record of 8–3, 4–2 in NEC play, to finish in third place. They failed to qualify for the 2014 FCS Playoffs.


2015 Bucharest Trophy
The 2015 Bucharest Trophy was the second edition of the Bucharest Trophy held in Bucharest, Romania from 21 to 24 August as a pre-season international women's team handball tournament for clubs. The most recent runners-up of the EHF Champions League edition (Larvik HK) have been also invited but withdrew before making a debut due to season's fixtures.


2015 Bucharest Trophy
The whole tournament was aired on Digi Sport 1, Digi Sport 2 and Digi Sport 3.


2015 Bucknell Bison football team
The 2015 Bucknell Bison football team represented Bucknell University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by sixth-year head coach Joe Susan and played their home games at Christy Mathewson–Memorial Stadium. They were a member of the Patriot League. They finished the season 4–7, 1–5 in Patriot League play to finish in sixth place.


2015 Budget of Odisha
The Odisha State Budget for 2015–2016 was presented by Finance Minister of Odisha, Pradip Kumar Amat on 16 February 2015 in Odisha Legislative Assembly. Finance Minister Pradip Kumar Amat presented the Odisha Annual State Budget of ₹ 84,487.77 Crore with total revenue expenditure estimated at ₹ 65,838.99.


2015 Budha Subba Gold Cup
The 2015 Budha Subba Gold Cup was the 17th edition of the Budha Subba Gold Cup held in Dharan and sponsored by Red Bull. Seven teams from Nepal and one from India participated in the tournament. All matches were held at the ANFA Technical  Center Dharan. A lot of changes were made regarding the format of the tournament, the tournament took place in February as opposed to April, when it previously took place. Also, the prize money for the winning team was increased to make the tournament more attractive. Belgharia Sporting Club from Calcutta, India, who won this tournament in 1999, was also meant to join the tournament but was replaced by another Indian Team, Sikkim Sunalchu FC.


2015 Budha Subba Gold Cup, Bracket
The following is the bracket which the 2015 Budha Subba Gold Cup resembled. Numbers in parentheses next to the match score represent the results of a penalty shoot-out.


2015 Budweiser Duels
The 2015 Budweiser Duels were a pair of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car races that were held on February 19, 2015, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Both contested over 60 laps, they were the qualifying races for the 2015 Daytona 500. Hendrick Motorsports swept both races, with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. winning the first Duel and Jimmie Johnson winning the second Duel.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Report, Background
Daytona International Speedway is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Practice, First practice (February 14)
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 44.413 and a speed of 202.643 mph (326.122 km/h).


2015 Budweiser Duels, Practice, Second practice (February 14)
Michael McDowell was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 45.153 and a speed of 199.322 mph (320.778 km/h). Ryan Newman was forced to change engines after blowing one half an hour into the session. He will have to start from the rear in one of the Duel races. Martin Truex, Jr. also dealt with engine gremlins due to a crack in his car's oil pan, but did not change engines.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Pole qualifying
The pole qualifying took place at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, February 15, a week prior to the Daytona 500 race itself. For the first time in the history of the Daytona 500, NASCAR eliminated the traditional single car qualifying format for the pole qualifying and introduced the Formula One-style knockout qualifying format, first introduced in the 2014 season. Unlike the other tracks however, the pole qualifying consists of three sessions of five minutes each, first introduced in the fall Talladega race:


2015 Budweiser Duels, Pole qualifying
The top two times in the final qualifying session will be locked in the front row of the Daytona 500 starting grid, while the other 41 starting spots would be determined by the two Budweiser Duels the following Thursday.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Pole qualifying
In what will be his final Daytona 500 start, Jeff Gordon won the pole with a time of 44.711 and a speed of 201.293 mph (323.950 km/h). Gordon felt that in the new qualifying format, "the driver finally gets to play a role". He also stated that he had "a fast race car" and that the pole position was "one of the most gratifying poles I've had, not just because it's my final Daytona". His teammate Jimmie Johnson will start right alongside in 2nd.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Pole qualifying
In the first round of qualifying, Clint Bowyer tried to go under Reed Sorenson when he got hit in the rear by Carl Edwards and turned right into Sorenson. Both cars slammed the wall and collected Bobby Labonte and J. J. Yeley. Denny Hamlin may have taken some damage. The session was red flagged with a minute and 22 seconds left. After the red flag was lifted, no one was able to make it back to the line before time expired. Upon exiting his car, Bowyer vented his frustrations at the Daytona qualifying procedure.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Pole qualifying
The cars of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Denny Hamlin failed post-qualifying inspection and will start from the rear of the field in their respective Duel races. Earnhardt's car was found to be too low on the left front, while the track bar on Hamlin's car was found to be 3–3.75 inches (76–95 mm) beyond the maximum allowed. Both drivers expressed thoughts on Twitter post-penalties, with both looking forward to moving up the order in the Duels.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Practice (post-qualifying), Third practice (February 18)
Kyle Busch was the fastest in the third practice session with a time of 44.826 and a speed of 200.776 mph (323.118 km/h). During this session, there was a four car wreck on the backstretch that involved Michael Annett, Jeb Burton, Denny Hamlin and Danica Patrick. It started when Hamlin pulled out of line and Patrick tried to follow him, but made contact with the right-front corner of Hamlin's car when she over-corrected and hit the wall. Michael Annett tried to go high around Patrick on the outside when he got turned by Jeb Burton.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Practice (post-qualifying), Third practice (February 18)
Patrick, Annett and Burton all switched to backup cars. After the incident, Patrick stated that her car "sort of just started turning toward the right, the back end was coming around and it swapped ends" and that Hamlin was trying to "make a third lane in the middle and it felt like it must have caught my bumper".


2015 Budweiser Duels, Practice (post-qualifying), Third practice (February 18)
Hamlin felt that Patrick had intended to block his path, stating that a driver has "to give a little bit of extra room in practice" and that if he "had to guess, she probably saw in her mirror that I was going down there and tried to stay in front of me".


2015 Budweiser Duels, Practice (post-qualifying), Fourth practice (February 18)
Alex Bowman was the fastest in the fourth practice session with a time of 44.889 and a speed of 200.495 mph (322.665 km/h).


