2020 Internazionali di Tennis Emilia Romagna – Singles
Frances Tiafoe won the title after defeating Salvatore Caruso 6–3, 3–6, 6–4 in the final.


2020 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia
The 2020 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the 17th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2020 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Cordenons, Italy between 31 August and 6 September 2020.


2020 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2020 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following player received entry into the singles main draw using a protected ranking:


2020 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry into the singles main draw as special exempts:


2020 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia – Doubles
Tomislav Brkić and Ante Pavić were the defending champions but only Brkić chose to defend his title, partnering Andrea Pellegrino. Brkić lost in the first round to Sergio Martos Gornés and Felipe Meligeni Alves.


2020 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia – Doubles
Ariel Behar and Andrey Golubev won the title after defeating Andrés Molteni and Hugo Nys 7–5, 6–4 in the final.


2020 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia – Singles
Christopher O'Connell was the defending champion but chose not to defend his title.


2020 Internazionali di Tennis del Friuli Venezia Giulia – Singles
Bernabé Zapata Miralles won the title after defeating Carlos Alcaraz 6–2, 4–6, 6–2 in the final.


2020 Interport T20I Series
The Hong Kong cricket team toured Malaysia in February 2020 to play a five-match Twenty20 International (T20I) series, known as the Interport T20 Series. All the matches were played at the Kinrara Academy Oval, Kuala Lumpur. The series marked the return of the 154-year-old tradition of contests known as 'Interport' matches, a term historically used to refer to matches played between various British settlements in Southeast Asia, such as Hong Kong and Malaysia (and the Malay states that preceded Malaysia). The series was originally scheduled to be played at the Mission Road Ground in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, but was cancelled in early February due to the coronavirus pandemic in China.


2020 Interport T20I Series
Malaysia won the first three matches to give them an unassailable lead in the series. The hosts went on to sweep the series 5–0. Both teams went on to compete in the 2020 ACC Eastern Region T20 tournament (the first stage of qualification for the 2020 Asia Cup) which started a few days after the completion of the series.


2020 Invictus Games
The 2020 Invictus Games will take place in The Hague, Netherlands. It will be the fifth Invictus Games. The games will be documented in a Netflix documentary called Heart of Invictus.


2020 Invictus Games
The games were to be held on 9–16 May 2020 at the Zuiderpark, but were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They were then postponed again to the Spring of 2022.


2020 Invictus Games, Participating countries
The 18 participating countries of the 2018 Invictus Games are invited back, along with new invitations to Belgium and the Republic of Korea, which made the total number of participating countries to 20.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses
The 2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, the first nominating contests in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, took place on February 3, 2020. Pete Buttigieg won the contest, earning one more state delegate equivalent (SDE) than Bernie Sanders, who won the popular vote. Buttigieg became the first openly gay person to ever earn the most delegates in a state's presidential contest in the United States. The Iowa caucuses are closed caucuses wherein only registered members of a party are eligible to vote. Iowa awards 49 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 41 are pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the caucuses.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses
The 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses were controversial due to the delays in reporting the results. These delays, which were caused in part by problems with a mobile application created by Shadow Inc. that was used to report voting totals, led to the resgination of Iowa Democratic Party chair Troy Price. Further controversy resulted from errors and inconsistencies regarding the calculation and reporting of state delegate equivalents (SDEs) in several caucus locations. Following a three-day delay in vote reporting, the Iowa Democratic Party declared that Buttigieg had won two more delegates than Sanders.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses
The official result and calculation of pledged national convention delegates was delayed until six days after the election due to the need for a correction of reported results from 3.1% (55) of the precincts. Buttigieg and Sanders then requested a partial recanvass for 8.1% of the official result, which resulted in Buttigieg's lead over Sanders narrowing to 0.08 SDEs. A final recount for 63 of the recanvassed precincts (3.6% of all results) was requested by both campaigns on February 19.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses
Two days later, the Iowa Democratic Party announced that it had accepted recount requests for 23 precincts (1.3% of all results). The recounts took place from February 25 to February 27, with the Iowa Democratic Party announcing the results of the recounts on February 27, 2020. The results were certified by the state committee on February 29.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure
As the event was a closed caucus, only Iowans registered as Democrats could vote. However, Iowans who did not register as Democrats before the caucus day could still register as such on caucus night itself at their designated precinct, thereby gaining full voting rights at the event. The votes are cast by physically standing in a section of the caucus site corresponding to the preferred candidate. Proxy voting or absentee voting (i.e. by mail or through participation in a preceding "virtual caucus") was not allowed.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure
1,678 Iowa precinct caucuses and 87 satellite caucuses around the world (organized as alternative voting sites for registered Democratic Iowans who were unable to vote locally at their precinct caucus) were held, with doors being closed at 7:00 pm CST on February 3, 2020, in order to elect precinct delegates for the subsequent county conventions and allocate the state's 41 pledged national convention delegates based upon the proportional accumulative result of all the precincts.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Precinct caucus procedures
In all precinct caucuses that elect more than one county convention delegate, the presidential candidates must meet a viability threshold within the individual precinct in order to qualify as a viable candidate. The thresholds are:


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Precinct caucus procedures
After the first round of voting, supporters of viable candidates have their votes locked to their chosen candidate, while the supporters of non‑viable candidates are allowed through a second final round of voting (called realignment) to transfer their vote either to an already‑viable candidate or to a non‑viable group as long as they make it viable.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Precinct caucus procedures
If the number of viable groups formed in the first round or final round exceeds the number of electable county convention delegates in the precinct, then the smallest viable group(s) are forced to realign until the number of viable groups no longer exceeds the number of delegates. Precinct caucuses that elect a single county convention delegate have no viability threshold and thus do not need to go through realignment, but instead elect their single delegate based upon a simple majority vote expressed by the "first alignment" round.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Precinct caucus procedures
After the final realignment round has ended and the correct maximum number of viable groups formed, then each of those viable groups (supporting a candidate or being uncommitted) elects the county convention delegate(s) their group won according to its proportional percentage share of the qualified votes won after the final alignment in the local precinct. However, due to rounding errors, it is still possible, by following the outlined calculation procedure, that the total number of county convention delegates awarded by the precinct will be higher or lower than the delegate number to which the precinct is entitled.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Precinct caucus procedures
Therefore, as a last correctional step, the viable groups might also gain or lose a delegate depending on the size of their calculated delegate fraction before rounding in order to compensate for the rounding issue. In this last correctional rounding procedure, a special rule ensures that a group can never lose its only county convention delegate won (meaning that a fractional 0.5 delegate calculated to have been won by a group will always be rounded up to one, even when other larger groups are calculated to have higher fractions).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Precinct caucus procedures
A summary in the table below, display the ratio between state delegate equivalents (SDE's) and county convention delegates (CCD) for all of Iowa's 99 counties. Each county has a different SDE ratio per county convention delegate, with the most populous counties having the highest SDE ratio and the least populous counties having the lowest SDE ratio. The ratio is used when each county converts the results of won county convention delegates into the number of won SDE's.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Precinct caucus procedures
The use of a different ratio in each county mean, that some county convention delegates will be counted to be more worth in SDE-terms compared to their fellow county convention delegates elected in other counties (similar to the principle of the United States Electoral College, where it is possible to win the popular vote without winning the race deciding delegate count).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
For the first time in the history of the Iowa caucuses, satellite caucuses around the world (60 in-state and 27 out-of-state) were all organized on election day February 3, as alternative voting sites for registered Democratic Iowans who were unable to vote locally at their precinct caucus. The list below display all types of satellite sites (of which most were open for participation of all Iowans, while some were closed caucuses only for those with a private residence or workplace affiliation):


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
Doors at most satellite caucuses closed at 7:00 pm CST; while some satellite caucuses however closed doors a few hours earlier or later (between 10 am to 8:30 pm CST of the same day).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
Iowa Democrats who are out-of-state on February 3 and want to participate in an out-of-state satellite caucus, as well as those who were in-state but were unable to attend their precinct caucus and therefore have to take part in an early in-state satellite caucus before 6:00 pm CST, all need to pre-register their attendance for these satellite events (including a membership of the Democratic Party) by January 17, 2020.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
Iowans who instead attend an in-state satellite caucus at 7:00 pm CST or later, however, do not need to pre-register attendance and party membership, as they will be granted the same opportunity as precinct caucusgoers to change their party registration at the door. Those Iowans who participate in any form of satellite caucus will be barred from participating in their designated precinct caucus.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
The voting procedure for satellite caucuses was largely identical to the one used for precinct caucuses. However, it differs by the fact that no real county convention delegates are elected; instead, each satellite caucus will be granted a number of "virtual county delegates" depending on the number of caucus attendees:


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
The viability threshold for a group supporting a presidential candidate at a satellite caucus is also set at a minimum of 15%. The calculation rules for allocating "virtual" delegates at a satellite caucus are identical with those used when allocating "real" elected county convention delegates at a precinct caucus.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
Accumulated results (number of won virtual county delegates being recalculated to SDEs) of the satellite caucuses are reported from five designated "virtual satellite counties":


