Worldcrunch
LISBON — Portugal is relearning one of the basic tenets of democracy: Majority rules. The country’s four left-leaning parties are expected to bring down the minority center-right government of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho with a vote of no-confidence on Tuesday, newspaper Diário de Notícias reports. The center-right coalition that has been governing since 2011 […]
Next year’s Chad elections will represent a novelty for the central African country. No, not a new president. Chadian voters are being asked to register to vote biometrically. Although this method is relatively absent in more developed countries, it isn’t exactly an innovation in Africa, and Chad will become the 30th country to adopt registration […]
Daniel Scioli, candidate closest to the outgoing Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, is leading the polls. But whoever wins, the future of the country is a wide-open question.
Frankfurter Allgemeine, Oct. 19, 2015 Accompanied by an ominous photograph of the culprit’s weapons, German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine dedicated its front page Monday to the stabbing of, and subsequent victory by Cologne’s incoming mayor, Henriette Reker. “Rekker wins Cologne election after assassination attempt,” writes the conservative daily. Reker — an independent candidate supported by Chancellor […]
La Vanguardia, Sept. 28, 2015 “The ‘yes’ prevails,” the Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia titled Monday, as pro-independence movements won the absolute majority in regional elections in Catalonia. The landmark victory is seen by separatists as a de facto independence referendum in favor of the northern region breaking away from Spain. The “Junts pel Sí” (“Together […]
TSIPRAS BACK AT THE HELM A “vindicated” Alexis Tsipras will return as prime minister of Greece after his Syriza party’s victory in yesterday’s election, Kathimerini reports. The liberal party won just over 35% of the vote, leaving the center-right New Democracy party behind with 28%. But Tsipras’ victory is less resounding than it was in […]
5 DIE, MILLIONS EVACUATED IN CHILE QUAKE Chile has been walloped yet again, this time by an “8.4-magnitude earthquake in the central-north zone” of the country, Santiago daily La Tercera reported this morning. It happened last night near the city of Illapel. The government’s National Emergency Office (ONEMI) has so far confirmed five deaths, three […]
Urged by her friends out of retirement, the 71-year-old retired judge surprised all by winning the mayor’s race on the wave of Spain’s rising protest movement. What will she do with her newfound power?
This week, we shine the spotlight on Niger: FRENCH AMBASSADOR SENT HOME The French ambassador in Niger Antoine Anfré was discreetly removed from his position and sent back to Paris last Thursday. His forced departure — a first for a French ambassador in Niger — was demanded by Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou, according to Jeune […]
BT, June 19, 2015 “The Losers’ Triumph,” Friday’s headline in the Danish tabloid BT reads. Yesterday’s elections demonstrate a shift to the right in the Scandinavian country. While the Social Democratic Party of current Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt won the most seats, her center-left coalition lost to the right-wing opposition. She conceded defeat, as the […]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered a major setback in yesterday’s general election, losing their parliamentary majority. While it still received more votes than any other party, losing the single-party majority bodes poorly for Erdogan’s plans to change the constitution to give the president more powers in Turkish […]
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) may not have enough seats to form a government if the main Kurdish party passes the 10% election threshold.
SAUDI ARABIA CALLS HALT TO YEMEN STRIKES, THEN STRIKES AGAIN Hopes that the Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Arab countries was ending its “Decisive Storm” campaign in Yemen were short-lived after reports of more airstrikes against Houthi Shia rebels emerged Wednesday morning, less than a day after Riyadh had indicated a halt to attacks. A local […]
-Editorial- PARIS — During the nail-biting four days of an election that many warned would be too close to call, Nigeria was in a collective state of high anxiety. Then, in a twist for Africa’s most populous nation, a presidential election that had threatened to end in a bloodbath instead concluded peacefully with the incumbent […]
The victory of challenger Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential election in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest and richest country, was making big headlines around the world Wednesday. At home, the daily Nigerian Tribune covered the results and reactions of Buhari’s victory over incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan. Buhari polled a total of 15.4 million votes, according to the […]
NETANYAHU WINSExit polls had them neck-and-neck yesterday evening but in the end, Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party secured a solid victory ahead of the centrist Zionist Union led by Isaac Herzog. Likud came in with an expected 30 Knesset seats ahead of 24 for the Zionist Union. With pre-voting polls suggesting a defeat of the […]
BRASILIA — Not so many months ago, pollsters were saying she’d be Brazil’s next president. But now, three months after failing to make it to even the second round of the election, former Sen. Marina Silva is nowhere to be seen. The once high-flying candidate seems to have lost more than just a presidential race. […]
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff edged out reelection, thanks in part to her charismatic predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. What role will he seek in her second term? Is he preparing to run in 2018?