2015 Budweiser Duels, Practice (post-qualifying), Final practice (February 19)
Kyle Larson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 46.705 and a speed of 192.699 mph (310.119 km/h). This session had only five drivers take part in it doing single car runs.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race One, First-half
The first race started at 7:19 p.m. Eastern time when Jeff Gordon led the field to the green. Matt Kenseth took the lead with the bottom lane to lead lap one. The first caution of the race flew on lap 17 after Casey Mears blew an engine in turn 1. Kenseth and Gordon swapped the lead on pit road, and Gordon exited as the leader for the restart on lap 24. Michael Annett was forced to drop to the end of the longest line because his crew was over the wall too soon.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race One, First-half
Kenseth used the bottom line and jumped in front of Gordon to take back the lead on lap 26, just ahead of the race's second caution when Johnny Sauter crashed in the tri-oval, following contact with A. J. Allmendinger, while Aric Almirola also picked up some damage to his car.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race One, First-half
Sauter stated that he was "just riding along" and that he was "trying to mind my business" before the contact with Allmendinger, with the point of impact being "in the left rear quarter panel". He also stated that it was "a bummer deal" for himself and his BK Racing team. Sauter and Allmendinger did however, make the starting lineup for the race, on their qualifying speeds.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race One, First-half
Allmendinger apologised for the contact with Sauter, while stating that his JTG Daugherty Racing car was fast, while also criticizing the racing that was occurring, stating that he "was trying to stay out of trouble and got put in the middle and I was trying to bail out of the middle". Michael McDowell dropped to the end of the longest line, for the restart on lap 33, after his crew was over the wall too soon.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race One, Second-half
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. used a slight push from the bottom line to take the lead on lap 35. Kenseth took the lead back from Earnhardt on the bottom to take back the lead on lap 39. On lap 43, Earnhardt used a slingshot move to overtake Kenseth for good. The third caution of the race flew on lap 51 when Trevor Bayne got loose, came down on Kyle Larson and hit the wall in turn 1. During this period, Ty Dillon broke his gear shifter.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race One, Second-half
The race restarted with five laps to go and Earnhardt, Jr. held off Jeff Gordon to win race one. Earnhardt praised the work of his spotter TJ Majors in victory lane, stating that he "gave me the information I needed to make the moves I needed" and that he was "looking forward to getting to Sunday and trying to get another Daytona 500 win". Dillon, finished 16th after the gearshift issues, and was able to make the field. He described the result as "hard to explain" and that he had "been coming here since I was a kid watching my grandfather's cars race". Ron Hornaday, Jr. and Justin Marks failed to make the race.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race 2, First-half
Before the start, Josh Wise stalled at the entrance of pit road and took his car to the garage. This ultimately eliminated him from racing in the Daytona 500. The second race started 18 minutes late at 9:19 p.m. with Jimmie Johnson leading the field to the green flag. Kyle Busch took the lead on lap one. The first caution of the race flew on lap 19 for a spin by David Ragan, exiting turn 4. Ragan had cut across the nose of Justin Allgaier and got turned down onto the apron, making contact with the inside wall.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race 2, First-half
Kyle Busch was first off pit road, but he was caught speeding on pit road and was forced to drop to the end of the line, allowing Johnson to retake the lead for the restart, on lap 25. Allgaier was also sent to the rear, as his pit crew came across the wall too soon.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race 2, Second-half
The second caution of the race flew on lap 37 for a multi-car wreck in the tri-oval. It started exiting turn 4 when Jeb Burton turned down into Sam Hornish, Jr. who turned into Alex Bowman. Austin Dillon destroyed his splitter driving through the grass trying to avoid the wreck, which caused the race to be red flagged for five minutes. Neither Bowman nor Burton qualified for the Daytona 500. The race restarted with 20 laps to go. With 14 laps to go, Kurt Busch was given a drive-through penalty for passing below the double yellow line.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race 2, Second-half
The third caution of the race flew with three laps to go for a four car wreck in turn 3. Denny Hamlin gave Danica Patrick a push which turned her around and collected Brian Scott and Bobby Labonte. Scott failed to qualify for the Daytona 500 as a result, while Labonte relied upon a past champion's provisional to get into the race.


2015 Budweiser Duels, Races, Race 2, Second-half
In a green–white–checker finish, Johnson held off a last lap charge by Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards to win the race. Johnson defined the Speedweeks at Daytona as "awesome" for his Hendrick Motorsports team, sweeping the Duels and the front row for the Daytona 500. Johnson also called his car as "mad fast". Patrick confronted Hamlin on pit road after the race. After the confrontation, Patrick told reporters that she had "no explanation for that", while also stating Hamlin was in the wrong by believing "that he's taking the air and getting it off the spoiler, and he's not squared up either".


2015 Buenos Aires ePrix
The 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix, formally the 2015 FIA Formula E Buenos Aires ePrix was a Formula E motor race held on 10 January 2015 at the Puerto Madero Street Circuit in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was the first edition of the Buenos Aires ePrix and the fourth championship race of the single-seater, electrically powered racing car series' inaugural season. The race was won by António Félix da Costa.


2015 Buenos Aires ePrix, Report, Background
Nick Heidfeld, Jean-Éric Vergne, and Bruno Senna were voted to receive the FanBoost (an extra 30 kW for five seconds per car).


2015 Buenos Aires ePrix, Report, Race
Sébastien Buemi started on pole position, with Jaime Alguersuari and Nick Heidfeld behind him. Going into the first hairpin, Heidfeld managed to brake later and overtake Alguersuari on the outside. The field seemed to be free of incidents throughout the first couple of laps, but Michela Cerruti was seen entering the pits, possibly after making contact with Bruno Senna. Meanwhile, championship leader Lucas di Grassi overtook Sam Bird for fourth position and Heidfeld deployed his FanBoost at the main straight, but he failed to take the lead from Buemi. On lap 7, di Grassi passed Alguersuari and moved up to third, and passed Heidfeld in turn five, on lap 14. Heidfeld fell further down the order when he had to use the run-off area at turn 8 and was overtaken by both Virgin drivers.


2015 Buenos Aires ePrix, Report, Race
The first major incident of the race happened on lap 16, when Karun Chandhok's right-rear suspension broke and he hit the wall. Just before the race was neutralised, Heidfeld managed to take his position back from Bird, and Alguersuari was seen entering the pits with five others. Those who waited a lap to come in, including Buemi and di Grassi, were stuck behind Cerruti, because overtaking was not permitted under yellow flags. Because the safety car picked up the leader at the moment Buemi was in the pits, there was much confusion about who was in the lead. However, it was still Buemi, di Grassi, and Heidfeld at the top of the standings, so on lap 21, every driver not in the lead lap was told to pass the safety car and catch up with the rest of the field.


2015 Buenos Aires ePrix, Report, Race
Green flags showed with thirteen laps to go. Almost immediately, however, the leader Buemi hit the wall on the inside of turn 8, broke his suspension and had to retire. The top three was now filled by di Grassi, Heidfeld, and Bird, but the latter quickly received a drive-through penalty for ignoring the red lights at the end of the pit lane. On lap 26, di Grassi's suspension broke in the same fashion as Chandhok's had done, sending another race leader into retirement. The safety car was not deemed to be required, because both Buemi and di Grassi had managed to park their cars safely.


2015 Buenos Aires ePrix, Report, Race
The last three laps saw Jean-Éric Vergne aggressively overtaking Alguersuari for third place and Nick Heidfeld being given a drive-through penalty for going over the pit lane speed limit, making António Félix da Costa, who had been relatively invisible throughout the race, the fourth race leader in ten laps. Meanwhile, Alguersuari was being attacked by Nicolas Prost, Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Daniel Abt. Vergne joined them when he missed his braking point twice and fell back from second to fifth.


2015 Buenos Aires ePrix, Report, Race
Abt tried to overtake Prost on the dirtier side of the track, but ended up hitting the back of Alguersuari instead and retiring with one lap to go. Félix da Costa took victory, with Prost second, Piquet third, Alguersuari fourth, and Senna fifth; Vergne had had to slow down to save energy.


2015 Buffalo Bandits season
The Buffalo Bandits are a lacrosse team based in Buffalo, New York playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The 2015 season is their twenty-fourth season in the NLL.


2015 Buffalo Bandits season, Regular season, Current standings
x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games PlayedW: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowedDifferential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game


2015 Buffalo Bandits season, Regular season, Playoffs
The post season for the Bandits began as the third best record in the east, qualifying them for the division semifinal. The tone was set early on by the host Rochester Knighthawks, who led 5-2 after one period. The game would be relatively even the rest of the game but the three goal margin from the first was the difference in the game and sent Buffalo back west along the Interstate 90. In what would be his last game for the Bandits and in professional lacrosse, John Tavares registered five assists.