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
In addition to the number of precinct elected district and state delegates (elected at the county convention as per the accumulated SDE result of each precinct caucus), each satellite county and their satellite caucuses will also be allocated an additional amount of real district and state delegates (who will not be present at county conventions but only participate in the district convention and state convention).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
The available number of the satellite elected district and state delegates will depend on the accumulated voter turnout from all satellite caucuses within respectively each of the four virtual congressional district satellite counties (for in-state satellite caucuses) and within the fifth virtual at-large statewide satellite county (for out-of-state satellite caucuses). Each virtual satellite county will hereby allocate the following number of SDEs among its satellite caucuses:


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
The amount of available SDEs to be won in each satellite caucus will be decided based on its proportional allocated share of the "total number of virtual county delegates allocated throughout all satellite caucuses within its own virtual satellite county", which shall be equal to its share of allocated available SDEs within its virtual county.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
When the accumulated satellite county SDEs finally gets converted to satellite elected "district and state delegates" for each satellite county as a whole, all presidential candidates having won SDEs within the specific satellite county at a share of less than 15% will have all their SDEs eliminated (meaning they will win 0 district and state delegates), while the remaining qualified presidential candidates having won at least a 15% SDE share within the specific satellite county then finally will win a number of delegates equal to their share of qualified SDEs (with fractions rounded up/down to nearest integers).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Satellite caucus procedures
As part of the caucus procedures, each satellite caucus will have written down potential candidates among its caucusgoers for the available additional "district and state delegate" positions, later to be selected by the preference of the presidential campaigns to which they have pledged support.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, County, district, state convention and national convention delegates
A total of 11,402 county convention delegates are elected according to the procedure described above across 1,678 precinct caucuses and 87 satellite caucuses. They will then go to their local county convention on March 21, to choose 2,107 district and state delegates who are pledged to support presidential candidates according to the proportional state delegate equivalents (SDEs) result of the caucuses.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, County, district, state convention and national convention delegates
These elected districts and state delegates will subsequently go to the district conventions on April 25 (selecting the names of the 27 pledged national convention delegates from the congressional districts) and state convention on June 13 (selecting the names of the remaining statewide elected pledged national convention delegates: nine at-large and five party leaders and elected officials).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, County, district, state convention and national convention delegates
In total, 41 pledged national convention delegates are elected for the 2020 Democratic National Convention with their pledged support being determined proportionally to the presidential candidate's total number of SDEs won statewide and in each of the state's four congressional districts; but only for those presidential candidates who manage to qualify by winning at least a 15% share of the SDEs statewide or in the specific district. Meaning that all presidential candidates winning less than a 15% share of SDEs statewide and in CD1, CD2, CD3, CD4, will win 0 pledged national convention delegates.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, County, district, state convention and national convention delegates
If a presidential candidate based on the statewide caucus result won a number of pledged PLEO delegates or pledged at-large delegates, but then later decides to withdraw as a candidate before the state convention on June 13, their allocation of won pledged PLEO/at-large delegates will then instead be proportionally divided among the other remaining presidential candidates who already managed to qualify with a number of won pledged PLEO/at-large delegates.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, County, district, state convention and national convention delegates
The 41 caucus-elected pledged delegates Iowa sends to the national convention are to be joined by eight preselected unpledged PLEO delegates (superdelegates): five members of the Democratic National Committee and three members of Congress (of which all three are U.S. Representatives).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, County, district, state convention and national convention delegates
The eight superdelegates no longer have the right to cast any decisive vote at the first ballot for determining the Democratic presidential nominee for the presidential election (meaning they can only play a role if allocation of all pledged delegates results in a contested convention); and they are automatically selected independently of the caucus results as unpledged delegates, according to the rules of the Democratic Party.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Key changes from previous caucuses
In previous caucuses (most recently in 2016), the reported precinct results were used to compute the expected number of pledged national convention delegates according to the state delegate equivalents for each presidential candidate, meaning that the campaigns after the precinct caucuses still needed to hold onto their computed expected pledged national convention delegates as their support were locked to the candidate only at the final step of the selection process (i.e. at the state convention in June). This has changed in the 2020 caucuses, where the computed final number of pledged national convention delegates will be locked to the candidates already when the SDEs result of the precinct caucuses are known.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Key changes from previous caucuses
On February 11, 2019, the Iowa Democratic Party proposed several changes to the procedures used in the previous caucuses, including the addition of a period for "virtual caucuses" from January 29 to February 3, 2020, which would allow participants unable to physically attend the precinct caucuses to join in an online virtual caucus or teleconference in which they will be given the opportunity to rank candidate preferences, with support for non-viable candidates redistributed to viable ones.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Key changes from previous caucuses
This process continues until no non-viable choices remain, and the results are aggregated with congressional districts for the purposes of delegate allocation, but limited to 10% SDEs, regardless of the number of those using the virtual caucus option. The results of both the virtual and the precinct caucuses were to be released on the night of February 3, and as a result of rules changes by the national party, raw vote totals for the first and second alignment periods of the caucuses were to be published.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Key changes from previous caucuses
In late August 2019, the DNC ordered both the Iowa and the Nevada Democratic state parties to scrap their plans for "virtual caucuses" due to security concerns.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Key changes from previous caucuses
On September 20, 2019, the DNC conditionally approved a plan for "satellite caucus sites", allowing Iowa Democrats to participate if they are working or going to college outside of the state on February 3, 2020. Eleven of those 87 sites will have Spanish translation services. Latinos made up 6% of the population and 3.4% of registered voters.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Procedure, Key changes from previous caucuses
The party announced in late January 2020 that a "raw vote count" for both the "first initial alignment" and the "second final alignment" would be reported (along with the computed state delegate equivalents and pledged national convention delegates), for the first time in the history of the caucuses. In previous caucuses, the reported result of the precinct caucuses comprised only the final computed state delegate equivalents and expected number of pledged national convention delegates.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Polling
The results of a final poll from The Des Moines Register were not released as scheduled on February 1, after an interviewee complained that Pete Buttigieg was not given as a poll option during their interview, with the omission reportedly attributed to human error. As the polling firm was unable to determine whether the mistake was an isolated incident or not, pollster Ann Selzer decided to withhold the results of the poll altogether, marking the first time in 76 years that the final pre-caucus poll was not released by the Register. The poll was later leaked on Twitter, with results confirmed by FiveThirtyEight showing Sanders in the lead with 22%, followed by Warren with 18%, Buttigieg with 16% and Biden with 13%.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Results
Neither the final statewide total of "initial alignment votes" nor "final alignment votes" were used to determine the statewide number of "state delegate equivalents" (SDEs) won. Instead, a number of SDEs can be won in each of the 1,678 precinct caucuses and 87 satellite caucuses based upon the final alignment votes in each specific precinct. The number of "pledged national convention delegates" was determined proportionally to the candidate's total number of SDEs won statewide and in each of the state's four congressional districts, but only for those candidates who won more than a 15.0% share of the SDEs statewide or in the specific district.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Results
On the evening of February 6, after a three-day delay for all precinct votes to be reported, the first preliminary count for statewide results was published by the Iowa Democratic Party, which found that Pete Buttigieg had narrowly won the state delegate equivalent (SDE) count over Bernie Sanders, while Sanders won the popular vote on both the first and final caucus alignments (after supporters of non-viable candidates below the 15% threshold redistributed their support to viable ones).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Results
Due to various journalists identifying a number of potential errors in the reported vote total and calculated state delegate equivalents, and due to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) suggesting a recanvass of the results would be needed, some major news organizations refused to declare a winner until completion of a possible recanvass or recount.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Results
On the evening of February 9, the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) had (through their own conducted initial audit of the first preliminary count of statewide results) found the need to correct some incorrectly reported results from 3.1% (55) of the precincts. The corrected result was published as the first final official result before certification (meaning before conducting a formal potential recanvass/recount). The IDP also calculated the number of won pledged national convention delegates on the same basis.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Results
The deadline for campaigns to request a recanvass or recount of the results was extended from February 7 to February 10, giving campaigns three additional days to review the results and decide whether they want to challenge them, which both the Sanders campaign and the Buttigieg campaign did for 8.1% (143) of the precincts/satellite sites.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Results
The IDP accepted both partial recanvass requests on February 12, and carried out the recanvass from February 16–18 after the campaigns agreed to bear the costs. The recanvass was an audit to check if the initial reporting of figures concurred with the figures displayed on the math worksheet of the voting site. In order to correct the observed mathematical errors on several math worksheets, which were initially signed by all caucus group captains at the respective local voting sites, a subsequent recount process also needed to be called after the conclusion of the recanvass process.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Results
On February 18, the post-recanvass SDE count was released, with Buttigieg leading Sanders by 0.08 SDEs. The following day, the Buttigieg and Sanders campaigns requested a final recount for 63 of the recanvassed precincts (3.6% of all results). On February 21, the IDP announced that it had accepted recount requests for 23 precincts (1.3% of all results).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Results
It announced it would recount all 10 precincts requested by the Sanders campaign and 14 of the 54 precincts requested by the Buttigieg campaign, stating it rejected the Buttigieg request to recount the remaining 40 precincts because the campaign had failed to demonstrate that a potential recount of those precincts could result in a different SDE result. The recount began on February 25 and was completed over the following two days. On February 27, the IDP concluded the official recount, resulting in Buttigieg maintaining a slight edge over Sanders in SDEs. Sanders challenged the results of the Iowa caucuses; as of February 29, 2020, that challenge was pending before the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Results
Participation in the 2020 caucuses (176,352 initial alignment votes in the official count) was slightly higher than the 171,517 people who participated in the 2016 caucuses, but still 26% lower compared to the over 239,000 people who participated in the 2008 caucuses.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Results
Sanders won the popular vote on both the initial and the final alignments. Former Vice President Joe Biden had a particularly disappointing performance and called it a "gut punch" after winning significantly fewer votes than either Buttigieg or Sanders. Following the caucuses, Buttigieg became the first openly LGBT candidate to win any pledged national convention delegates towards a major party's presidential nomination.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Delay in final results
Up until February 4 at 4:00 pm local time, the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) had not reported any final results due to what a party spokesperson described as "quality checks". According to The New York Times, a new app-based reporting system may have been responsible for the delay, with Sean Bagniewski, the Polk County Democratic Party chairman, reporting that only "20% of his 177 precinct chairs" could access the app. In a statement released on February 3 at 10:30 pm local time, IDP communications director Mandy McClure said "inconsistencies" had been found in the three sets of results.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Delay in final results
However, McClure also assured that the delay was not the result of a "hack or intrusion" and that the overall results are "sound". During the delay in the release of final results, the campaigns of Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders both released incomplete results taken by their respective precinct captains, respectively showing the two candidates as having won the caucus. Also during the delay, Amy Klobuchar's campaign manager, Justin Buoen, claimed that Klobuchar either exceeded or equaled the number of votes that Joe Biden received.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Delay in final results
Problems encountered included usage and interface failures of an app designed to report final vote tallies for Iowa precinct captains; a backlog of phone calls to the state vote-reporting hotline, including at least one case of a precinct captain being placed on an hour-long hold, only to have the hotline attendant immediately hang up on him when finally answering; confusion about coin flips to decide delegates; the need to use backup paper ballots to verify the results; and discrepancies between backup paper ballots and tallies by precinct captains. Reporters found that the Internet message board 4chan had encouraged its members to flood the phone lines of the DNC in Des Moines, which further complicated the process of reporting results. Additionally, the reported data had to be entered manually, which took longer than expected.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Delay in final results
The morning after the caucus, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price issued a clarifying statement, reiterating that he did not believe there was a "cyber security intrusion", and that "data collected via the app was sound". Rather, due to a "coding issue in the reporting system", the app was reporting out only "partial data" from what had been recorded. This flaw was verified by comparison to the paper vote records and examination of the underlying data recorded by the app. The Iowa Democratic Party said in a statement that it planned to release partial results at 4:00 pm local time on Tuesday, nearly a full day after caucuses began.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Delay in final results
Moreover, several precinct captains reportedly released their results to the Iowa Democratic Party over 24 hours before numbers were reported, with some criticizing the length of time taken for the party to release results as well as the process's lack of transparency.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Delay in final results, IowaRecorder app
The app, named IowaRecorder, was developed by Shadow Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Acronym. The company received money from the Biden, Buttigieg, and Kirsten Gillibrand campaigns for services distinct from the app; Biden's campaign paid the firm $1,225 for text messaging, Buttigieg's campaign paid $42,500 for software service, and Gillibrand's campaign paid $37,400 for software, text, and fundraising services.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Delay in final results, IowaRecorder app
Social media posts claimed shortly after the election that the Buttigieg campaign had paid for the creation of the app, a theory which was debunked by the Associated Press. The app was also criticized for alleged conflicts of interest due to the company behind the app selling separate services to campaigns associated with Biden, Buttigieg, and Gillibrand; as well as a PAC founded by Tom Steyer and connections to former staffers for Hillary Clinton, among others.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Delay in final results, IowaRecorder app
App-development expert Kasra Rahjerdi said "the app was clearly done by someone following a tutorial. It's similar to projects I do with my mentees who are learning how to code." A team of researchers at Stanford University, including former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos, said that while analyzing the app they found potentially concerning code within it, including hard-coded API keys.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Delay in final results, IowaRecorder app
The faulty app coding was found to have caused some incorrect and incomplete result calculation, creating a discrepancy between its data input and data output, which made the app useless for the report of results from all the precinct caucuses (meaning that all data reporting instead had to be phoned/mailed and manually typed into a calculating work sheet).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Delay in final results, IowaRecorder app
The app was also criticized for its lack of user-friendliness and openness to potential hacks and data intercepts.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Inconsistencies in votes
During the initial release of the results, it was noted that some of the data being reported were inconsistent, flawed, or entirely impossible. According to The New York Times, more than 100 precincts reported incorrect results. Most common errors included wrong number of delegates being allotted to candidates and disparities in numbers released by the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) and those reported by precincts.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Inconsistencies in votes
One such example is in Black Hawk County, where the county supervisor independently released results of his county via Facebook that varied from the later-released results provided by the Iowa Democratic Party—which incorrectly gave Elizabeth Warren delegates to Tom Steyer and Bernie Sanders delegates to Deval Patrick, despite the latter reportedly receiving zero votes in the county. Although corrections were later made, these results still varied from those given by the county supervisor.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Inconsistencies in votes
This quickly gave rise to a number of conspiracy theories online that were accusing the Democratic Party of corruption and cheating in favor of Buttigieg and other candidates at the expense of Sanders. On February 6, three days after the caucus, and with three percent of the results still unreported, the Democratic Party chairman Tom Perez requested a recanvass of the results, saying:


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Inconsistencies in votes
Enough is enough. In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Inconsistencies in votes
Because Perez specified satellite caucuses in his request for a recanvass, an area where Sanders support was strong, Sanders supporters on social media accused the Democratic National Committee of rigging the caucus against him.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Inconsistencies in votes
According to the IDP, errors on the handwritten caucus math worksheets could not be corrected because they are unalterable legal records. "The incorrect math on the Caucus Math Worksheets must not be changed to ensure the integrity of the process" wrote the party lawyer, Shayla McCormally, according to an email sent by IDP chair Troy Price. Photographs of caucus math worksheets taken by caucus "captains" showed errors in adding up votes for candidates and in calculating "state delegate equivalents". IDP chair Troy Price said that a recount of votes would be required to correct the miscalculations on the handwritten tally sheets from precincts.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Analysis
According to entrance polls by CNN, the close result was due to splits among key demographic groups: gender, educational attainment and age. Buttigieg won women with 24%, while Sanders won men with 26%. Buttigieg won voters with a college degree with 23%, while Sanders won among voters with a high school education or less with 30%. Sanders continued the trend of 2016 in which he won young voters, winning 44% in the 18–29 demographic and 41% with voters under 45 overall, while Buttigieg won older voters (40–64).


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Analysis
Contrary to media belief in Biden's strength among non-white voters, Sanders won that demographic in Iowa with 46% support, with Buttigieg placing second with 15% and Biden placing third with only 13% support. According to CNN reported entrance polls, Buttigieg won white voters with 23%. However, The New York Times indicates a statistical tie at 23%, with a slight advantage to Sanders. Some counties carried by Buttigieg, such as Clinton County, had swung from Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016 by double digits.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Analysis
Although Latinos constitute a relatively small portion of Iowa's electorate, Sanders performed exceptionally well with Latino voters, winning all 32 Latino-majority and plurality precincts in the state with 52.6% of the vote, well ahead of Buttigieg (14%) and Biden (13.5%). He also won all four Spanish-language satellite caucus sites by overwhelming margins. Matt A. Barreto noted that Sanders's strength among the Latino demographic alone provided him with an 18.6 SDE advantage over Buttigieg, making up lost ground in other demographics where Buttigieg performed better. Sanders's success with Latino voters could be credited to the "Latino strategy" his campaign is pursuing by focusing on Latino voter outreach.


