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Tag: Parliamentary elections

  • Malawi votes for next president as cost-of-living bites

    Malawians are voting in presidential and parliamentary elections, following a turbulent five years that has seen the economic crisis worsening in the southern African nation.

    President Lazarus Chakwera is vying for a second term, his main rival being Peter Mutharika, an octogenarian who has previously been in office.

    In the cities, campaigning has been overshadowed by fuel shortages, which have led to long, frustrating queues at petrol stations. The rising cost of living has also been a major concern of voters.

    A presidential run-off will be held if no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes cast in Tuesday’s election.

    What are Malawians voting for?

    The 7.2 million registered voters will be taking part in three elections once polling stations open at 04:00 GMT:

    • Presidential – there are 17 candidates to choose from

    • Parliamentary – 229 constituency MPs will be elected

    • Local – 509 councillor positions are up for grabs.

    Who could be the next president?

    Lazarus Chakwera (L) and Peter Mutharika (R) have faced each other at the ballot before [AFP via Getty Images]

    Among the 17 hopefuls there are two clear front-runners.

    Chakwera and Mutharika will square off against each other at the polls for the fourth time – though the third time ended up not counting.

    Mutharika first defeated Chakwera in 2014, but when he was declared winner over Chakwera in the next election in 2019 the result was annulled. Chakwera won the re-run the following year.

    Lazarus Chakwera – Malawi Congress Party (MCP)

    Chakwera, a former theology lecturer and preacher, had no political experience when he emerged as leader of the MCP in 2013.

    When he ran for president in 2014 he was unsuccessful, but in 2020 he triumphed, beating the incumbent, Mutharika, in that unprecedented re-run.

    Chakwera’s time in office has been marred by economic turmoil and allegations of corruption. The 70-year-old did, however, reintroduce train services in Malawi for the first time in over three decades. He has also overseen major road construction across the country.

    Peter Mutharika – Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)

    Mutharika, an 85-year-old former lawyer and law lecturer, led Malawi from 2014 to 2020.

    He is the brother of the late President Bingu wa Mutharika, who died in office in 2012.

    Like Chakwera, Mutharika is also burdened by corruption allegations and links to economic crises. However, his supporters would argue that the current high inflation rate (around 27%) is proof that Mutharika managed the economy better than his successor.

    Mutharika’s age may count against him this election – speculation about his health is rife, especially as he has rarely been seen out in public during the campaign period.

    Other contenders garnering attention are former president Joyce Banda (People’s Party), current Vice-President Michael Usi (Odya Zake Alibe Mlandu) and former reserve bank governor Dalitso Kabambe (UTM).

    What are the key issues for voters?

    A head shot of a man, wearing a battered, khaki, cloth hat

    Polls are set to close at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) [BBC]

    The economy

    Malawi has long been one of the poorest countries in the world, but the past few years have been especially punishing.

    The country was devastated by Cyclone Freddy that killed hundreds of people in 2023, then a drought swept across southern Africa the following year. Food prices skyrocketed due to a short supply of crops, pushing many Malawians into extreme poverty.

    Economists also put Malawi’s current inflation problems partly down to the shortage of foreign currencies – known as “forex” – in the banks.

    In addition, Malawi has been forced to devalue its currency and was recently crippled by fuel shortages and nationwide power outages.

    Corruption

    When Chakwera came to power, he vowed to “to clear the rubble of corruption” that has long plagued Malawian politics. His administration says it has excelled in this area, but critics – including the influential Catholic Church – say this is not the case.

    Scepticism was sparked last year when the director of public prosecutions dropped corruption charges against high-profile figures.

    Additionally, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has been without a director since former boss Martha Chizuma left more than a year ago.

    To some, the failure to appoint a new head actively hinders the fight against corruption.

    Previous administrations have also been dogged by graft allegations. For instance, the ACB accused Mutharika of receiving a kickback from a contract to supply food to the police – he denied any wrongdoing.

    Banda’s reputation was dented by a scandal dubbed “cashgate” which happened under her watch. She was cleared by the ACB of any wrongdoing.

    The former vice-president’s death

    In June last year, Vice-President Saulos Chilima died in a plane crash. Popular with the youth, Chilima led the UTM party and could have been a key contender in the upcoming elections, especially as he had fallen out with the president.