-OpEd- BOGOTA — The crucial question in Brazil’s presidential elections, set for Sunday, is whether or not the country will remain the political and economic third way it has become. Will this “alternative socialism” – distinct from various offerings from both the traditional political Right and Left – keep its standing in the world established […]
What is at stake in Brazil’s Oct. 5 presidential election? If Dilma Rousseff winds up losing, we could see a return to clientelism and realignment with the U.S.
-OpEd- It’s anything but a surprise, given the weakness of the opposition and an election played out in advance: Recep Tayyip Erdogan won after the first round of voting in Sunday’s presidential election — the first ever in Turkey by direct universal suffrage. Erdogan thus perfects a political career marked, for 20 years, by one […]
ISTANBUL — What does voter turnout in Sunday’s Turkish presidential election tell us about the popularity and ambitions of President-Elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan? So far, we know the number of Turks who went to the polls for the country’s first direct presidential election in history was about 13% lower than the number who turned out […]
BRASILIA — What will be the political and economic reverberations of Tuesday’s historic humiliation of Brazil’s soccer team? The government of President Dilma Rousseff is already on alert, fearing that the national bad mood left by the 7-1 defeat at the hands of Germany may deepen the already rather bleak Brazilian economic forecast, and have […]
MOSCOW — According to a recent poll, the number of Russian citizens who would be prepared to vote for President Vladimir Putin if he were up for reelection now has been increasing every month since Russia annexed Crimea. In April, his approval rating was 62%, in May it increased to 73%. At the beginning of […]
The main opposition parties have chosen Edmeleddin Ihsanoglu to run against Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Aug. 10 presidential election. A summer campaign is about to heat up.
PARIS — There is no doubt among the people at the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Europe’s soccer governing body, that allegations of corruption against UEFA President Michel Platini is a case of paranoia gone wrong. Some there believe that the controversy suggesting Platini was bribed to support Qatar’s 2022 bid may be the […]
Token tough questions are drowned out by heaps of praise for the general-turned-presidential candidate, and even some Hosni Mubarak nostalgia.
Long revered amongst the founders of modern India, the Gandhi family is now facing the most delicate political moment in memory as its INC party risks losing national elections.
As Hillary Clinton took to the stage for a speech Thursday night in Las Vegas, a woman threw a shoe at the former Secretary of State. It whizzed just past Clinton, who quippied afterward: “Thank goodness she didn’t play softball like I did.” A spokesperson for the recycling institute, to whom Clinton was speaking, said […]
Just three years after wave of democracy, Egyptians appear ready to trade in freedom in order to have more stability. Is Cairo set to usher in a new era of pure military rule?
Monday, October 13, 2014 TURKEY AGREES TO SHARE BASES Turkey has agreed to allow the U.S.-led coalition to use its military bases as part of the campaign to fight the ISIS terrorist group, U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice told NBC in an interview Sunday. Rice said the White House welcomed this “new commitment,” as […]
Wednesday, August 27, 2014 UN DENOUNCES ISIS AND SYRIAN GOVERNMENT ACTIONS In a report following months of investigation in Syria, the United Nations said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Syrian government forces had used chlorine gas, a chemical agent, eight times on civilian areas in April. The UN also denounced crimes committed by […]
Monday, August 25, 2014 ISIS SEIZES SYRIAN ARMY BASE The terrorist group ISIS has gained control of a Syrian army air base near Raqqa, in the country’s north, after days of intense fighting during which at least 346 ISIS fighters and more than 170 Syrian troops were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human […]
Monday, August 11, 2014 IRAQ SINKS DEEPER INTO CRISISThe United States is providing weapons to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in Iraq as they battle Islamic State (IS) terrorists who are slaughtering civilian minorities, the AP reports. The Obama administration had previously said it would only sell arms to the Iraqi government, but that policy has changed. […]
His political career began as a struggle against racist oppression and continued until achieving his country’s independence. But the newly re-elected leader, 89, is epitomized by violence and corruption.
BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch This week’s election in Zimbabwe was “seriously compromised” with up to a million people prevented from voting, the country’s largest observer group said Thursday. Most of those turned away were in urban areas, where support for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is strong, said the Zimbabwe Election Support Network. It noted that […]
To talk or not to talk with the Taliban may be the most pressing matter of all, writes Le Monde’s correspondent from Islamabad.
-Essay- PARIS – Charity starts at home, as the saying goes. So the very least that can be expected of communication consultants is that they are successful at communicating. And they have been successful – well beyond expectations. They have not only managed to take a front-and-center seat in electoral campaigns, they are now also […]
DAWN, THE NEWS, NATION (Pakistan) Worldcrunch ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s bloodiest election campaign ever came to an end overnight, marred by terror threats and attacks that killed at least 117 people including candidates, reports Dawn. On Friday, a motorbike bomb near party political offices killed three people and wounded 13 in the northwestern town of Miranshah, […]
Lilian Soto is a longshot to win Sunday’s election, but she may have already changed the last South American country to have female voting rights.