2015 Buffalo Bandits season, Transactions, Entry Draft
The 2014 NLL Entry Draft took place on September 22, 2014. The Bandits made the following selections:


2015 Buffalo Bills season
The 2015 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise’s 56th overall season as a football team, 46th in the National Football League, third under leadership of general manager Doug Whaley and first under new head coach Rex Ryan. It was also the first full season under the ownership of Terry and Kim Pegula (who also own the Buffalo Sabres), having purchased the Bills partway through 2014 after the death of longtime owner Ralph Wilson in March at the age of 95.


2015 Buffalo Bills season
The Bills began their season with an open competition for the starting quarterback position after Kyle Orton, the starter for most of the 2014 campaign, retired during the offseason, so the team acquired free agent Tyrod Taylor, a former backup quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens, who won the competition over incumbent second-string quarterback EJ Manuel and trade acquisition Matt Cassel, the latter of whom the team later traded along with a seventh-round pick in 2017 to the Dallas Cowboys, in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick in 2017.


2015 Buffalo Bills season
Despite Ryan's bold prediction of the Bills making the playoffs at his introductory press conference, the Bills were unable to do so in their first season with Ryan as head coach, finishing with a record of 8-8 (the team’s first since 2002), making it the 16th straight season without a playoff appearance, which became the longest active in major professional sports after Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays broke their 22-year playoff drought on September 25, 2015.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Offseason
The Bills made headlines when they hired a new head coach in Rex Ryan, who signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract on January 12, 2015 after having previously spent the past six seasons coaching the division-rival New York Jets. Ryan had led the Jets to two straight AFC Championship games in 2009 and 2010 before his firing in 2014. He became the 18th head coach in Bills history and the fifth in the past seven years in the process. Ryan replaced Doug Marrone, who opted out of his contract on December 31, 2014 in order to take advantage of a contract loophole.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 1: vs. Indianapolis Colts
The Bills franchise reached the 400th career win in its history with a 27-14 win over the Colts. Running backs Karlos Williams, LeSean McCoy and quarterback Tyrod Taylor combined for 137 rushing yards and a touchdown (Anthony Dixon added another on the ground) and Taylor completed 14/19 for 195 yards and a touchdown. Colts quarterback Andrew Luck had two touchdowns, but he was intercepted and sacked twice.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 2: vs. New England Patriots
With the close loss, the Bills dropped to 1-1. As if the loss wasn’t bad enough, the team also lost safety Aaron Williams for the season with a neck injury sustained trying to keep Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski from reaching the end zone.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 3: at Miami Dolphins
After leading 27-0, Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill finally threw two touchdowns, but his three interceptions, one of which a pick-six returned by linebacker Preston Brown 43 yards for a touchdown, proved to be too much as the Bills improved to 2-1.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 4: vs. New York Giants
With their third straight loss to the Giants dating back to 2007, the Bills dropped to 2-2.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 6: vs. Cincinnati Bengals
With their third straight loss to the Bengals dating back to 2011, the Bills dropped to 3-3.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 7: at Jacksonville Jaguars
This was the Bills’ first game in London since 1991. Sadly, with the stunning loss, the Bills dropped to 3-4 heading into the bye week, marking the first time they had been under .500 all season.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 9: vs. Miami Dolphins
With the win, not only did the Bills improve to 4-4, but they swept Miami for the first time since 2013.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 10: at New York Jets
Rex Ryan made his return to MetLife Stadium for the first time since the Jets fired him after the 2014 season. The Bills wore their red Nike “color rush” uniforms. With 0:18 remaining, Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick attempted a comeback, but a game-saving interception by Bills safety Bacarri Rambo sealed the 22-17 victory over the Jets. With the win, the Bills improved to 5-4.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 10: at New York Jets
This was the debut for NFL Color Rush uniforms, with the Bills in all red and the Jets in all kelly green. The uniforms were indistinguishable to those with red-green color blindness, creating controversy.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 11: at New England Patriots
With yet another close loss, the Bills dropped to 5-5.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 13: vs. Houston Texans
With the win, not only did the Bills improve to 6-6, they remained in the wild card race. It’s also the Bills first win against the Texans since 2006.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 14: at Philadelphia Eagles
LeSean McCoy made his return to Philadelphia for the first time since the Eagles traded him in the offseason. McCoy was seen kissing the Eagles logo, but did not stick around to interact with his former teammates or coach Chip Kelly.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 15: at Washington Redskins
With the loss, not only did the Bills drop to 6-8, but they were officially eliminated from playoff contention for the 16th consecutive season.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 16: vs. Dallas Cowboys
With the win, the Bills improved to 7-8 heading into the season finale.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 17: vs. New York Jets
Prior to the game, the team called for paid volunteers to help shovel snow out of Ralph Wilson Stadium. Former Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick made his first return to Buffalo since being cut after the 2012 season, hoping to clinch a playoff spot for his new team with a win.


2015 Buffalo Bills season, Game summaries, Week 17: vs. New York Jets
Despite the Jets setting various team records, the Bills ultimately pulled out a win to close the season at 8-8 for the first time since 2002 in their final regular season game before Ralph Wilson Stadium was renamed New Era Field the following summer, not only keeping the Jets out of the playoffs for a fifth straight year, but helping the Pittsburgh Steelers reach the playoffs. As a thank you gift of sorts, the Steelers sent the Bills a care package of Primanti Brothers sandwiches.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team
The 2015 Buffalo Bulls football team represented the University at Buffalo in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bulls were led by first-year head coach Lance Leipold. The team played their home games at University at Buffalo Stadium and competed as a member of the East Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 5–7, 3–5 in MAC play to finish in fourth place in the East Division.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, Albany
In their first game of the season, the Bulls won, 51–14 over the Albany Great Danes.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, @ Penn State
In their second game of the season, the Bulls lost, 27–14 to the Penn State Nittany Lions.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, @ Florida Atlantic
In their third game of the season, the Bulls won, 33–15 over the Florida Atlantic Owls.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, Nevada
In their fourth game of the season, the Bulls lost, 24–21 to the Nevada Wolf Pack.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, Bowling Green
In their fifth game of the season, the Bulls lost, 28–22 to the Bowling Green Falcons.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, @ Central Michigan
In their sixth game of the season, the Bulls lost, 51–14 to the Central Michigan Chippewas.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, Ohio
In their seventh game of the season, the Bulls won, 41–17 over the Ohio Bobcats.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, @ Miami (OH)
In their eighth game of the season, the Bulls won, 29–24 over the Miami RedHawks.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, @ Kent State
In their ninth game of the season, the Bulls won, 18–17 over the Kent State Golden Flashes.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, Northern Illinois
In their tenth game of the season, the Bulls lost, 41–30 to the Northern Illinois Huskies.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, @ Akron
In their eleventh game of the season, the Bulls lost, 42–21 to the Akron Zips.


2015 Buffalo Bulls football team, Game summaries, Massachusetts
In their twelfth game of the season, the Bulls lost, 31–26 to the Massachusetts Minutemen.


2015 Buffalo Lightning season
The 2015 Buffalo Lightning season was the first season for the American Indoor Football (AIF) expansion franchise, and their first season in the AIF.