    Although two investigations – one carried out by Germany’s aviation accidents agency and another by a Malawi government-appointed commission – did not find evidence of foul play, some Malawians remain suspicious of the authorities.

    Opposition parties have been fuelling this scepticism during their campaigns, referring to Chakwera’s party as the “Chikangawa Party” (Chikangawa Forest being the site of the plane crash).

    A child wearing a blue raincoat looks on at a collapsed road. A fallen tree lies beside the child and people holding umbrellas huddle in the distance.

    Hundreds in Malawi lost their lives to Cyclone Freddy [AFP via Getty Images]

    What has happened in previous elections?

    Malawi was governed by the MCP from its independence in 1964 until the country’s first multi-party poll in 1994.

    Since the shift from a one-party state, the United Democratic Front, the DPP, the People’s Party and the MCP have all enjoyed stints in power.

    Chakwera’s victory with the MCP in 2020 was one of the most significant moments in the country’s political history.

    A general election had taken place the year before and Mutharika was declared the winner.

    However, the Constitutional Court annulled the election, saying there had been widespread tampering, including the use of Tipp-Ex correction fluid on results sheets.

    Judges ordered a re-run for 2020, and Chakwera won with 59% of the vote after having teamed up with Chilima.

    Although Mutharika branded the re-run “unacceptable”, the Constitutional Court gained international acclaim for safeguarding democracy and refusing to be influenced by presidential power.

    How will Tuesday’s presidential vote work?

    Following the controversy of the 2019 election, Malawi implemented a new system, where a candidate must gain more than 50% of the total votes to win the presidency in the first round.

    There is a strong possibility that this year’s candidates will not reach the threshold, meaning a run-off election will have to be held.

    The MCP and DPP will likely try to bring smaller parties on board in order to secure a majority in the second round.

    The electoral commission has up until the end of 24 September to announce the presidential result in Tuesday’s poll and the end of 30 September for the parliamentary election.

    Counting is due to begin at polling stations as soon as voting ends at 14:00 GMT.

    Will the elections be free and fair?

    The court’s actions following the 2019 vote have given some Malawians faith in the electoral process.

    However, over the past months, a number or civil society organisations and opposition parties have accused the electoral commission of favouring the MCP, alleging that its top management has links to the governing party. The commission has firmly denied being biased.

    A protest in June calling for the resignation of the commission’s top officials was attacked by masked, machete-wielding men, leading to concerns about freedom of expression in the run-up to the election.

    The assault was not an isolated incident – there have been numerous reports of politically motivated violence ahead of the general election.

    More BBC stories about Malawi:

    A woman looking at her mobile phone and the graphic BBC News Africa

    [Getty Images/BBC]

    Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

    Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica

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  • ‘On The House!’ event explores housing, community impacts from Salem’s 1914 Great Fire

    SALEM — On Sunday, Solidarity Rising and Salem artist Krystle Brown will host an afternoon of “art, community, and connection” at Forest River Park.

    The event is expected to celebrate the installation of “What We Learned from the Fire” — a public art project reflecting on the lasting impact of Salem’s 1914 Great Fire and what it can teach us about housing and community today.


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    Michael McHugh can be contacted at mmchugh@northofboston.com or at 781-799-5202

    By Michael McHugh | Staff Writer

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  • German government seeks to ease rules for naturalization

    German government seeks to ease rules for naturalization

    BERLIN — Germany’s socially liberal government is moving ahead with plans to ease the rules for obtaining citizenship in the European Union’s most populous country, a drive that is being assailed by the conservative opposition.

    Chancellor OIaf Scholz said in a video message Saturday that Germany has long since become “the country of hope” for many, and it’s a good thing when people who have put down roots in the country decide to take citizenship.

    “Germany needs better rules for the naturalization of all these great women and men,” Scholz said.

    The overhaul of citizenship rules is one of a series of modernizing reforms that the three-party coalition of Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats, the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats agreed to tackle when it took office last December. The Interior Ministry said on Friday that draft legislation is “as good as ready.”

    Last year’s coalition agreement calls for people to be eligible for German citizenship after five years, or three in case of “special integration accomplishments,” rather than eight or six years at present. German-born children would automatically become citizens if one parent has been a legal resident for five years.

    The government also wants to drop restrictions on holding dual citizenship. In principle, most people from countries other than European Union members and Switzerland currently have to give up their previous nationality when they gain German citizenship, though there are some exemptions.