2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Analysis
Buttigieg declared victory before any official results were released. Bernie Sanders' campaign also declared victory before the official results were announced, as the DNC called for a recanvass. Buttigieg's declaration of victory in Iowa provided him with a boost in polls going into New Hampshire, a state where Sanders had been polling consistently well.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
The 2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Hawkeyes played their home games at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa, and competed in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by 22nd-year head coach Kirk Ferentz.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
On August 11, 2020, the Big Ten Conference canceled all fall sports competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, on September 16, the Big Ten reinstated the season, announcing an eight-game season beginning on October 24. The Hawkeyes compiled a 6–2 record, all in conference games. The team was set to face Missouri in the Music City Bowl, but the game was canceled after Missouri had to withdraw due to COVID-19 issues.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Previous season
The 2019 Hawkeyes team finished the season 10–3, 6–3 in Big Ten play to finish in third place in the West Division. They received an invitation to the Holiday Bowl where they defeated USC, 49–24.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Schedule
Iowa had games scheduled against Northern Iowa, Iowa State, and Northern Illinois, but canceled these games on July 9 due to the Big Ten Conference's decision to play a conference-only schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Rankings
(*) Big Ten Conference members were not eligible for the Week 2 of the AP and Coaches Polls and Week 3 of the AP due to not having a scheduled season at the time.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, Michigan State
Iowa's first win over Michigan State since 2012, and the Hawkeyes' largest in the 48-game series, gave Kirk Ferentz his 163rd win as coach, passing Joe Paterno in total wins as a Big Ten head coach. The Hawkeyes dominated in all three phases of the game and gave Spartan quarterback Rocky Lombardi a long day, intercepting him three times.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, at Minnesota
Iowa has won eight of the last nine meetings in this series. The Hawkeyes dominated the Golden Gophers, winning for the third straight time in Minneapolis, to keep Floyd of Rosedale in Iowa City for a sixth straight year.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, at Penn State
Iowa earned their first win over Penn State since 2010, forcing four turnovers in the process. The victory gave Kirk Ferentz his 100th Big Ten win – just the 4th coach in conference history to achieve the feat – and Penn State their first-ever 0–5 start in the program's 134-year history.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, Nebraska
Iowa was victorious for the sixth straight time – and seventh in eight meetings – against Nebraska. In this back-and-forth game, turnovers in the fourth quarter hurt the Cornhuskers, as they fumbled twice in the last 10:17. The second of which was forced by Chauncey Golston to keep the Heroes Trophy in Iowa City. Senior Keith Duncan kicked four field goals in a game for the fourth time in his career, joining Nate Kaeding as the only Hawkeye kickers to achieve the feat.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, at Illinois
Iowa hasn't lost to Illinois since 2008. This was their seventh straight victory in the series and have won 12 of the last 13 overall. Illinois jumped out to a 14–0 lead early but the Hawkeyes put up 35 unanswered points and controlled the line of scrimmage from that point on having the ability to both run and pass the ball effectively.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, Wisconsin
Iowa won at home over Wisconsin for the first time since 2008 to recapture the bull. After a slow start on the snow-covered field in the first half, the Hawkeyes put up three touchdowns in the second, and were able to stop the Badgers on several fourth down attempts.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, Michigan
Iowa was looking to avenge a loss in Ann Arbor from previous season, but it was announced on December 15 the game was canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the Wolverines program. Michigan hasn't won at Kinnick Stadium since 2005.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, vs. Missouri (Music City Bowl)
Due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Tigers' football program, the Music City Bowl was canceled, ending the season for both the Hawkeyes and the Tigers.


2020 Iowa Hawkeyes football team, Game summaries, vs. Missouri (Music City Bowl)
Had the game been played, it would have been the first meeting between Iowa and Missouri in a decade. If Iowa had won the game, it would have given Kirk Ferentz his 10th bowl win, which would have tied Joe Paterno for first all-time in Big 10 history.


2020 Iowa House of Representatives election
Elections to the Iowa House of Representatives were held on November 3, 2020.


2020 Iowa House of Representatives election
In October 2020, The Washington Post identified this state election as one of eight whose outcomes could affect partisan balance during post-census redistricting.


2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s
The 2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s was an IndyCar Series event that took place from July 17–18, 2020. It made up the fifth and sixth rounds of the series' 2020 season. The race was originally scheduled as a single race for July 18 for 300 laps, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic an additional race had to be added due to cancellations of other races so IndyCar officials made the weekend a doubleheader & shortened each race to 250 laps. The race was also the second event of the 2020 season to allow spectators at the track, however there were restrictions regarding attendance.


2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s, Entry list
The entry list for both races were released by IndyCar on July 15th with separate entry lists for both races. The only difference between the two was the main sponsor for Graham Rahal.


2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s, Entry list
All cars run a Dallara safety tub utilizing the IndyCar mandated Universal Aero Kit 18. All cars also will utilized Firestone tires.


2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s, Pre-qualifying notes
Racer.com's Robin Miller reported on July 15 that after speaking with IndyCar officials that the qualifying procedure for Iowa would be modified. There would be 1 session of qualifying on July 17, however it would not be a 2 lap average to set the field as was usually done on short ovals, rather lap 1 would set the cars starting position for race 1 and lap 2 would set the cars starting position for race 2.


2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s, Race 1 – July 17
All sessions for race 1 took place on Friday, July 17.


2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s, Race 1 – July 17
The aeroscreen had its first major test when during an aborted restart on lap 157, Ed Carpenter Racing's Rinus VeeKay appeared to slow behind eventual race winner Simon Pagenaud and move to the right, and behind the Dutch rookie, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Racing's Colton Herta was caught in an accordion affect, launching the No. 88 Honda over the left-rear tire of VeeKay's No. 21 Chevy. Prior to getting significantly airborne, Herta's unimpeded nose – minus its wings – attempted to spear into the left side of VeeKay's cockpit, level with his helmet. With the aeroscreen acting as a vertical barrier, Herta's nose was forced upward, sliding skyward on the screen before hitting the top of the aeroscreen frame and flying over VeeKay's Dallara DW12 chassis. This saved Veekay from apparent serious injury.


2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s, Race 1 – July 17, Race
Notes: Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.


2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s, Race 2 – July 18
All sessions for race 2 (except qualifying) took place on Saturday, July 18.


2020 Iowa IndyCar 250s, Race 2 – July 18, Race
Notes: Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.


2020 Iowa Question 1
2020 Iowa Question 1, the Iowa Constitutional Convention Question, was a ballot measure in Iowa held on November 3, 2020, to hold a constitutional convention to revise the Constitution of Iowa. It was defeated with 70% of the vote against.


2020 Iowa Question 1, Background
The Iowa Constitution specifies that there should be a ballot measure asking if there should be a constitutional convention every ten years.


2020 Iowa Question 1, Contents
The measure appeared on ballots as follows, as the Iowa Constitution requires:


2020 Iowa Question 1, Contents
Shall there be a convention to revise the Constitution, and propose amendment or amendments to same?


2020 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
The 2020 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses took place on Monday, February 3, 2020, as the first caucus or primary in the Republican Party presidential primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Iowa caucuses are a closed caucus, with Iowa awarding 40 pledged delegates to the Republican National Convention, allocated on the basis of the results of the caucuses. Incumbent president Donald Trump received about 97 percent of the vote to clinch 39 delegates, while Bill Weld received enough votes to clinch 1 delegate.


2020 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Procedure
Precinct caucuses were held on the evening of Monday, February 3, 2020, in order to directly allocate delegates to the Iowa Republican county conventions. Only registered Iowan Republicans were allowed to participate. These delegates were proportionally allocated to each candidate based on the statewide vote.


2020 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Procedure
The county conventions were subsequently held on Saturday, March 14, 2020, to choose delegates for both the Republican Congressional District conventions and the Iowa Republican state convention. The congressional district conventions were then scheduled for Saturday, April 25, 2020, to elect Iowa's 12 district delegates to the Republican National Convention. The Iowa Republican state convention on Saturday, June 13, 2020, elected the rest of the state's delegates to the Republican National Convention.


2020 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign
A number of Republican candidates had campaign events in the state during 2019 and January 2020, including Weld and Walsh attending Democratic forums. Trump's campaign was active as well, having several surrogates attend events culminating in a rally in Des Moines attended by the president himself, on January 30. Among the cities that Bill Weld campaigned in was Sioux City, where he presented himself as an alternative to Trump on a variety of issues, ranging from economic conservatism to climate change.


2020 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign
The Trump campaign used the caucus as a "scrimmage" in order to test out get out the vote techniques and other improved methods and political marketing.


2020 Iowa Senate election
The 2020 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 2020 United States state legislative elections. Iowa voters elected state senators in half of the state senate's districts – the 25 even-numbered state senate districts. State senators serve four-year terms in the Iowa Senate, with half of the seats up for election each cycle.


2020 Iowa Senate election
A statewide map of the 50 state Senate districts in the 2020 elections is provided by the Iowa General Assembly


2020 Iowa Senate election
The primary election on June 2, 2020, determined which candidates appeared on the November 3 general election ballot. The filing deadline was March 13.


2020 Iowa Senate election
Following the previous election in 2018, Republicans retained control of the Iowa Senate with 32 seats to Democrats' 18 seats. To reclaim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to net eight Senate seats.


2020 Iowa Senate election
Republicans retained control of the Iowa Senate following the 2020 general election, with the balance of power remaining unchanged.


2020 Iowa State Cyclones football team
The 2020 Iowa State Cyclones football team represented Iowa State University in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cyclones competed as members of the Big 12 Conference and were led by fifth-year head coach Matt Campbell. They played their home games at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa. Breece Hall became the first unanimous all-American in school history.


2020 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Previous season
The Cyclones finished the 2019 season with an 7–6 record, 5–4 Big 12 play, losing the Camping World Bowl to Notre Dame.


2020 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Preseason, Seating plans
On May 26, 2020, Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard announced that single-game tickets would not be sold for Iowa State football games for the 2020 season and that only the 30,000 season ticket holders would be permitted to attend games, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.


2020 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Big 12 media Days
The Big 12 media days were held on July 21–22, 2020 in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


2020 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Schedule, Spring game
The Cyclones will hold spring practices in March and April 2020. They will not be holding a spring game.