2015 Buffalo Lightning season, Roster
Rookies in italics updated May 12, 201520 Active, 3 Inactive


2015 Bulgarian Basketball Cup
The 2015 Bulgarian Basketball Cup was the 61nd edition of the annual cup tournament in Bulgaria. It is managed by the Bulgarian Basketball Federation and was held in Pleven, in the Balkanstory Hall on February 19–22, 2015. Cherno More Port Varna won their 4th cup. Stanimir Marinov was named MVP.


2015 Bulgarian Basketball Cup, Qualified teams
The first seven teams after the first stage of the 2014–15 NBL regular season and Spartak Pleven as a host qualified for the tournament.


2015 Bulgarian Cup Final
The 2015 Bulgarian Cup Final was the 75th final of the Bulgarian Cup, and was contested between Levski Sofia and Cherno More Varna on 30 May 2015 at Lazur Stadium in Burgas. Cherno More won the final 2–1, claiming their first Bulgarian Cup title.


2015 Bulgarian Cup Final
The winner qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League and will also face the champions of the 2014–15 A Group in the 2015 Bulgarian Supercup.


2015 Bulgarian Supercup
The 2015 Bulgarian Supercup was the 13th Bulgarian Supercup, an annual Bulgarian football match played between the winners of the previous season's A Football Group and Bulgarian Cup. The game was played between Cherno More Varna, who beat Levski Sofia to win the 2015 Bulgarian Cup Final, and Ludogorets Razgrad, champions of the 2014–15 A Group.


2015 Bulgarian Supercup
This was Ludogorets's fourth Bulgarian Supercup appearance and Cherno More's first. Watched by a crowd of 3,600 at Lazur Stadium in Burgas, Cherno More won the match 1–0.


2015 Bulgarian electoral code referendum
A referendum on introducing electronic voting was held in Bulgaria on 25 October 2015 alongside local elections. Although the referendum resulted was approved by a wide margin, turnout was far below the required threshold to make its result binding.


2015 Bulgarian electoral code referendum, Background
A petition was introduced into the Bulgarian Parliament on 10 March 2013 by an Initiative Committee presided by professor Georgi Bliznashki on proposed changes to the electoral code of Bulgaria. These included: reintroducing first-past-the-post voting alongside proportional representation, making voting compulsory and introducing electronic voting. Under current Bulgarian law a referendum is mandatory if a petition receives at least five hundred thousand signatures. Supporters claimed to have 560,000 signatures on the petition, giving Parliament three months (until early June) to authenticate the signatures. Numerous signatures were nullified, however, and so the requirement of half of million authentic signatures was missed. Still, there were enough signatures to put the content up for debate before parliament. When the debate came in June, however, lawmakers rejected the idea of holding the referendum.


2015 Bulgarian electoral code referendum, Background
One of the elements in the petition, that of introducing mandatory voting, has been put forward by the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Sergei Stanishev, and has been endorsed by the leader of GERB, Boyko Borisov.


2015 Bulgarian local elections
Local elections were held in all municipalities in Bulgaria on 25 October 2015 (first round) and on 1 November 2015 (second round). Voters elected municipal mayors, village mayors and members of municipal councils of 265 municipalities. They were held alongside a referendum on the electoral code.


2015 Bulgarian local elections, Background
The local elections took place after two years of political instability and it was a test for the one year old fragile ruling central-right coalition led by GERB party. Analysts expected the elections to bring a serious changes in the government of Boyko Borisov. A national referendum was also scheduled together with the local elections. The referendum was initiated by the President of Bulgaria, Rosen Plevneliev on online voting, after the other two questions about mandatory voting and majority rep ware rejected by the parliament.


2015 Bulgarian local elections, Controversy
The election campaign was accompanied by multiple scandals about vote-buying, voting tourists and arrests. On the election day, the election authorities in some polling stations did not provide ballots. After the first round, members of election officials were kept 48 hours locked in the election authority counting center at Arena Aremeec Hall.


2015 Bulgarian local elections, Results, First round
GERB, the leading party in the government central-right conditionally won 34.5% of the vote and their incumbent mayors were reelected in Sofia, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnov, Stara Zagora, Blagoevgrad and Haskovo. Second and third were the opposition parties the Bulgarian Socialist Party with 17.2% and the Right and Freedom Movement (the Turkish ethnic party) with 14.6% and the Bulgarian Socialist Party. The smaller parties from the ruling coalition, the Reformist Block, ABV and the Patriot Front, got respectively 9%, 4.3% and 5.2%.


2015 Bulgarian local elections, Results, First round
The turnout of the first round was 53.6% which was 5% higher than 2011 local elections.


2015 Burgenland state election
The 2015 Burgenland state election was held on 31 May 2015 to elect the members of the 21st Landtag of Burgenland.


2015 Burgenland state election
The two major parties, the governing Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), both lost votes. The three minor parties made gains and each doubled their representation in the Landtag.


2015 Burgenland state election
With the SPÖ falling substantially short of a majority, they required a coalition partner to govern. They subsequently formed a coalition with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), violating the party's federal directive not to work with FPÖ in government. The decision was subject to backlash and protests, but the coalition took office regardless.


2015 Burgenland state election, Background
In the 2010 election, the SPÖ won 48.3% of votes and fell one seat short of an absolute majority. They thus negotiated a working agreement with the ÖVP.


2015 Burgenland state election, Background
Prior to amendments made in 2014, the Burgenland constitution mandated that cabinet positions in the state government be allocated between parties proportionally in accordance with the share of votes won by each; this is known as Proporz. As such, the government was a perpetual coalition of all parties that qualified for at least one cabinet position. In December 2014, the SPÖ and ÖVP voted to amend the constitution to remove this requirement. As such, the 2015 election was the first in post-war Burgenland history in which conventional coalition formation could take place.


2015 Burgenland state election, Electoral system
The 36 seats of the Landtag of Burgenland are elected via open list proportional representation in a two-step process. The seats are distributed between seven multi-member constituencies, corresponding to the seven districts of Burgenland (the statutory cities of Eisenstadt and Rust are combined with Eisenstadt-Umgebung District). Apportionment of the seats is based on the results of the most recent census.


2015 Burgenland state election, Electoral system
For parties to receive any representation in the Landtag, they must either win at least one seat in a constituency directly, or clear a 4 percent state-wide electoral threshold. Seats are distributed in constituencies according to the Hare quota, with any remaining seats allocated using the D'Hondt method at the state level, to ensure overall proportionality between a party's vote share and its share of seats.


2015 Burgenland state election, Electoral system
In addition to voting for a political party, voters may cast preferential votes for specific candidates of that party, but are not required to do so. These additional votes do not affect the proportional allocation based on the vote for the party or list, but can change the rank order of candidates on a party's lists at the state and constituency level. Voters may cast one preferential vote at the state level, or three at the constituency level. A voter may not cross party-lines to cast a preference vote for a candidate of another party; such preference votes are invalid.


2015 Burgenland state election, Contesting parties
In addition to the parties already represented in the Landtag, four parties collected enough signatures to be placed on the ballot.


2015 Burgenland state election, Results, Preference votes
Alongside votes for a party, voters were able to cast a preferential votes for a candidate on the party list. The ten candidates with the most preferential votes on a state level were as follows:


2015 Buriram United F.C. season
The 2015 season is Buriram United's fourth season in the Thai Premier League. The club enters the season as the TPL Champion, and will participate in the Thai Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Kor Royal Cup and the AFC Champions League. The season covers the period from 20 December 2014 to 26 December 2015.


