Tag: vote

Logistical problems force Nigeria election delay

by Phil HAZLEWOOD / Ola AWONIYI Agence France Presse ABUJA, Nigeria (AFP) — Nigeria’s electoral watchdog on Saturday postponed presidential and parliamentary elections for one week, just hours before polls were due to open. The two main political parties swiftly condemned the move and accused each other of orchestrating the delay as a way of manipulating the vote. Voting had been due to start at nearly 120,000 polling stations in Africa’s most populous nation at […]

Harris emerges as frontrunner to oust Trump as rivals circle

by Michael Mathes Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Kamala Harris faces questions from US voters Monday as an official White House candidate, a day after the Democratic senator formally declared her 2020 bid to become America’s first black female president. By launching her campaign early — a year before any primary votes are cast — the California lawmaker leapfrogs several party luminaries waiting in the wings, and a few already in the […]

Sheikh Hasina: Bangladesh’s democracy icon-turned-iron lady

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — To her supporters, Sheikh Hasina is Bangladesh’s “mother of humanity” for giving Rohingya refugees shelter, but to her detractors she’s a creeping autocrat who has jailed opponents and muzzled dissent. Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh’s founder, won a historic fourth term as prime minister with a landslide victory in Sunday’s election that the opposition claimed was rigged. The 71-year-old is lauded by supporters for overseeing a decade of impressive economic growth […]

Democrats seize US House but Trump averts ‘blue wave’ as Republicans get Senate majority

  by Shaun Tandon Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Democrats seized control of the House of Representatives on Tuesday in a midterm setback for Donald Trump, but the US president managed to avoid a feared “blue wave” as his Republican Party expanded its Senate majority after a polarizing, racially charged campaign. Heralded by Trump as a “tremendous success,” the Republican Senate victories will all but end any immediate talk of impeachment, even […]

Republicans, Democrats in frenzied final push ahead of US elections

  by Brian Knowlton Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Republicans and Democrats were making frenzied, final pushes Sunday to motivate their voters ahead of midterm elections seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s divisive first two years in office. With Trump continuing a hectic schedule of campaign appearances and former president Barack Obama making a last appeal for a Democratic candidate in Chicago, both sides say voter turnout will be key. […]

Brazil election frontrunner leaves intensive care after surgery due to stab wound: hospital

  SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s far-right presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro was released from intensive care Sunday after undergoing surgery for complications from a stab wound he suffered while campaigning. The candidate, who had surgery to remove an intestinal blockage on Wednesday, has been moved to a “semi-intensive care unit,” doctors at Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein hospital said. A leftwing assailant stabbed Bolsonaro, 63, on September 6 during a campaign walkabout in the town […]

Brazil’s Lula quits presidential race, Haddad to run instead

  by Rosa Sulleiro Agence France Presse CURITIBA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s jailed ex-leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tapped his runningmate Fernando Haddad on Tuesday to replace him on the ballot in next month’s presidential election, bowing out of the race after he was barred from seeking a new term. The switch was approved at a meeting of the Workers Party in the southern city of Curitiba — where Lula has been held since […]

Sweden seeks new government as nationalist influence grows

by Gaël  Branchereau and Camille Bas-Wohlert Agence France Presse STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) — Sweden is headed for a period of uncertainty after legislative elections saw the far-right make gains, raising three questions: Who won? Who will govern? And with whom? The prime minister is usually the leader of the party with the most votes, but Sweden’s fragmented political landscape after Sunday’s election makes it impossible to guess who will form the next government. As expected, […]

Cambodia ruling party shrugs off ‘useless’ US visa sanctions

  PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — US travel sanctions targeting Cambodian officials are “useless”, a ruling party spokesman said Thursday, as the kingdom shrugs off international criticism of a one-sided election win. The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) led by strongman Hun Sen won all 125 seats in parliament during last month’s poll. The main opposition did not contest the vote after a court dissolved the party, clearing the way for a landslide victory for the CPP. […]

Imprisoned Lula registers Brazil presidential candidacy

  by Jordi Miro Agence France-Presse BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Imprisoned leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s unlikely bid for Brazil’s presidency took a big step forward Wednesday with the formal registration of his candidacy in the capital Brasilia. About 10,000 red-clad Workers’ Party faithful marched on the Supreme Electoral Court, where top Lula allies did the paperwork to name the two term ex-president, now in jail for corruption, as their champion in Brazil’s October […]

School boy, 14, runs for Vermont governor

  NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Most 14-year-old American schoolboys might be fixated on baseball, chasing girls and dodging their homework. Not Ethan Sonneborn. He’s running for governor in Vermont. The teenager is taking advantage of a quirk in the constitution of the bucolic northeastern state that imposes no age limit on running for governor. Candidates only have to have lived in Vermont for at least four years. Ethan, happily for his campaign, has […]

Mali counts votes after poll worker slain

by Clément SABOURIN Agence France Presse BAMAKO, Mali (AFP) — Vote counting was underway across Mali on Monday after a tense presidential runoff in which a poll worker was killed and 100 polling stations were forced to close due to the security threat from Islamist militants. Security had been drastically boosted ahead of the election’s second round between President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and former finance minister Soumaila Cisse. But over 100 stations had to be […]