2020 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Schedule, Regular season
Iowa State released its 2020 schedule on October 22, 2019. On July 9, 2020, it was announced that the Big Ten Conference would only play games against conference teams, leading to the cancellation of the September 12 game between Iowa State and Iowa. The Cyclones added Ball State to the schedule to replace in-state rival Iowa. On August 6, 2020, Iowa State's game against UNLV was canceled and rescheduled for the 2030 season. The Cyclones announced a reconfigured schedule on August 12, 2020, with the addition of Louisiana as their non-conference opponent. On December 5, after Oklahoma State and Kansas State lost their respective games, Iowa State officially clinched a spot in their very first Big 12 Championship Game.


2020 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Awards and honors
Iowa State led all Big 12 schools with nine All-Big 12 first team players.


2020 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Awards and honors
Honorable Mention for Individual Big 12 Awards: JaQuan Bailey (Defensive Lineman of the Year), Latrell Bankston (Defensive Newcomer of the Year), Colin  Newell (Offensive Lineman of the Year), Darrell Simmons (Offensive Freshman of the Year) and Rory Walling (Special Teams Player of the Year).


2020 Iowa elections
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Iowa on November 3, 2020.


2020 Iowa elections
To vote by mail, registered Iowa voters must request a ballot by October 24, 2020. As of early October some 686,870 voters have requested mail ballots.


2020 Iowa elections, State offices, State Senate
25 out of the 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, the even-numbered districts, were up for election. Out of the contested seats, the Republican Party won 19 districts and the Democratic Party won 6 districts. The resulting composition was 32 Republicans and 18 Democrats. The Republicans gained the 42nd district while the Democrats gained the 22nd district, resulting in no net seat change.


2020 Iowa elections, State offices, State House of Representatives
All 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives were up for election. Republicans won 59 seats and Democrats won 41 seats. Republicans gained 6 seats.


2020 Iowa elections, State offices, State Supreme Court
4 out of the 7 justices in the Iowa Supreme Court were up for retention election for a new term of up to 8 years.


2020 Iowa elections, State offices, State Court of Appeals
4 out of the 9 judges in the Iowa Court of Appeals were up for retention election for a new term of up to 6 years.


2020 Iowa elections, Federal offices, President and vice president of the United States
Iowa had 6 electoral votes in the Electoral College. Republican Donald Trump won all of them with 53% of the popular vote.


2020 Iowa elections, Federal offices, U.S. Senate
One of the two United States Senators of Iowa was up for election. Incumbent Republican Joni Ernst won re-election with 52% of the votes.


2020 Iowa elections, Federal offices, U.S. House of Representatives
All 4 of Iowa's representatives in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. Republicans won 3 seats and Democrats won 1 seat. The Republicans gained two seats, the 1st and 2nd districts.


2020 Iran explosions
The 2020 Iran explosions were a series of explosions in Iran, with undetermined causes of origin. First reported on 25 June 2020, the explosions' locations included an advanced centrifuge assembly facility, alleged missile sites, petrochemical centers, power plants and medical clinics. The government has denied reports of explosions in its missile sites while acknowledging damage to its largest nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz.


2020 Iran explosions
Some Western and Iranian officials stated the cause of explosions to be Israeli cyber attacks and covert US and Israeli strikes. The government vowed to retaliate if sabotage was confirmed in its Natanz nuclear facility.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Parchin explosion and Shiraz blackout
At noon on 25 June 2020, an explosion hit in the military complex of Parchin, 30 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran. Within the same hour a power outage affected half of the southern city of Shiraz; housing major military facilities. Officials declared the explosion a gas storage accident and said that an explosion had hit the power station in Shiraz, causing the blackout. A Western analyst stated that the explosion in Parchin had occurred in a missile storage facility, with hidden nuclear detonation technology work.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Parchin explosion and Shiraz blackout
A Western analyst claimed the explosion in Parchin was caused by an Israeli cyberattack, while a senior Iranian commander said he could not comment whether the explosion was a cyberattack until there was a conclusion on the issue. Citing an unnamed senior source, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported that the facility was destroyed in an airstrike by Israeli F-35 stealth fighter jets.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Parchin explosion and Shiraz blackout
On 30 June 2020, American and Israeli officials speaking to The New York Times said they "had nothing to do with" the explosion in Parchin.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Tehran clinic explosion
On 30 June 2020, an explosion occurred in the Sina At'har health center in the capital Tehran, killing 19 people including 15 women and 4 men. According to the deputy mayor of Tehran the explosion was caused by a leak from medical gas tanks in the building.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Natanz centrifuge assembly facility explosion
On 2 July 2020, an explosion hit a centrifuge assembly facility near the city of  Natanz. Three quarters of the above-ground parts of the facility where advanced centrifuges were being assembled were damaged. Iran admitted serious damage to its facility while Western analysts said the explosion had set back the Iranian nuclear program one to two years.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Natanz centrifuge assembly facility explosion
The same day, a US-based source reported that a group calling itself the "Homeland Panthers" (Persian: یوزپلنگان وطن yuzpalangan vatan) claimed responsibility for the explosion at the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. The New York Times claimed that a source which it identified as a "Middle Eastern intelligence official with knowledge of the episode" told the newspaper that Israel was responsible for the attack, and that a powerful bomb had been used.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Natanz centrifuge assembly facility explosion
In addition, it cited an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps member who was briefed on the topic and had spoken to the newspaper anonymously as claiming that an explosive device was used. The New York Times later reported that officials with knowledge stated the blast was most likely the result of a bomb, possibly at a strategic gas line, but a cyberattack was not out of the question. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported that Israel had caused the explosion with a cyberattack.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Khuzestan explosions
On 4 July 2020, an explosion hit the Shahid Medhaj Zargan power plant in the city of Ahvaz. Meanwhile 70 people were injured following a chlorine gas leak at Karun petrochemical center in the city of Mahshahr, near Ahvaz.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Baqershahr explosion
On 7 July 2020, 2 people were killed and 3 others were injured following an explosion inside an oxygen factory in the town of Bandar-e Mahshahr, south of the capital Tehran. IRIB said "human error" was the cause of the blast.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Baqershahr explosion
According to Western analysts the factory was near the warehouse where an archive of information on Iran's nuclear program was stolen in a raid by Israeli intelligence agents in 2018. While some analysts claimed that the factory belongs to an Iranian automotive manufacturer that closely cooperates with the Iranian Ministry of Defense as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Tehran explosions
On 9 July 2020, an explosion was reported in western Tehran. Officials denied that an explosion took place but admitted that power had been cut off in the area.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Tehran explosions
According to western analysts the blast hit a missile facility/warehouse belonging to Revolutionary Guards. Analysts speaking to The New York Times said that the blast had hit an area with underground facilities, associated with chemical weapons research and an unidentified military production site. An intelligence official told The New York Times that Israel was possibly behind the explosion.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Tehran explosions
On 11 July 2020, a gas explosion shook a residential building in Tehran, injuring one person.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Mahshahr petrochemical plant explosion
On 12 July 2020, a fire followed by an explosion hit the Tondgooyan petrochemical plant in the southwest. A spokesperson for the petrochemical company said the fire and explosion occurred due to "technical problems", and that "hot weather" was also to blame.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Mashhad explosion
On 13 July 2020, an explosion hit an industrial complex near the northeastern city of Mashhad. Mehr News Agency said the explosion occurred when a gas condensate storage tank exploded, and that the police were investigating the cause.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Ahvaz pipeline explosion
On 18 July 2020, an explosion was reported in an oil pipeline in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.


2020 Iran explosions, Timeline, Isfahan power plant explosion
On 19 July 2020, an explosion hit a power plant in Isfahan Province. No one was injured.


2020 Iran explosions, Alleged Israeli aims
According to one report from Business Insider, citing an unnamed former Israeli official and a European Union intelligence official, Israel is behind some of the attacks, with the European source "fearing" that the goal of the Israeli government to provoke a military confrontation with Iran while U.S. President Donald Trump remains in office. According to the EU official, "There would be a lot less appetite for adventures and secret missions to blow up nuclear facilities under a Biden administration."


