Latest news with #parliamentaryelections
Al Arabiya
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Armenian police arrest seven opposition figures on suspicion of terrorism
Police in Armenia arrested seven people associated with a pro-Russian opposition party on suspicion of terrorism following a slew of raids on their homes on Thursday amid a wider government crackdown ahead of parliamentary elections. The people are affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), also known as Dashnaktsutyun, a group part of the pro-Russian parliamentary coalition headed by Robert Kocharyan, a former president of the South Caucasus country. Armenia's Investigative Committee said police had arrested seven individuals and charged one of them with preparing a terrorist act. Reuters was not able to determine the identities of all seven of the people. ARF said in a statement that raids were ongoing at several MPs' homes as of early Thursday morning and that at least one politician and the son of another had been arrested. Thursday's arrests follow criminal indictments levied earlier this week against three politicians of the Armenia Alliance, the larger umbrella coalition of which the Armenian Revolutionary Federation is a part. Opposition groups have decried the investigations as politically motivated. The arrests come on the same day as a meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Abu Dhabi, where the two are working to finalize a peace agreement to end nearly four decades of conflict. Pashinyan, who swept to power during street protests in 2018, has brought Armenia closer to the West and distanced the country from traditional ally Russia. But recent weeks have seen a widespread clampdown on Pashinyan's political rivals and critics, including opposition figures, a leading Christian cleric and a former president. Several prominent figures in Armenia, including the cleric, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, are accused of orchestrating a coup to usurp power, something they deny.
LBCI
04-06-2025
- Business
- LBCI
Diaspora delegation urges equal voting rights for Lebanese expats in 2026 elections
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met on Wednesday with a delegation representing 16 active Lebanese diaspora groups from across the globe, who pressed for equal voting rights for non-resident citizens in the 2026 parliamentary elections. In a statement following the meeting, the delegation reaffirmed its opposition to limiting expatriate voting to just six seats, as stipulated in Lebanon's current electoral law (Law 44/2017). Instead, the group demanded the right for all non-resident Lebanese to vote in their original districts, just as resident citizens do. The delegation urged the Parliament to amend the relevant provisions in the law at the next legislative session to ensure full constitutional equality and political participation for all Lebanese, regardless of location. According to the group, the proposed legal amendment has already gained the support of over 60 MPs. The proposal includes several measures to expand diaspora participation: extending the registration period for overseas voters from 50 days to six months, reducing the minimum number of registered voters per polling station from 200 to 100, and treating both resident and non-resident diplomatic missions as a single center for voter count purposes. The delegation also called for practical steps to enable expatriates to cast their ballots, particularly by easing the renewal of passports and ID cards to ensure their eligibility for upcoming elections.
South China Morning Post
25-05-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Suriname begins vote for government to steer new-found oil wealth
Voting began on Sunday in Surinamese parliamentary elections that will determine who will harness new-found oil wealth to carry out a rags-to-riches transformation of the smallest country in South America. Advertisement The tiny nation – which has growing ties to China – is battling high debt, rampant inflation and poverty affecting nearly one in five of its 600,000 inhabitants. But recent offshore crude discoveries suggest this may all be about to change. On Sunday, Surinamese began electing a new parliament of 51 members, who within weeks must choose a new president and vice-president for a five-year term to manage that wealth. 'It will be a huge amount of income for the country,' incumbent President Chan Santokhi told Agence France-Presse this week. 'We are now able … to do more for our people so that everyone can be part of the growth of the nation.' Advertisement Wearing a polo shirt in the orange colour of his party under his jacket, the former policeman and justice minister voted with his wife on the outskirts of Paramaribo and asked his fellow citizens to give him 'the mandate to finish our task'.
Bloomberg
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Maduro Is Using Local Elections to Cement His Grip on Venezuela
In Venezuela's capital city, there's hardly any sign that an election will take place this Sunday. The same billboards from last year's presidential vote still line Caracas' highways. The only mention of this weekend's upcoming parliamentary and regional races are on state television, where the ruling party's top officials are shown leading rallies.
Al Jazeera
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Albania's ruling Socialists secure majority in parliamentary vote
Albania's ruling Socialist Party has won the country's parliamentary elections, according to a near-complete vote count, securing Prime Minister Edi Rama an unprecedented fourth term in office. With about 96 percent of ballots counted, the official results on Tuesday showed the Socialist Party got 82 seats in the 140-seat parliament with 52 percent of the votes. The opposition centre-right Democratic Party secured 51 seats with 34 percent of votes. Three other small parties will take the rest of the seats. The threshold for entry into the assembly in Albania is one percent for parties and five percent for party alliances. The full results are expected later on Tuesday. If confirmed, the results would be an increase from the last election, where Rama's party won 49 percent of the vote, and would give him a majority to form a government. The Central Election Commission, the electoral executive, has said that by law, the final results come out 48 hours after the vote ends. The results may be delayed following a request of the opposition not to consider about 53,000 ballots mailed from the diaspora in neighbouring Greece, claiming they are manipulated. For the first time, those in the diaspora could cast postal votes. About 195,000 mailed in their votes. Eligible voters in Albania and abroad voted to elect 140 lawmakers for a four-year mandate in the Balkan nation. Because of mass emigration, the country of 2.4 million people has a total of nearly 3.7 million eligible voters. Diaspora votes from Greece may move a number of seats in three or four areas in favour of the ruling party. The opposition claims they were manipulated by Socialist supporters. The postal company said it has confirmation signatures of all the voters in Greece. Rama, who has been in power since 2013, focused his campaign on working to gain membership in the European Union by 2030. Sali Berisha, the candidate of the conservative Democratic Party, argued that Albania still is not ready for the bloc's membership. Some analysts were surprised by the strength of Rama's success, expecting that a series of corruption scandals and the recent unrest in the country due to a crackdown on the opposition would affect his results. A joint international observation mission noted that despite being competitive and professionally managed, the election process so far was marked by the ruling party's misuse of public resources, a confrontational and polarising tone, the two main political parties using divisive language, non-transparent financing, and unbalanced media coverage of smaller parties.