    Interior Minister Nancy Faeser argued that reducing the waiting time to be eligible for citizenship is “an incentive for integration.”

    The aim is to reflect reality, she said Friday. “We are a diverse, modern country of immigration, and I think legislation must reflect that.”

    Official statistics show that about 131,600 people took German citizenship last year, a quarter of them citizens of other EU countries. The number was 20% higher than the previous year, in part because an increasing number of Syrians were naturalized. Germany’s total population is around 84 million.

    The main center-right opposition Union bloc rejects the plans to liberalize naturalization laws.

    “Selling off German citizenship cheap doesn’t encourage integration — it aims for exactly the opposite and will trigger additional ‘pull effects’ for illegal migration,” senior conservative lawmaker Alexander Dobrindt told Saturday’s edition of the Bild daily.

    “Five years is a very, very short time” for people to be eligible for citizenship, Union chief whip Thorsten Frei told ZDF television.

    Among other liberalizing plans, the government has removed from Germany’s criminal code a ban on doctors “advertising” abortion services. It has reduced the minimum age for voting in European Parliament elections from 18 to 16 and wants to do the same for national elections.

    It also wants to scrap 40-year-old legislation that requires transsexual people to get a psychological assessment and a court decision before officially changing gender, and replace that with a new “self-determination law.” And it aims to decriminalize the possession of limited quantities of cannabis and allow its sale to adults for recreational purposes in a controlled market.

    Some of the plans may run into difficulty in parliament’s upper house, which represents Germany’s 16 state governments and where Scholz’s coalition doesn’t control a majority. It had to water down elements of an overhaul of unemployment benefits to get that passed this week.

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  • Spotlight on Malaysia’s king to resolve election stalemate

    Spotlight on Malaysia’s king to resolve election stalemate

    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s election uncertainty deepened Tuesday after a political bloc refused to support either reformist leader Anwar Ibrahim or rival Malay nationalist Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister, three days after divisive polls produced no outright winner.

    The stalemate put the spotlight on the nation’s ceremonial king, who will have to find a way to resolve the impasse.

    Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan, or Alliance of Hope, topped Saturday’s elections with 83 parliamentary seats, but failed to reach the 112 needed for a majority. He has been locked in a battle to form a majority government with former Prime Minister Muhyiddin, whose Malay-centric Perikatan Nasional, or National Alliance, won 72 seats.

    Muhyiddin gained an upper hand after securing support of lawmakers from two states on Borneo island but both rivals still need the backing of the long-ruling alliance led by the United Malays National Organization for a majority.

    Caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, a senior UMNO official, said the highest-decision making body of UMNO-led Barisan Nasional, or National Front alliance, decided at a meeting Tuesday not to support any group to form a government.

    “So far, BN has agreed to remain as the opposition,” he tweeted.

    Malaysia’s monarch, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, said the crisis must end. He urged the nation to be patient as he makes his decision.

    “We have to move on … we need to move forward for our beloved nation,” he told reporters waiting outside the palace.

    Sultan Abdullah earlier asked lawmakers to state their preferred choice for prime minister and coalition by 2 p.m. The king’s role is largely ceremonial but he appoints the person he believes has majority support in Parliament as prime minister.

    Muhyiddin’s bloc includes a hard-line Islamic ally, stoking fears of right-wing politics that may deepen racial divides in the multiethnic nation if it comes to power. The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party was the biggest winner with a haul of 49 seats — more than double what it won in 2018. Known as PAS, it touts Sharia, rules three states and is now the single largest party.

    His alliance said it has already sent more than 112 sworn oaths by lawmakers to the king. UMNO, however, warned that individual support of its lawmakers without the party’s approval is invalid.

    The drama is a replay of the political turmoil in Malaysia that has seen three prime ministers since 2018 polls.

    In early 2020, Muhyiddin abandoned Anwar’s ruling alliance, causing its collapse, and joined hands with UMNO to form a new government.

    Sultan Abdullah at the time requested written oaths from all 222 lawmakers and later interviewed them separately before picking Muhyiddin as prime minister. But his government was beset by internal rivalries and Muhyiddin resigned after 17 months. For a second time, the monarch sought written statements from lawmakers before appointing UMNO’s Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the new leader.