2015 Buriram United F.C. season, Players, Transfers
First Thai footballer's market is opening on 6 November 2014 to 28 January 2015


2015 Buriram United F.C. season, Players, Transfers
Second Thai footballer's market is opening on 3 June 2015 to 30 June 2015


2015 Buriram United F.C. season, Non-competitive, Pre-season and friendlies
Note 1: * Chencho is a football ambassador from Bhutan, not a Buriram United player


2015 Buriram United F.C. season, Competitions, Kor Royal Cup
It's a match between the 2014 Toyota Thai Premier League's champions (Buriram United) and the 2014 Thaicom FA Cup's champions (Bangkok Glass). The match was held at Suphachalasai Stadium, Bangkok.


2015 Buriram United F.C. season, Competitions, AFC Champions League, Group stage
Buriram United was staying on group F, with  Gamba Osaka from Japan,  Seongnam from South Korea and  Guangzhou R&F from China.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état
The 2015 Burkinabé coup d'état was launched on 16 September 2015 in Burkina Faso, when members of the Regiment of Presidential Security (RSP) – a controversial autonomous military unit, formed under President Blaise Compaoré – detained the country's government. Among those detained were the transitional President Michel Kafando, Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida (who was also the former deputy commander of the RSP), and numerous members of the cabinet. This transitional government was formed in the wake of the 2014 Burkinabé uprising, when a popular movement overthrew the long-time president Compaoré, who himself had come to power in a 1987 coup against the left-wing leader Thomas Sankara. New general elections were planned for 11 October 2015.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état
The RSP was successful in seizing control of Ouagadougou and proclaimed the establishment of a new junta, headed by General Gilbert Diendéré, to oversee the transition to new elections. The coup leaders denounced the transitional government's electoral law, which barred supporters of Compaoré from participating in the elections, and promised to allow all prospective candidates to run. However, the junta failed to consolidate its authority across the country, and faced protests as well as intense pressure from regional leaders, and eventually from the regular army, to restore the transitional government. Ultimately, after the regular army entered Ouagadougou to confront the RSP, Kafando was restored as president on 23 September 2015.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Background
In the days immediately prior to the coup, the Regiment of Presidential Security (which has previously been involved in several alleged coup d'état attempts during the Compaoré administration) had come under intense public scrutiny. On 14 September 2015, it was reported that a commission charged with proposing post-uprising reforms had come to the conclusion that the RSP should be dismantled and its members redeployed. The report, submitted to Prime Minister Zida, described the RSP as "an army within an army".


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, The coup
While one senior military source stated that the soldiers that apprehended the government members had made no demands, a civil society activist reported that they had demanded the resignation of transitional President Kafando. Chérif Sy, President of the National Transitional Council, soon published a statement saying that dialogue was under-way between the military leadership and the "elements of the RSP" responsible for the coup, and noted that the country was in danger.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, The coup
Le Balai Citoyen, a grassroots Sankarist movement heavily involved in the 2014 uprising, called for the inhabitants of Ouagadougou to gather on the Revolution Square to protest the events. After hundreds of protesters assembled outside of the presidential palace, soldiers fired warning shots to disperse them. They retreated, but did not disperse. Some were beaten back using batons, and gunfire was reported in the Ouaga 2000 neighborhood. Slogans such as "Down with the RSP" and "We want elections" were chanted by the protesters. The private station Radio Omega reported having been forcibly shut down by the Regiment of Presidential Security, and several other radio stations also went off air.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, The coup
In response to the coup, about 20 French soldiers from an intelligence gathering unit were deployed to Ouagadougou. Several international organizations condemned the events, with the United Nations, African Union and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) calling for those detained to be released, and voicing support for the country's democratic transition.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, The coup
On 17 September 2015, the coup leaders announced that they were dismissing Kafando, dissolving the government and the transitional legislature, and setting up a new transitional body, the National Council for Democracy (French: Conseil national pour la Démocratie – CND), to lead the country to "inclusive and peaceful elections". In their proclamation of the CND, they denounced the transitional authorities for their allegedly undemocratic electoral law, which barred anyone who supported a 2014 proposal to eliminate term limits from standing in the October 2015 election, and for ignoring the recommendations of ECOWAS to scrap the exclusionary law. General Gilbert Diendéré was appointed chairman of the council.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, The coup
Later in the day, Diendéré said that Compaoré had nothing to do with the coup and that the coup was supported by the rest of the army. He called for calm "so that we can continue on the path to inclusive and democratic elections" and appealed to the international community: "We know a coup is never accepted by the international community, but we ask it to understand the purpose of our action. We are committed to dialogue and accept certain principles of the international community."


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, The coup
He stressed that he had no interest in politics and was only getting involved due to the "special situation", and he said that power would be returned to civilians "as soon as conditions are there". In other comments, he said that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held on a new timetable, which would be determined through consultations with "the concerned actors, notably the political parties and civil society organisations". He also promised that the exclusionary electoral law would be changed so that all political forces could participate.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, The coup
On 18 September 2015, Diendéré said that Kafando had been released and Zida was under house arrest. The country's borders, which had been closed after the coup, were reopened. On the same day, the African Union suspended Burkina Faso and placed sanctions on the coup leaders. Two regional leaders—Macky Sall, the President of Senegal and Chairman of ECOWAS, and Boni Yayi, the President of Benin—travelled to Ouagadougou to hold talks with Diendéré.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, The coup
Following further talks on 19 September, Boni Yayi said that "good news" would be announced the next day. On 20 September, supporters of the coup violently burst into the lobby of the hotel where the talks were being held. Later in the day, a draft agreement was announced that would involve allowing the previously excluded candidates to participate in the election, thereby granting one of the CND's key demands. It granted amnesty to those who participated in the coup and required the release of those who were detained by the CND.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, The coup
It also allowed a delay in the holding of the election, but required that it be held by 22 November. The two sides appeared to still disagree about who would lead the transition: the draft agreement called for restoring Kafando as president, but the CND insisted that Diendéré should continue in his post for the remainder of the transitional period.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Resistance and failure of the coup
The CND never clearly established its authority beyond Ouagadougou, and on 21 September army leaders announced that soldiers from the regular army were marching towards the capital to put an end to the coup. Diendéré announced plans to release Zida as a conciliatory gesture. Facing the prospect of a confrontation with the regular army as well as ongoing street protests by opponents of the coup, who felt that the proposed terms offered too many concessions to the coup leaders, Diendéré said that the CND would abide by the draft agreement's provision for the return of civilian rule. He said that the crisis could lead to "chaos, civil war, and massive human rights violations" if not resolved peacefully.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Resistance and failure of the coup
The military chief of staff, Brigadier General Pingrenoma Zagré, called on members of the RSP to lay down their arms, promising in a statement that they would not be harmed if they surrendered peacefully. In Bobo-Dioulasso, people reported seeing regular army soldiers en route to Ouagadougou, and people in Koudougou showed support for the soldiers passing through. Soldiers from the regular army entered Ouagadougou later on 21 September, facing no resistance from the RSP.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Resistance and failure of the coup
Although the CND had previously announced Kafando's release, he was believed to remain under house arrest until 21 September, when he was reported to have arrived at the residence of the French ambassador. The army reportedly began negotiating with the RSP after reaching Ouagadougou. Speaking to the BBC, Diendéré said that Kafando would be restored as president when the draft agreement was formally approved by ECOWAS. He dismissed the possibility of surrender, saying that the CND wanted "to continue the discussions" and was "ready to implement ECOWAS' decisions." The regular army issued an ultimatum to the RSP to surrender by the morning of 22 September. Diendéré warned that the RSP would defend itself if necessary but stressed that he wanted a peaceful resolution.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Resistance and failure of the coup
The army's deadline for the RSP to surrender passed without fighting as negotiations continued between the two sides. Later in the day on 22 September, they reached a deal: the RSP would withdraw to its barracks and the regular army would withdraw from the city, and the army promised that members of the RSP would not be harmed. ECOWAS leaders planned to travel to Ouagadougou on 23 September for Kafando's restoration as president.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Resistance and failure of the coup
Kafando was reinstalled as president at a ceremony on 23 September in the presence of ECOWAS leaders. Isaac Zida also returned to his post as Prime Minister. Zida said that he foresaw a delay of "several weeks" in the holding of the election. For his part, Diendéré said that the coup was a mistake and that "we knew the people were not in favour of it. That is why we have given up."


