Tunis, Tunisia | AFP | Two anti-establishment candidates in Tunisia’s divisive election claimed Sunday to have won through to a runoff, hours after polling closed in the country’s second free presidential poll since the 2011 Arab Spring. In a sign of voter apathy, especially among the young, turnout was reported by …
Read More »UK Johnson’s Brexit plans in tatters after stinging defeats
London, United Kingdom | AFP | British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s hardline Brexit strategy stood in tatters on Thursday after a humiliating week left him without a working majority but unable to call an election. His supporters ended a night-long filibuster in the upper House of Lords when the government gave …
Read More »UK PM to call election if Brexit strategy defeated: top official
London, United Kingdom | AFP | British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will call an election for October 14 if MPs vote against his Brexit strategy, a top official said Monday on the eve of a parliamentary showdown. MPs from Johnson’s own Conservative Party are preparing to join opposition lawmakers in a …
Read More »Somali state braces for election with risks to regional stability
Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP | Somalia’s southern state of Jubaland is under lockdown ahead of a tense election Thursday which has pitted regional authorities against Mogadishu and sparked tensions with neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia. The highly contested election in the semi-autonomous state has been postponed several times as a result of …
Read More »Kato Lubwama suit: Parties refuse to receive judgment
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Parties in a case in which Rubaga South Member of Parliament Kato Lubwama is seeking to block a petition challenging his election have declined to receive a judgment by the Court of Appeal. The team comprising lawyers Samuel Muyizi, Nalukoola Luyimbazi and Isaac Ssemakadde, …
Read More »Nigeria vote tensions rise as counting suspended in volatile state
Port Harcourt, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s election authorities announced the suspension of activities in volatile opposition-held Rivers State on Sunday citing violence and threats to its staff, as tensions rise in the wake of closely-watched regional elections. Counting is continuing across the country after Saturday’s elections for governors in 29 …
Read More »‘Golden handshake’ for DR Congo’s outgoing ministers
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | In the weeks leading up to Democratic Republic of Congo’s controversial election, those leaving power quietly passed two decrees guaranteeing themselves money and benefits that would ensure their financial security for decades to come. Ministers in the outgoing government of now ex-president Joseph Kabila awarded …
Read More »Nigeria’s Soyinka rejects presidential frontrunners
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has urged Nigerians to reject President Muhammadu Buhari and his main challenger in this month’s presidential election, saying it was time for a “totally new direction.” Buhari, 76, came to power in 2015 and is seeking a second term in the February …
Read More »Prof Ndebesa: DRC election exposes new innovation in rigging
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Makerere University professor of history Mwambutsya Ndebesa has described the presidential election outcome in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as “a classic and new innovation in rigging elections in Africa”. DR Congo’s National Electoral Commission (Ceni) this morning released provisional results of the much-delayed …
Read More »Pressure mounts on DR Congo to announce election outcome
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Public and diplomatic pressure mounted Monday on the Democratic Republic of Congo to announce the outcome of December 30 elections to replace long-term leader Joseph Kabila. More than a week after the crucial poll, the volatile central African country’s electoral commission has not set …
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