    Ismail called for snap polls at the behest of UMNO leaders as the party was convinced it could make a strong comeback amid a fragmented opposition. Instead, ethnic majority Malays, fed up with corruption and infighting in the party, opted for Muhyiddin’s bloc.

    Many rural Malays, who form two-thirds of Malaysia’s 33 million people — which includes large minorities of ethnic Chinese and Indians — also fear they may lose their rights with greater pluralism under Anwar’s multiethnic alliance.

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  • Malaysians vote in elections as old party, reformers clash

    Malaysians vote in elections as old party, reformers clash

    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysians began casting ballots Saturday in a tightly contested national election that will determine whether the country’s longest-ruling coalition can make a comeback after its electoral defeat four years ago.

    Political reformers under opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim are gunning for a second victory — but with three main blocs vying for votes, analysts said the outcome is hard to predict and could lead to new alliances if there is a hung Parliament.

    Polling booths opened at 7:30 a.m. (2330 GMT) in two states on Borneo island, and half an hour later on the Malaysian Peninsula. Long lines had already formed in the capital Kuala Lumpur and other cities as voters rushed to cast ballots ahead of afternoon thunderstorms predicted in parts of the country.

    More than 21 million Malaysians are eligible to cast ballots to fill 222 seats in federal Parliament and choose representatives in three state legislatures. The Election Commission has extended voting time from nine to 10 hours, with results expected to be out late in the day.

    The main battle is between the United Malays National Organization-led alliance and Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan, or Alliance of Hope. The Perikatan Nasional, or National Alliance, which is a Malay-based bloc led by former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, is seen as a dark horse. Many polls have put Anwar’s bloc in the lead, but short of winning a majority. But two research houses have predicted a win for the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional, or National Front alliance.

    Apathy among voters worried about the economy and rising costs of living and the addition of some 6 million mostly young voters since 2018 polls are adding to uncertainties in the tight race. The prospect of flash floods due to seasonal monsoon rains may also affect voters’ turnout.

    “The choice today is between sticking with the status quo … or opting for a different future, with the hope that Harapan will improve lives,” said Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asian political expert.

    Anwar’s bloc emerged the strongest in the race but it is unclear if this will translate into a victory given Malaysia’s gerrymandering and uneven proportion of voters in constituencies, she said. UMNO had lost the popular vote in past elections but still won a majority in Parliament due to a skewed electoral system that gives power to rural Malays, its traditional supporters.

    Once an omnipotent force credited with developing and modernizing Malaysia, anger over government corruption led to UMNO’s shocking defeat in 2018 polls to Anwar’s bloc that saw the first regime change since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957.

    The watershed polls had sparked hopes of reforms as once-powerful UMNO leaders were jailed or hauled to court for graft. But political guile and defections led to the government’s collapse after 22 months. UMNO bounced back as part of a new government but infighting led to continuous political turmoil. In all, Malaysia’s had three prime ministers since 2018 polls.

    Initially confident of a strong comeback due to a fragmented opposition, UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had pushed incumbent caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to call snap polls. But the UMNO campaign has been relatively muted as infighting and corruption charges against Zahid cast a shadow over its election promise for stability and prosperity.

    The opposition has warned that a UMNO victory would result in Zahid, who is fighting dozens of graft charges, taking over as prime minister and escaping the corruption allegations. Zahid has dropped eight party leaders aligned to Ismail from the polls, but he and UMNO leaders insist Ismail remains the party’s candidate.

    Anwar, 75, has put up a strong fight as he crisscrossed the country, often drawing large crowds with his message for change and his oratory skills. Thousands of people chanted his battle cry of “We Can” at his final rally late Friday as Anwar urged them not to let corrupt leaders dictate the country’s future.

    A second victory at the ballot box would cap Anwar’s storied political journey, a former deputy prime minister whose sacking and imprisonment in the 1990s led to massive street protests and a reform movement that saw his bloc rise into a major political force.

    Anwar was in prison during the 2018 vote for a sodomy charge that critics say was trumped up. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad led the alliance’s campaign and became the world’s oldest leader at 92 after the victory. Anwar was pardoned shortly after and would have succeeded Mahathir had their government not crumbled.

    The stakes are high for Anwar, who is contesting a new federal seat in Tambun in northern Perak state in a calculated gamble to showcase his alliance’s strength. His bloc has promised a reset in government policies to focus on merits and needs, rather than race, and good governance to plug billions of dollars it said was lost to corruption. Critics say the affirmative action policy that gives majority Malays privileges in business, housing and education has been abused to enrich the elites, alienate minority groups and has sparked a brain drain.