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Aftermath
Eleven people died, and more than 250 were injured during the coup. In the first cabinet meeting afterwards, held on 25 September, the  Minister of Security was dismissed and the position of head of the president's military council was abolished. A commission was created to identify those involved in the coup and given thirty days to report. The President of Guinea, Alpha Condé, called it the "stupidest coup in the world".


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Aftermath
On 25 September the Regiment of Presidential Security was disbanded by government decree, as recommended shortly before the coup. On 26 September the assets of Diendéré and others associated with the coup were frozen by the state prosecutor.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Aftermath
On 28 September, the army chief of staff accused the RSP of failing to comply with the disarmament ordered by the government. Each side accused the other of acting belligerently during the process. Diendéré downplayed the tensions and said the process would continue. However, he said that RSP members needed their weapons for their own security, arguing that the government had failed to honor the guarantees for their safety.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Aftermath
The army surrounded the RSP base in the Ouaga 2000 neighborhood of Ouagadougou on 29 September and attacked it, seizing control of the base "without much resistance". Diendéré said that he had tried to get his troops to disarm before the army's assault, but many of them refused to do so. Diendéré apparently fled to the Vatican embassy. After the government assured the Vatican that Diendéré would not be killed, he was turned over and taken into custody by the government on 1 October, escorted by former President Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Aftermath
Diendéré and Djibril Bassolé, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs until Compaoré's ouster, were charged with a variety of crimes on 6 October: murder, attacking state security, collusion with foreign forces to destabilise internal security, causing intentional injury, and intentional destruction of property. Bassolé, whose attempt to stand as a presidential candidate was rejected by the transitional authorities, had previously been arrested for alleged complicity in the coup, although he insisted he was innocent.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Aftermath
Two other politicians were also arrested late on 5 October: Léonce Koné of the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) and Hermann Yaméogo of the National Union for Democracy and Development. Colonel Sidi Paré, who had served under the transitional government as Minister-Delegate for Security, was reportedly arrested on 6 October.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Aftermath
Members of the RSP were reassigned elsewhere in the military following the RSP's dissolution, and the government announced on 7 October that about 30 members of the RSP, out of a total of about 1,300, had not showed up for their new assignments. They were therefore "presumed guilty" and deemed "at large". Another politician, CDP Vice-President Achille Tapsoba, was arrested on 8 October.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Aftermath
Colonel Sita Sangare, the Director of Military Justice, stated on 16 October that 23 people had been charged with various crimes in connection with the coup. Diendéré was charged with 11 crimes, including "crimes against humanity", and Bassolé was charged with six. Sangare said that defendants convicted of murder could potentially be executed. He also said that Fatou Diendéré, a CDP politician married to General Diendéré, would face trial as well if she was found, although she was thought to have left the country.


2015 Burkinabé coup d'état, Aftermath
CDP President Eddie Komboïgo—who, like Bassolé, had been barred from standing as a presidential candidate—stayed in the United States after the failure of the coup, but he was arrested on 22 January 2016 upon returning to Burkina Faso. Komboïgo and Diendéré's daughter-in-law Fatoumata Thérèse Diawara were released on 30 May 2016, although the charges against them remained in place. Léonce Koné, the last CDP leader still being held, was granted provisional release on 20 July 2016.


2015 Burkinabé general election
General elections were held in Burkina Faso on 29 November 2015. The elections were the first national elections in the country since the 2014 Burkinabé uprising and the departure of President Blaise Compaoré, who had ruled Burkina Faso for 27 years. The party of former President Compaoré, the Congress for Democracy and Progress, was banned from presenting a presidential candidate in the presidential elections but was still able to participate in the parliamentary election.


2015 Burkinabé general election
The presidential election was won by Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of the People's Movement for Progress, who received 53% of the vote in the first round, avoiding the need for a second round.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Background, 2014 uprising
Following an amendment in 2000, the constitution limits presidents to two terms of five years. However, the restrictions were not applied retrospectively, allowing President Blaise Compaoré, who had been in office since 1987, to run for a further two terms; accordingly, he was re-elected in 2005 and 2010.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Background, 2014 uprising
On 30 October 2014 the National Assembly was scheduled to vote on a constitutional amendment that would scrap term limits. However, the vote sparked protests, with the National Assembly building, Ouagadougou City Hall and the Congress for Democracy and Progress headquarters set on fire. As a result of the protests, the vote was suspended. Protests were also reported in other cities, including the second largest city Bobo Dioulasso.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Background, 2014 uprising
Compaoré subsequently announced that he would withdraw the constitutional amendment. On 31 October, Compaoré resigned and suggested an election should be held within 90 days.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Background, 2014 uprising
Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Honoré Traoré first assumed the role of acting head of state. However, many protesters criticised the new transition of power because of Traoré's ties to Compaoré. Some protesters have called for the election of Kouamé Lougué. After a brief power struggle, the armed forces asserted that Yacouba Isaac Zida had their unanimous backing to be the interim head of state, although some protests continued against having a military-led interim administration.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Presidential candidates
The transitional charter barred any ministers in the transitional government from running for the presidency.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Presidential candidates
The following politicians declared their intent to stand as presidential candidates, although some were barred from running:


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy
In April 2015 the interim legislature passed an electoral code banning any MPs who supported the constitutional amendment to scrap term limits from contesting the elections. The reform of the electoral code was adopted by the transitional parliament on 7 April and signed by President Kafando on 10 April. In protest, the former ruling CDP and its allies announced on 10 April 2015 that they were suspending participation in the National Transition Council and the National Commission for Reconciliation and Reforms, saying the new electoral code was a means of political exclusion.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy
On 13 July 2015, the ECOWAS Court of Justice ruled against the exclusionary law. According to the court, preventing people from contesting the elections on the basis of a political stance was "a violation of their fundamental human rights".