2020 Iran explosions, Response
In October 2020, Rafael Grossi, Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed to AP that Iran has started building an underground centrifuge assembly plant after the explosions, and added that Iran also continues to stockpile greater amounts of low-enriched uranium, but does not appear to possess enough to produce a weapon.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela
In May 2020, Iran sent five oil tankers—Forest, Fortune, Petunia, Faxon, and Clavel—all under the flag of Iran, to Venezuela, followed by another tanker, Golsan, sent in June 2020. Since the collapse of Venezuela's oil refining industry and 2019 sanctions imposed by the United States preventing fuel suppliers from sending gasoline to Venezuela, the country is experiencing a chronic shortage of gasoline. The Iranian tankers sent in May carried 1.53 million barrels of Iranian gasoline, while Golsan was expected to contain 190,000 to 345,000 barrels. All the tankers were loaded at a gasoline refinery near Bandar Abbas, and were escorted by the Venezuelan navy after U.S. threats of intervention.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Background
The decline in the Venezuela's oil refining industry has accelerated since 2016 because of underinvestment and mismanagement. Also, since late 2019, the U.S. has prevented sending gasoline by Venezuela's fuel suppliers. The own once-formidable refining industry of Venezuela cannot produce gasoline and country is facing a chronic shortage of gasoline. Fuel shortages have been common in Venezuela. In 2020, the shortages reached Caracas, sparking mile-long lines at filling stations. Due to shortages, the price of fuel in the black market reached $10 a gallon. Venezuelan petrol prices were once among the world's cheapest. Fuel prices are subsidized, which cost the government a total of $18 million per year. With both Venezuela and Iran under economic pressure, the two countries have developed "more political and symbolic" ties.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Background
The Iranian shoot-down of an American surveillance drone over the strategic Strait of Hormuz escalated US–Iran tensions at sea to the highest point in June 2019.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Gasoline export
Fortune was the first tanker to arrive in Venezuela's territorial waters on 24 May 2020. On 26 May, the second Iranian oil tanker, Forest, arrived in the Venezuelan port of El Palito. The third tanker, Petunia, arrived at the Venezuelan's exclusive economic zone on 26 May. The fourth tanker, Faxon, arrived on 29 May. The fifth tanker, Clavel, entered Venezuela's territorial waters on 31 May. All the tankers were escorted by the Venezuelan naval and air forces.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Gasoline export, Payment
Iranian ambassador to Venezuela, Hojjatollah Soltani, told the Islamic Republic News Agency that Iran "has fully received payments of the gasoline exported to Venezuela." A member of Iran's Expediency Council, Ali Aqamohammadi, said that the money received from the gasoline sold to Venezuela has been deposited in the treasury as a credit obtained by the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company and the Oil Ministry.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Controversies
The U.S. said it was considering how it would respond to the shipments. The presidents of both Iran and Venezuela issued warnings about U.S. attempts to block the fuel delivery. Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also wrote to António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, to alert him to the possible dispatch of U.S. troops to the Caribbean to block the operation. Also, Abbas Araghchi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs summoned the Swiss ambassador who looks after U.S. interests in Iran to warn the U.S. against interfering with its tankers. Ahmad Sobhani, a former Iranian ambassador to Caracas, described the U.S. decision not to interfere in the gasoline delivery as indicating Iran's "deterrent power."


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Controversies
Francisco J. Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University in Houston, said that the shipments of the five tankers are far lower than the required amount to resolve Venezuela's severe gas shortage. Experts say that with the shortages In Venezuela, the gasoline imports will last only a few weeks.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Aftermath
President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro, said, "Thanks Iran" in a tweet after the first Iranian oil tanker arrived in Venezuela. "Only the brotherhood of free peoples will save us," he added.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Aftermath
The United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on four Venezuelan oil companies and the five Iranian ship captains who delivered gasoline to Venezuela. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza called the sanctions “an excess of arrogance” and “more proof of the Trump hawks’ hatred of all Venezuelans.”


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Aftermath
Previously the price of petrol in Venezuela was set to less than the equivalent of a US penny a gallon, though scarcity generated a black market where fuel was sold at prices of up to US$10 per gallon. Following the shipments, the Maduro administration raised prices to about US$1.90 a gallon.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Aftermath
On 2 July 2020, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit to seize four Iranian gasoline tankers headed for Venezuela. While the lawsuit would only apply in US territorial waters, the administration hoped other countries would similarly block the fuel shipment.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Aftermath
On 28 August 2020, Alex Saab's lawyers stated that he was on a mission to Iran as a special envoy of Maduro to negotiate fuel and humanitarian supplies at the time of his arrest.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Aftermath, Confiscation of second gasoline shipment
On 14 August 2020, the United States Department of Justice reported that it had confiscated four oil tankers carrying Iranian fuel that were heading to Venezuela with 1,116 million barrels of oil. Iran's ambassador to Venezuela, Hojjatollah Soltani, said the reports that Iranian tankers had been captured were "another lie and psychological warfare" by the United States. "The ships are not Iranian, and neither the owners nor its flag have anything to do with Iran," he said on Twitter.


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Aftermath, Confiscation of second gasoline shipment
On 18 August, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh stated that "These shipments included Iranian gasoline that had been sold in its entirety to Venezuela and for which the payment had been made to Iran, so the US has not confiscated property from the Islamic Republic of Iran, but property from Venezuela."


2020 Iran gasoline export to Venezuela, Second shipment
On 28 September 2020, Forest the first of a group of three tankers carrying Iranian fuel entered Venezuela's exclusive economic zone around 8:05 a.m. On 30 September 2020, the Fortune reached Venezuela's exclusive economic zone at 1:45 a.m., after its fellow vessel Forest docked at El Palito port. On 4 October, the Flaxon, the final tanker in a flotilla of three Iranian fuel tankers (brought some 820,000 barrels of fuel) docked at eastern Venezuela's Guaraguao port, at the time, Maduro announced a new rationing plan, set to begin on Monday 5 October.


2020 Iranian Super Cup
The 2020 Iranian Super Cup was the 6th Iranian Super Cup, an annual football match played between the winners of the previous season's Persian Gulf Pro League, Persepolis, and the previous season's Hazfi Cup, Tractor.


2020 Iranian Super Cup
Persepolis were the defending champions as winners of the 2019 Iranian Super Cup, and defended their title.


2020 Iranian legislative election
Legislative elections were held in Iran on 21 February 2020, four years after the previous legislative election in 2016. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, the second round, to elect eleven seats, was postponed until 11 September 2020.


2020 Iranian legislative election
Candidates had to be approved by the Guardian Council, and of the 14,000 applying to run for the Islamic Consultative Assembly legislature, 6,850  were rejected,  including 90 current members of the Assembly (who were approved to run in the last election). "Moderates and conservatives" were mostly rejected by the Council and "hardliners" approved (according to Parisa Hefzi); while another observer believed some of the rejected were corrupt and others lacking sufficient loyalty to the regime.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Electoral system
The 290-seat Islamic Consultative Assembly consists of 285 directly elected members and five seats reserved for the Zoroastrians, Jews, Assyrian and Chaldean Christians and Armenians (one for Armenians in the north of Iran and one for Armenians in the south). The 285 directly elected seats were elected from 196 single and multi-member constituencies. In single-member constituencies candidates had to receive at least 25% of the vote in the first round to be elected; in cases where no candidate passed the threshold, a second round is held between the top two candidates.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Electoral system
In multi-member constituencies, voters cast as many votes as there are seats available; if not all seats are filled by candidates with at least 25% of the vote, a second round is held with twice the number of candidates as there are seats to be filled (or all the original candidates if there are fewer than double the number of seats).


2020 Iranian legislative election, Electoral system, Qualifications
According to Iranian law, in order to qualify as a candidate one must:


2020 Iranian legislative election, Electoral system, Qualifications
A candidate will be disqualified if he/she is found to be mentally impaired, actively supporting the Shah or supporting political parties and organizations deemed illegal or been charged with anti-government activity, converted to another faith or has otherwise renounced the Islamic faith, have been found guilty of corruption, treason, fraud, bribery, is an addict or trafficker or have been found guilty of violating Sharia law. Also, candidates must be literate; candidates cannot have played a role in the pre-1979 government, be large landowners, drug addicts or have convictions relating to actions against the state or apostasy. Government ministers, members of the Guardian Council and High Judicial Council are banned from running for office, as is the Head of the Administrative Court of Justice, the Head of General Inspection, some civil servants and religious leaders and any member of the armed forces.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Contesting groups
A total of 14,444 people applied to be candidates in the election and were vetted by the Guardian Council. Of these, 7,296 (51%) were disqualified, including 75% of the members of the outgoing assembly who had applied to stand again. As a result, the election was considered to be a contest between conservatives such as former Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who describes himself as a "technocrat," and ultra-conservatives opposed to the nuclear deal. Reformists were described as having no compromise for their strategy.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Contesting groups, Boycott
The Iranian opposition urged their fellow citizens not to vote in the elections, which they describe as a "sham", calling on them to instead work to overthrow the regime. A prominent human rights activist, Narges Mohammadi, has made an appeal to voters from Evin prison to boycott the elections. In Tehran and some other areas, the moderate bloc boycotted in protest over the disqualifications.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Contesting groups, Boycott
A poll by the Iranian Students Polling Agency (ISPA) indicated that over 44 percent of the respondents across Tehran province say they will definitely not take part in elections, with only 21 percent saying they definitely will.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Contesting groups, Boycott
The exiled communist Tudeh Party of Iran called for boycott of the election.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Conduct
On 27 January 2020, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a former member of Iran's parliament and a candidate for this year's elections, has announced in a tweet that middlemen have asked him for up to $300,000 to have him pass inspection by the Guardian Council.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Conduct
On 2 February 2020, Iranian news agency ILNA quoted Ali Hashemi, former Iran's chief of the Drug Control Agency, saying that investigations from a wealthy drug smuggler showed he has spent a lot of his dirty money on Iran's parliamentary elections. In some small cities, Hashemi stated, parliamentary seats can be bought for about US$300,000.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Results
The Conservatives won a landslide and swept all 30 seats in the constituency including Tehran and its suburbs.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Results
Fars News Agency published unofficial preliminary tallies, reporting that out of 183 decided seats the conservatives won 135 while the independents were at 28 and the reformists only had 20. It updated the numbers for 241 decided seats as 191 won by conservatives, plus 34 and 16 for independents and reformists respectively. Anadolu Agency reported that out of 253 seats that were counted, 195 went to the conservatives and the reformists had 20. The rest of 40 winners were independents.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Results
Fatemeh Rahbar and Mohammad Ali Ramazani Dastak died due to COVID-19 before they could take office.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Results, First round, Turnout
The national turnout was 42%, the lowest since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Results, Second round
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, the second round, to elect eleven seats, was postponed until 11 September 2020.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Aftermath
The new speaker of Iran's Parliament will likely be former Tehran Mayor and former police chief Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who will replace the current holder of the position Ali Larijani. Initial estimates said over 220 out of the 290 seats will be held by hardliners.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Aftermath
Reasons for the hardliner victory included a continuing poor domestic economic situation under the reformists, the withdrawal of the US from the JCPOA nuclear deal and the re-imposition of US sanctions thereafter (also partially contributing to the poor economic situation), the absence of a unified reformist strategy and low number of reformist candidates due to disqualification by the Guardian Council, public disillusionment as a result of the 2019–20 protests and the downing of a Ukrainian airliner as well as a lack of government transparency, and the recent killing of general Qasem Soleimani.