    But this has been a sore point with rural Malays, who have been constantly warned by UMNO of the risk of Chinese economic domination if the opposition won. Anwar’s alliance includes a Chinese-majority party that has long been used as the bogeyman by UMNO. Malays form two-thirds of Malaysia’s 33 million people, which include large minorities of ethnic Chinese and Indians.

    The National Alliance, UMNO’s ally-turned rival, ran a sleek campaign to woo Malay supporters uncomfortable with corruption in UMNO and greater pluralism espoused by Anwar. Its leader Muhyiddin defected from Mahathir’s government in early 2020, causing its collapse. He became prime minister under a tieup with UMNO but resigned after 17 months due to infighting. Anwar’s supporters have accused Muhyiddin and leaders of his Islamic ally of hate speech against ethnic minority groups in their bid to win Malay votes.

    Mahathir, 97, is also seeking support under a new Malay movement that isn’t expected to make much headway but may split the vote. His popularity has faded and the elections are likely to be the last for Mahathir.

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  • Bahrain says websites attacked before parliamentary election

    Bahrain says websites attacked before parliamentary election

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Bahrain said Saturday hackers targeted websites in the island kingdom just hours before a planned parliamentary election.

    The Interior Ministry did not identify the websites targeted, but the country’s state-run Bahrain News Agency could not be reached online nor could the website for Bahrain’s parliament.

    “Websites are being targeted to hinder the elections and circulate negative messages in desperate attempts that won’t affect the determination of citizens who will go to the polling stations,” the Interior Ministry said.

    Screenshots taken by internet users showed a picture after the hack claiming it was carried out by a previously unknown account called Al-Toufan, or “The Flood” in Arabic. Social media accounts associated with Al-Toufan said the group targeted the parliament’s website “due to the persecution carried out by the Bahraini authorities, and in implementation of the popular will to boycott the sham elections.”

    A banned Shiite opposition group and others have called on voters to boycott the election.

    Bahraini officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The attack happened just hours ahead of parliamentary and municipal elections in Bahrain. Voters will pick the 40 members of the lower house of Bahrain’s parliament, the Council of Representatives. The parliament’s upper house, the Consultative Council, is appointed by royal decree by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

    Bahrain is in the midst of a decade-long crackdown on all dissent after the 2011 Arab Spring protests, which saw the island’s Shiite majority and others demanding more political freedom.

    Since Bahrain put down the protests with the help of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, it has imprisoned Shiite activists, deported others, stripped hundreds of their citizenship and closed down its leading independent newspaper.

    Bahrain, about the size of New York City, is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

    ———

    Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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  • Popular Istanbul mayor on trial, could face political ban

    Popular Istanbul mayor on trial, could face political ban

    ISTANBUL — A Turkish court resumed the trial of Istanbul’s mayor Friday on charges of insulting members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council, a case critics allege is an attempt to remove a key opponent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from the political scene.

    Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a member of the opposition Republican People’s Party, faces up to four years in prison if found guilty of the charge and could also be barred from holding office. The court in Istanbul might deliver its verdict on Friday.

    Imamoglu was elected to lead Turkey’s largest city in March 2019. His win was a historic blow to Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. The party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.

    The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later. Imamoglu won again, that time with a comfortable majority.

    His trial is based on accusations that he insulted members of the electoral council with a Nov. 4, 2019 statement in which he described canceling legitimate elections as “foolishness.”

    The mayor denies insulting members of the council, insisting his words were a response to Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu calling him “a fool” and accusing Imamoglu of criticizing Turkey during a visit to the European Parliament.

    Government critics regard the trial as an attempt to prevent the popular mayor from running against Erdogan in presidential and parliamentary elections currently scheduled for June 2023.

    If convicted, Imamoglu could lose his post as mayor and be replaced by someone close to Erdogan’s ruling party.

    Several mayors from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, who were also elected in 2019, were removed from office over alleged links to Kurdish militants and replaced by state-appointed trustees.

    Dozens of HDP lawmakers and thousands of party members were arrested on terror-related accusations as part of a government crackdown on the party.