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy
On 16 July 2015 President Kafando confirmed that Burkina Faso would apply ECOWAS's judgment. However, on the same day the transitional government charged Blaise Compaoré with "high treason" over his bid to change the constitution and run for a third term. In addition to these charges against Compaoré, the transitional parliament brought murder and assault charges against all government officials who approved of his bid to stay on. The sudden charges were criticized by some, as they were perceived as a new manoeuvre from the transitional government to exclude all serious candidates from running in the upcoming elections. It also reasserted the suspicions of partiality and instrumentalisation that surround the transitional government.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy
Compaoré supporters appealed to the Constitutional Council to annul the charges. On 10 August, the court ruled that it lacked the authority to decide whether the charges should be annulled.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy
22 people submitted applications to stand as presidential candidates by the deadline at midnight on 21 August 2015. The list included politicians who had served under Compaoré, such as Djibril Bassolé, as well as politicians who had opposed him, such as Bénéwendé Sankara and Zéphirin Diabré.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy
Despite the ECOWAS ruling against the exclusionary law, the Constitutional Council ruled on 25 August that the law had never been overturned by the authorities in Burkina Faso and therefore remained in effect. Accordingly, it barred 42 prospective candidates who had supported changing the constitution from standing as parliamentary candidates, including CDP leader Eddie Komboïgo and ADF-RDA leader Gilbert Noel Ouedraogo. Outraged, the CDP vowed civil disobedience and potentially an electoral boycott, arguing that the ruling was illegal and unconstitutional, that it denied the rights of citizens to participate in the political process and ignored the ECOWAS ruling. Parties which had supported Compaoré promptly appealed to the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy
On 29 August 2015, the Constitutional Council announced that 16 of the 22 prospective candidates would be allowed to run. As with the parliamentary election, CDP leader Eddie Komboïgo and ADF-RDA leader Gilbert Noel Ouedraogo were barred from running. All of the other candidates were allowed to run, except for four independent candidates who failed to pay the necessary deposit. Djibril Bassolé, who was Compaoré's last foreign minister, was cleared to stand. Komboïgo condemned the court's ruling, saying that it was politically motivated.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy
Three candidates argued that Djibril Bassolé and Yacouba Ouedraogo, who were both serving in the government when Compaoré was ousted in October 2014, should also be excluded because they were present at a government meeting to prepare legislation that would have scrapped presidential term limits. The Constitutional Council accepted this argument, and on 10 September 2015 it struck Bassolé and Ouedraogo from the list of approved candidates. Of the 14 remaining candidates, Roch Marc Christian Kabore and Zéphirin Diabré, both of whom served in the government under Compaoré but later broke with him and went into opposition, were viewed as the leading contenders.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy, September 2015 coup
On 16 September 2015, the Regiment of Presidential Security (RSP), the presidential guard closely linked to Compaoré, detained President Kafando and Prime Minister Zida, two days after the reforms commission had recommended dissolving the RSP. The coup leaders announced on 17 September that they were dismissing Kafando, dissolving the government and the transitional legislature, and setting up a new transitional body, the National Council for Democracy (CND), to lead the country to "inclusive and peaceful elections". In their proclamation of the CND, they denounced the transitional authorities for their allegedly undemocratic electoral law and for ignoring the recommendations of ECOWAS to scrap the exclusionary law. General Gilbert Diendéré was appointed as chairman of the council.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy, September 2015 coup
Later in the day, Diendéré said that Compaoré had nothing to do with the coup and that the coup was supported by the rest of the army. He called for calm "so that we can continue on the path to inclusive and democratic elections" and appealed to the international community: "We know a coup is never accepted by the international community, but we ask it to understand the purpose of our action. We are committed to dialogue and accept certain principles of the international community."


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy, September 2015 coup
He stressed that he had no interest in politics and was only getting involved due to the "special situation", and he said that power would be returned to civilians "as soon as conditions are there". In other comments, he said that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held on a new timetable, which would be determined through consultations with "the concerned actors, notably the political parties and civil society organisations". He also promised that the exclusionary electoral law would be changed so that all political forces could participate.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy, September 2015 coup
Two regional leaders—Macky Sall, the President of Senegal and Chairman of ECOWAS, and Boni Yayi, the President of Benin—travelled to Ouagadougou on 18 September to hold talks with Diendéré, aiming to restore the transitional government. On 20 September, a draft agreement was announced that would involve allowing the previously excluded candidates to participate in the election. It also granted amnesty to those who participated in the coup and required the release of those who were detained by the CND. It also allowed a delay in the holding of the election, but required that it be held by 22 November. The two sides appeared to still disagree about who would lead the transition: the draft agreement called for restoring Kafando as President, but the CND insisted that Diendéré should continue in his post for the remainder of the transitional period.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy, September 2015 coup
The CND never clearly established its authority beyond Ouagadougou, and on 21 September army leaders announced that soldiers from the regular army were marching towards the capital to put an end to the coup. Facing the prospect of a confrontation with the regular army as well as ongoing street protests by opponents of the coup, who felt that the proposed terms offered too many concessions to the coup leaders, Diendéré said that the CND would abide by the draft agreement's provision for the return of civilian rule.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy, September 2015 coup
Kafando was reinstalled as President at a ceremony on 23 September in the presence of ECOWAS leaders. Isaac Zida also returned to his post as Prime Minister. Zida said that he foresaw a delay of "several weeks" in the holding of the election. For his part, Diendéré said that the coup was a mistake and that "we knew the people were not in favour of it. That is why we have given up."


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral code and controversy, September 2015 coup
On 25 September the RSB was disbanded by government decree. On 26 September the assets of Diendéré and others associated with the coup, as well as the assets of four political parties, including the CDP, were frozen by the state prosecutor. Djibril Bassolé and Eddie Komboïgo, who were barred from standing as presidential candidates, both had their assets frozen. Bassolé was arrested on 29 September for allegedly supporting the coup.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Electoral system
The President was elected using the two-round system, with a run-off election due to be held 15 days after the election results were declared if no candidate received over 50% of the vote in the first round.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Campaign
It was reported on 13 October that the election would be held on 29 November 2015. Later in the month, the CDP stated that, with its own candidate barred from running, it planned to support another candidate in the election. It also said that it would replace its parliamentary candidates who had been barred from running.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Campaign
The official campaigning period began on 8 November, with 14 presidential candidates running. Kabore launched his campaign in Bobo-Dioulasso, with 30,000 supporters in attendance, while Diabre launched his campaign in Fada N'Gourma and Sankara in Solenzo.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Campaign
The campaign heavily favored wealthy candidates and did not provide opportunities for parties with fewer resources to build grassroots campaigns. Some candidates had sufficient wealth to employ helicopters to ferry them between campaign rallies and rally support from the country's predominately rural population.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Results
Partial results released on 30 November, reflecting votes from 253 out of 368 communes, showed Kaboré with a strong lead over Diabré, 54.27% to 29.16%. The electoral commission announced on 1 December that Kaboré had won the election in the first round with 53.5% of the vote against 29.7% for Diabré. Turnout was placed at about 60%.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Results
Results for the parliamentary election were announced on 2 December 2015, showing that Kaboré's party, the MPP, placed first with 55 out of 127 seats, but fell short of a majority. Diabré's party, the UPC, won 33 seats, and the CDP won 18.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Results
Final official results from the Constitutional Council were announced on 15 December 2015, confirming that Kaboré won the election with 53% of the vote. He was sworn in as President on 29 December 2015. The National Assembly elected Salif Diallo, a leading member of the MPP, as President of the National Assembly on 30 December. He received 78 votes from the 127 deputies.


2015 Burkinabé general election, Reactions
The head of the electoral commission, Barthelemy Kere, said that "this election went off in calm and serenity, which shows the maturity of the people of Burkina Faso."