2020 Iranian legislative election, Aftermath
Turnout was estimated to be the lowest since the 1979 revolution, hovering only slightly over 42% nationally. Turnout in cities, which previously helped the reformists to victory in 2016, fell to as low as 25%. In comparison, national turnout in 2016 was 62%. Khamenei stated the low turnout was due to "negative propaganda" about the coronavirus, spread by Iran's enemies.


2020 Iran–Turkey earthquakes
The first and most destructive of the 2020 Iran–Turkey earthquakes occurred on 23 February, near Khoy in north-west Iran, close to the border with Turkey, killing 9 people in Başkale, Van. It hit at 9:23 a.m. local time (05:53 UTC) with a magnitude of 5.8 Mw at a depth of 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) and the epicenter was Qotur district, according to the Iranian Seismological Center (IRSC). About 10 hours later the same area was hit by another major earthquake of 6.0 Mw .


2020 Iran–Turkey earthquakes, Tectonic setting
Northwestern Iran and easternmost Turkey lie within the zone of complex structure associated with the continuing collision between the Arabian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. On this part of the boundary the collision is quite oblique and the thrust faulting along the front of the Zagros fold and thrust belt is accompanied by a series of NW–SE trending dextral (right-lateral) strike-slip faults, such as the North Tabriz Fault and the Gailatu–Siah Chesh-meh–Khoy Fault. Normal faults are developed at terminations and releasing bends on the strike-slip faults. The entire fault system is active and has been associated with many destructive earthquakes.


2020 Iran–Turkey earthquakes, Earthquakes
The first of the larger earthquakes had a magnitude of 5.8 Mw  with a depth of 10 km (ANSS), 5.8 ML  with a depth of 8 km (KOERI), or 5.7 mbLg with a depth of 6 km (Iranian Seismological Center (IRSC)). It was followed just over 10 hours later by the second event, which had a magnitude of 6.0 Mw  with a depth of 10 km (ANSS), 5.8 ML  with a depth of 5 km (KOERI), or 5.9 mbLg  with a depth of 12 km (IRSC).


2020 Iran–Turkey earthquakes, Damage
The area of significant damage stretched from the city of Van in the west to Khoy in Iran to the east. More than 1,000 buildings were destroyed in Turkey, with many others damaged in 43 affected villages in Iran. The Turkish health ministry reported that nine people had died, four of them children, with another 66 injured. 75 people were reported injured in Iran. No further casualties have been reported in Turkey following the Mw  6.0 earthquake. Death toll climbed to 10 when a teenager later died in the hospital.


2020 Ireland rugby union tour of Australia
In July 2020, Ireland was scheduled to play a two-test series against Australia as part of the 2020 July rugby union tests; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was postponed on 15 May. The series comes two years after Ireland previously toured Australia, with the visiting side winning that series 2–1, the first time Ireland had won a series in Australia since 1979. This series is Andy Farrell's first overseas tour since becoming Ireland's head coach, whilst it will also be new Australia head coach Dave Rennie's first in charge since he took over from Michael Cheika.


2020 Ireland rugby union tour of Australia, Squads
Note: Ages, caps and clubs are as per 4 July, the first test match of the tour.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby
The 2020 Boylesports Irish Greyhound Derby took place during August and September, with the final being held on 19 September at Shelbourne Park. The competition was sponsored by BoyleSports and the prize money purse was €255,460, of which €115,000 went to the winner.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby
The winner was Newinn Taylor, a May 2018 whelp trained by Graham Holland. Owned by Simon Taylor and bred by Jim O'Donnell the black dog recorded his 16th victory from 18 starts in the final.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby
The defending champion Lenson Bocko, winner of the 2019 Irish Greyhound Derby and Ballymac Inspeed were the early ante-post favourites at 8-1. These were followed by Produce Champion Newinn Taylor, Glengar Bale, Da Bold Eagle and Black Parachute. For the second year running there were no entries from England but this year it was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other major entries included 2019 English Greyhound Derby champion Priceless Blake, Easter Cup champion Wolfe, Corn Cuchulainn winner Ballymac Kingdom, Champion Stakes winner Pestana, Gold Cup & Leger champion Ballymac Anton, Ballymac Cooper, Lenson Blinder and Skywalker Logan.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby, Final result, Distances
½, 2, neck, 8½, DNF (0.07 sec = one length)


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition report
Before the first round got underway there was a disappointing withdrawal when English Derby champion Priceless Blake was declared a non runner and Ballymac Inspeed was sold to England. With 96 greyhounds qualifying for the second round only the fifth and sixth-placed greyhounds would be eliminated but Lenson Blinder, Doolin Duke and Black Parachute were notable names that fell into that category. The fastest honour went to the in-form Pestana in a time of 29.21 sec, on 14 August and defending champion Lenson Bocko and Produce champion Newinn Taylor (previously unbeaten) both progressed despite third place finishes.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition report
The second round produced some intriguing results and highlighted the claims of several previously unmentioned greyhounds. Epic Hero set a great time of 29.19 in sealing heat 8, a time only bettered by one of the ante post favourites Glengar Bale who impressed with a 29.15 heat win. Newinn Sheedy and Catunda Logan also looked in great shape with fast wins. Ballymac Kingdom and Redzer Ardfert were both eliminated. The second set of second round heats on 22 August, contained most of the big names and started with a sensational track record win from the Derby favourite Pestana.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition report
The blue brindle became the first greyhound in the history of Shelbourne Park to break 29 seconds over 550 yards with a 28.99 run beating Newinn Taylor by 3½ lengths. Two big names safely through became four after Ballymac Anton defeated Wolfe in the next heat and this was followed by a double Ballymac success when Ballymac Wild and Ballymac Cooper both blitzed round in 29.15 and 29.10 respectively. The night finished with a win for Boylesports Xtra and a second place for Lenson Bocko behind Feudal Spirit.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition report
The third round was run on the 29 August and the big shock of the night was the elimination of defending champion Lenson Bocko after he was involved in a troubled race. The champion's campaign never really got of the ground with 3rd, 2nd and 4th place finishes. Newinn Taylor continued to improve over the distance and went fastest in 29.11 even beating the heat win by Pestana (29.15). The pair were now clear of all others in the betting market. Other surprise eliminations included Wolfe, Ballymac Anton and Epic Hero in a heat that resembled a final and Catunda Logan. The best of the rest was Ballymac Wild (29.31).


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition report
The quarter finals started with one of the weaker heats but ended with another win for Ballymac Wild, the blue brindle dog posted a fast 29.07 to remain unbeaten and now looked like a serious contender. Heat 2 went to outsider Kilara Icon from favourite Glengar Bale with Newinn Sheedy eliminated. Pestana impressed again, also recording 29.07 and beating Balymac Cooper. The final and strongest heat went to the other big favourite Newinn Taylor from Boylesports Xtra in 29.19.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition report
The semi finals now contained three clear favourites in Pestana, Newinn Taylor and Ballymac Wild. The first ended in the expected order with Newinn Taylor impressing again in 29.12 from Ballymac Cooper. Meenagh Miracle took the remaining qualifying berth for the final despite failing to win any heat throughout the competition. In the second semi final Pestana won again to reach the final unbeaten with Ballymac Wild running up, Kilara Icon finished third to take the last Derby final place.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition report
The final line up was extremely strong with the unbeaten Pestana leading the betting from Newinn Taylor, they were followed by the Ballymac pair of Wild and Cooper both serious contenders. The two outsiders Meenala Miracle and Kilara Icon would need a huge slice of luck to take the crown. Being a final with so much quality the early pace was going to be vital and as expected the four favoured greyhounds all broke well but unfortunately they all broke together with all four sectional placings being within two spots of each other as they headed for the first bend.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition report
Newinn Taylor was just ahead at the bend with Ballymac Cooper right next to him, Pestana squeezed Ballymac Wild on the rail which caused a chain reaction of trouble as Ballymac Wild was forced to check badly and Pestana was knocked over, Ballymac Cooper was hampered and even Newinn Taylor was slightly impeded but left clear on his own. Meenala Miracle swept round the bend missing the trouble and Kilara Icon swerved to miss the trouble. Newinn Taylor showed good back pace with Ballymac Cooper in second place being drawn in by Meenagh Miracle.


2020 Irish Greyhound Derby, Competition report
At the third bend Meenagh Miracle overtook Ballymac Cooper and began to make ground on the leader but Newinn Taylor held on well to secure victory by a half a length. Ballymac Wild trailed in a distant fifth and Pestana suffered a broken leg which partly ruined the night. Early indications were that he would recover from the injury.


2020 Irish budget
The 2020 Irish budget was the Irish Government Budget for the 2020 fiscal year was presented to Dáil Éireann on 8 October 2019 by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, his third as Minister for Finance.


2020 Irish general election
The 2020 Irish general election took place on Saturday 8 February, to elect the 33rd Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Ireland's parliament. The election was called following the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil by the president, at the request of the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, on 14 January 2020. All but one of the 160 seats were contested, with the Ceann Comhairle (speaker) being returned automatically. The members, Teachtaí Dála (TDs), were elected by single transferable vote in multi-seat constituencies. It was the first election since 1918 to be held on a weekend.


2020 Irish general election
The election was an unprecedented three-way race, with the three largest parties each winning a share of the vote between 20% and 25%. Fianna Fáil finished with 38 seats (including the Ceann Comhairle). Sinn Féin made significant gains; it received the most first-preference votes, and won 37 seats, the party's best result since 1923. Fine Gael, the governing party led by Varadkar, came third both in seats (35) and in first-preference votes.


2020 Irish general election
International news outlets have described the result as a historic break from the two-party system, as it was the first time in almost a century that neither Fianna Fáil nor Fine Gael won the most votes. Furthermore, the combined vote share of the two traditional main parties fell to a historic low. The leaders of those parties had long ruled out forming a coalition government with Sinn Féin.


2020 Irish general election
The members of the 33rd Dáil first met on 20 February. The incumbent Ceann Comhairle, Seán Ó Fearghaíl of Fianna Fáil, was re-elected, reducing to 37 the number of Fianna Fáil TDs. Four candidates were proposed for the position of Taoiseach, but none were successful. Varadkar formally resigned as Taoiseach that day, but he and the other members of the government continued to carry out their duties until the appointment of their successors.


2020 Irish general election
Negotiations to form a new government continued through to June, and a Programme for Government agreed by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party was published on 15 June 2020. On 26 June, all three parties voted to enter government under the Programme for Government. On 27 June, Micheál Martin was appointed as Taoiseach and formed a new government. The parties agreed that in December 2022, Varadkar would serve again as Taoiseach.


2020 Irish general election, Background
Since the 2016 Irish general election, Fine Gael had led a minority government with the support of Independent TDs, including the Independent Alliance. It relied on a confidence and supply agreement with Fianna Fáil.


2020 Irish general election, Background
On 3 December 2019, a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy proposed by Catherine Murphy for the Social Democrats was defeated, with 53 votes in favour to 56 votes against and 35 registered abstentions. On 9 January 2020, Independent TD Michael Collins called for a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health Simon Harris. On 14 January, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar sought a dissolution of the Dáil which was granted by the president, with the 33rd Dáil to convene on 20 February at 12 noon. The election was set for 8 February, the first time a general election was held on a Saturday since 1918.


2020 Irish general election, Electoral system
Members of Dáil Éireann known as TDs (Dáil deputies) were elected by single transferable vote (STV) from 39 constituencies with between three and five seats. Voters complete a paper ballot, numbering candidates 1, 2, 3, etc. in order of their preference. Ballot boxes are sent to the constituency count centre after polls close and are counted the following morning. Voters may mark as many or as few preferences as they wish.


2020 Irish general election, Electoral system
Each ballot is initially credited to its first-preference candidate but may be transferred on later counts to the next available preference where the first preference candidate is elected or eliminated. As the outgoing Ceann Comhairle, Seán Ó Fearghaíl, did not announce his retirement, he was automatically returned, and the remaining 159 of the 160 seats were up for election.


2020 Irish general election, Electoral system, Constituency boundary changes
A Constituency Commission, convened in July 2016 under the provisions of the Electoral Act 1997 with High Court judge Robert Haughton as chair, made recommendations on changes to constituency boundaries after publication of initial population data from the 2016 census. The commission had some discretion but was constitutionally bound to allow no more than a ratio of 30,000 people per elected member, and was required by law to recommend constituencies of three, four or five seats, and to avoid – as far as was practicable – breaching county boundaries.


2020 Irish general election, Electoral system, Constituency boundary changes
The Commission report, released on 27 June 2017, recommended an increase in the number of TDs from 158 to 160 elected in 39 constituencies. These changes were implemented by the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2017. The election of the 33rd Dáil was therefore held using the new boundaries, for 160 seats.


2020 Irish general election, Retiring incumbents
The following members of the 32nd Dáil did not seek re-election.


2020 Irish general election, Campaign
The campaign officially began after the dissolution of Dáil Éireann on 14 January 2020 and lasted until polling day on 8 February 2020. the Polling was just over a week after the United Kingdom (which includes Northern Ireland) withdrew from the European Union, making it the first major election to be held within the EU after Brexit. The election took place on a Saturday for the first time since the 1918 election. Leo Varadkar said that the change of day was to prevent school closures (many schools in Ireland are used as polling stations) and to make it easy for third-level students and those working away from home to vote.


2020 Irish general election, Campaign
Nomination of candidates closed on Wednesday, 22 January. A record number of women were nominated, with 162 of the 531 candidates. This was the first Irish general election in which there was a female candidate running in every constituency. If a party does not have a minimum of 30% male and 30% female candidates, it forfeits half of their state funding. At close of nominations, Fine Gael had 30.5% female candidates, Fianna Fáil had 31%, Labour had 32%, Sinn Féin had 33%, People Before Profit had 38%, the Green Party had 41%, and the Social Democrats had 57%, all passing the quota.


2020 Irish general election, Campaign
Parties contesting a general election for the first time included Aontú, the Irish Freedom Party, the National Party and RISE (as part of S–PBP).


2020 Irish general election, Campaign
Voter registration via the Supplementary Register of Voters closed on 23 January, with very high registration taking place on the last day – Dublin City Council, for example, reporting 3,500 registrations on the final day allowed, and a total of 14,000 additional registrations, reported to be twice the normal amount for a general election.


2020 Irish general election, Campaign
On 3 February 2020, the returning officer for Tipperary cancelled the writ of election there, as required by Section 62 of the Electoral Act 1992, after the death of candidate Marese Skehan. However, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government formed a view that the 1992 provision breached the constitutional requirement that elections take place within 30 days of a Dáil dissolution, so on 5 February he issued a Special Difficulty Order allowing the election to proceed on the same date as other constituencies. Skehan's name remained on the ballot paper.


2020 Irish general election, Campaign, Television debates
The first leaders' debate took place on Virgin Media One on 22 January, but was restricted to Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin.


2020 Irish general election, Campaign, Television debates
A leaders' debate featuring seven party leaders/representatives took place on RTÉ One on Monday 27 January, from NUI Galway.


2020 Irish general election, Campaign, Television debates
On 27 January, RTÉ published an article explaining its rationale as to whom it invited to appear in televised leadership debates. Aontú announced that it would seek a High Court injunction in order to prevent the broadcast of the leaders' debate scheduled for the same day but later in the day they announced that they would not proceed with the action.


2020 Irish general election, Campaign, Television debates
A further RTÉ debate was scheduled for 4 February, again on RTÉ One, and featuring only Varadkar and Martin. Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Sinn Féin, had objected to her exclusion, and Sinn Féin threatened legal action if it was excluded from this debate. On 3 February, RTÉ announced that it had invited McDonald to participate in the final debate, in part due to Sinn Féin's standing in recent opinion polls, and Sinn Féin confirmed that it would accept the invitation.


2020 Irish general election, Campaign, Television debates
A final debate between the leader of smaller parties took place on 6 February on RTÉ One.


2020 Irish general election, Opinion polls
Opinion polls on voting intentions were conducted regularly. Polls were published on an approximately monthly basis by The Sunday Business Post (which uses the Red C polling company) and The Sunday Times (which used the Behaviour and Attitudes polling company for all of its polls since 2016 until its final poll prior to the election, for which it used Panelbase).


2020 Irish general election, Opinion polls
Less frequent polls were published by The Irish Times, Sunday Independent, Irish Mail on Sunday, RTÉ News, and others.


2020 Irish general election, Opinion polls
The chart below depicts the results of opinion polls since the previous general election.


2020 Irish general election, Results
Polls opened at 07:00 UTC and closed at 22:00 UTC. The total poll was down by 2.2% to 62.9% compared to the previous election, despite it being held on a Saturday. However, severe weather warnings were in place over much of the country due to Storm Ciara.


2020 Irish general election, Results
Counting of the votes commenced at 09:00 UTC on 9 February and concluded at 23:59 UTC on 10 February, with Galway East being the first constituency to report and Cavan-Monaghan being the final constituency to report.


2020 Irish general election, Results
The results of the election showed a close contest between three parties. Sinn Féin won 37 seats, a gain of fifteen over the previous election. Fianna Fáil also won 37 seats, eight fewer than they had had before. Fine Gael, the party of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, won 35 seats, twelve fewer than they had had. Among the smaller parties, the Green Party showed the largest gains, increasing from three to twelve seats, a gain of nine over the previous election.