2015 Burkinabé general election, Reactions
Zephirin Diabre, the runner-up in the vote, came to President-elect Roch Marc Christian Kabore's campaign headquarters as Kabore's supporters celebrated the win to congratulate him, Al Jazeera reported. Foreign governments also extended congratulations to Kabore, including those of Ghana and the United States.


2015 Burnley Borough Council election
Elections to Burnley Borough Council in Lancashire, England were held on 7 May 2015, as part of the wider 2015 United Kingdom local elections.


2015 Burnley Borough Council election
Due to the 'in thirds' format of elections in Burnley, these elections are for those electoral district wards fought in the 2011 Burnley Borough Council election, with changes in vote share compared directly with that year. These seats were contested again in 2019.


2015 Burnley Borough Council election
As Jonathan Barker (elected in 2012) resigned before the election, two seats were open in the Hapton with Park Ward.


2015 Burnley Borough Council election, State of the Parties
After the election, the composition of the Council was as follows:


2015 Bursa Cup
The 2015 Bursa Cup was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the first edition of the tournament and part of the 2015 ITF Women's Circuit, offering a total of $50,000 in prize money. It took place in Bursa, Turkey, on 6–12 June 2015.


2015 Bursa Cup, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2015 Bursa Cup – Doubles
This was a new event to the ITF Women's Circuit.


2015 Bursa Cup – Doubles
Marina Melnikova and Laura Pous Tió won the inaugural event, defeating Sofia Shapatava and Anastasiya Vasylyeva in the final, 6–4, 6–4.


2015 Bursa Cup – Singles
This was a new event to the ITF Women's Circuit.


2015 Bursa Cup – Singles
İpek Soylu won the title, defeating Anastasija Sevastova in the final, 7–5, 3–6, 6–1.


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt
On 13 May 2015, army general Godefroid Niyombare said that he was "dismissing President Pierre Nkurunziza" following the 2015 Burundian unrest. However, the presidency tweeted that the "situation is under control" and there is "no coup".


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt
President Nkurunziza was at the time in neighbouring Tanzania attending the 13th Extraordinary Summit of the East African Community Heads of State, which had been convened to discuss the situation in Burundi.


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt
Nkurunziza quickly attempted to return to Burundi, but he was apparently unable to do so because rebel soldiers had taken control of the airport in Bujumbura. Nevertheless, the head of the armed forces, Prime Niyongabo, said on state radio during the night of 13–14 May that the coup attempt had been defeated, and he called on rebel soldiers to surrender. Loyalist forces remained in control of the state radio and presidential palace. Shortly thereafter, "heavy fighting" was reported around the state radio as it was attacked by rebel soldiers.


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt
Nkurunziza's office announced the president's successful return to Burundi on 14 May, as army and police loyal to Nkurunziza regained control of much of Bujumbura. On 15 May, the government said it arrested Niyombare and two other leaders of the coup and would charge them with mutiny.


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt, Sequence of events
On 13 May 2015, Major General Godefroid Niyombare declared a coup d'état, announcing on radio that "Nkurunziza is dismissed, his government is dismissed too," while President Nkurunziza was in Tanzania attending an emergency conference about the situation in the country. Niyombare, a former army chief of staff and head of intelligence, announced the coup along with senior officers in the army and police, including a former defense minister. After the announcement, crowds stormed into the streets of the capital in celebration and soldiers were seen guarding the state broadcaster's headquarters.


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt, Sequence of events
Nkurunziza attempted to fly back to Burundi, but his plane was reportedly turned back to Tanzania. AFP reported that rebel soldiers had seized control of Bujumbura International Airport. Nevertheless, the head of the armed forces, Prime Niyongabo, declared from the RTNB state radio complex  during the night of 13–14 May that the coup attempt had been defeated, and he called on rebel soldiers to surrender. Loyalist forces remained in control of the state radio and presidential palace. Shortly thereafter, AFP reported heavy fighting around the RTNB state radio complex as it was attacked by rebel soldiers. In the wake of the fighting, the station remained in loyalist hands.


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt, Sequence of events
Reuters reported that a journalist at the state broadcaster said there was "heavy gunfire" around the station in the capital. Reuters also heard from witnesses that two private radio stations that broadcast Niyombare's announcement had been attacked by men in police uniforms. Radio Publique Africaine was set ablaze. Five soldiers were reported killed in clashes that the government said retook control of the sites. All in all, five independent Burundian news agencies were completely or partially destroyed: Radio Bonesha, Radio Isanganiro, Radio Publique Africaine, Rema FM and Radio-Télévision Renaissance.


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt, Sequence of events
African Union chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma stated that she "condemns in the strongest terms today's coup attempt" and called for a "return to constitutional order and urges all stakeholders to exercise utmost restraint." Nkurunziza thanked loyal soldiers who he said were "putting things in order" and said that rebel soldiers would be forgiven if they surrendered.


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt, Sequence of events
In the hours that followed the failed attacks on the state broadcaster, the coup appeared to begin collapsing. Later in the day on 14 May, Nkurunziza announced that he had returned to Burundi, although his specific location was not given for security reasons. He congratulated "the army and the police for their patriotism" and "above all the Burundian people for their patience". One of the coup leaders, General Cyrille Ndayirukiye, said that "our movement has failed" due to "overpowering military determination to support the system in power". He also suggested that soldiers backing the coup would not continue fighting, saying the coup leaders "don't want to be responsible for leading those who have followed us to their deaths."


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt, Sequence of events
Early on 15 May, Niyombare said that he and the other coup leaders had decided to surrender to government forces. Meanwhile, Nkurunziza returned to Bujumbura. Speaking on state radio later in the day, he said that there was "peace in the whole country" and vowed that anyone trying to stir up unrest would fail. The government also disclosed that Niyombare was still at large, contradicting an earlier statement that he had been captured.


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt, Sequence of events
On 16 May 2015, eighteen people, including former defence minister General Cyrille Ndayirukiye and police commissioners Zenon Ndabaneze and Hermenegilde Nimenya, appeared in court. Relatives claimed that they had been beaten while in custody. Ndayirukiye pleaded guilty to trying to overthrow the government, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment on 15 January 2016. At the same time, three other generals received the same penalty, while nine defendants received sentences of 30 years and eight defendants received sentences of five years. Seven of the defendants were acquitted.


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt, Aftermath
Due to the destruction of all five major independent Burundian news agencies during the coup, the Burundian populace had very little access to information about their country. According to the Broadcasting Board of Governors website, the only significant news source Burundians had as of May 14 was Voice of America's Kirundi/Kinyarwanda service. As the situation unfolded international media sources returned to Burundi, but the government remained hostile to journalists, dealing with them "as if they were coup plotters." According to rights activist Innocent Muhozi, the head of the Burundian Press Observatory, “They want to break the journalists’ morale. There is harassment, phone calls, threats, blacklists." Four months after the coup attempt, The East African reported that "Burundi private media [was] still off air."


2015 Burundian coup d'état attempt, Aftermath
On 18 May 2015 President Nkurunziza dismissed Minister of Defence Pontien Gaciyubwenge, Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Kavakure and Minister of Trade Marie-Rose Nizigiyimana.


2015 Burundian legislative election
Parliamentary elections were held in Burundi on 29 June 2015. The vote had been initially set for 5 June 2015, alongside local elections, but it was delayed due to unrest. Indirect elections to the Senate occurred on 24 July.