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  • French far-right party elects new leader to replace Le Pen

    French far-right party elects new leader to replace Le Pen

    PARIS — European lawmaker Jordan Bardella replaced his mentor Marine Le Pen on Saturday at the helm of France’s leading far-right party, pledging to protect French civilization from perceived threats posed by immigration and defending a party member who made a racist remark in parliament.

    Bardella, 27, won an internal party vote with 85% support, marking a symbolic changing of the guard at the resurgent National Rally party. He is the first person to lead the party who doesn’t have the Le Pen name since it was founded a half-century ago.

    The National Rally is seeking to capitalize on its recent breakthrough in France’s legislative election and growing support for far-right parties in Europe, notably in neighboring Italy. It’s also facing broad public anger over an offensive comment this week by a National Rally member in parliament in response to a Black lawmaker.

    Marine Le Pen is still expected to wield significant power in the party’s leadership and run again for France’s presidency in 2027. She says she stepped aside to focus on leading the party’s 89 lawmakers in France’s National Assembly.

    To broad applause, she hugged Bardella after the results were announced at a party congress on Paris’ Left Bank, and both raised their arms in victory. Le Pen said Bardella’s main challenge will be pursuing the party “roadmap” of taking power in France.

    “We are going to win!” supporters chanted.

    Anti-racism activists, union leaders and politicians protested nearby Saturday against the National Rally, denouncing what many see as a creeping acceptance of its xenophobic views.

    Yeliz Alkac, 30, told The AP that she was demonstrating to support people who face persistent racism in France. She described shock that the remark in parliament seen as denigrating African immigrants was seen as ”normal” by some in France.

    “The fact that the National Rally has 89 lawmakers at the National Assembly is a strong signal. It should be a warning about how the extreme right is going strong,” she said.

    In his speech Saturday, Bardella defended the National Rally legislator who was suspended over the remark, calling him a victim of a “manhunt.”

    Bardella described his family’s Italian immigrant roots and pride at becoming French, but made it clear that not all foreigners are welcome.

    “France shouldn’t be the world’s hotel,” he said, calling for “drastic” limits on immigration.

    He welcomed a representative of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party who came to the congress, calling for a “rapprochement” of similar forces in Europe.

    Bardella had been the interim president of the National Rally since Le Pen entered the presidential race last year. He beat out party heavyweight Louis Aliot, 53, who had argued that the National Rally needs to reshape itself to be more palatable to the mainstream right.

    “Bardella’s election feels like a fresh push,” said party member Marie Audinette, 23. “He embodies the youth.”

    Audinette, who grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Bordeaux, said that her country “was perishing,” citing deteriorating public services that struggled to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. She also described “a clear change of population” in Bordeaux.

    Some far-right supporters in France increasingly refer to the false “great replacement” conspiracy theory that the populations of Western countries are being overrun by non-white, non-Christian immigrants. The claim, propagated by white supremacists, has inspired deadly attacks.

    Le Pen lost to French President Emmanuel Macron on her third presidential bid in April but earned her highest score yet. Two months later, her party won its most seats to date in the lower house of parliament, in part thanks to Le Pen’s efforts to focus on inflation and workers’ economic troubles.

    Le Pen has worked to remove the stigma of racism and antisemitism that clung to her party and broaden its base. She has notably distanced herself from her now-ostracized father Jean-Marie Le Pen, who co-founded the party then called the National Front and has been repeatedly convicted for hate speech.

    “Bardella is part of a generation of young, very young, people who engaged themselves behind Marine Le Pen in the 2010s and who probably wouldn’t have joined the National Rally during Jean-Marie Le Pen’s era,” political scientist Jean-Yves Camus told The Associated Press.

    The Le Pen family and the party also have deep ties to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. While Le Pen condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she has also questioned resulting Western sanctions against Russia, and her party took out a $9 million loan from the First Czech-Russian bank in 2014 that many see as a Russian effort to influence French politics.

    According to Camus, Saturday’s party vote won’t question Le Pen’s leadership.

    “Le Pen won’t have to deal with the party (now) and can focus on the most important thing, leading the party’s lawmakers in the National Assembly,” he said.

    ———

    Associated Press writers Elaine Ganley and Alex Turnbull contributed to this report.

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  • EXPLAINER: Why the British public is not choosing its leader

    EXPLAINER: Why the British public is not choosing its leader

    LONDON — Observers of Britain’s governing structure can be forgiven for scratching their heads in recent weeks as they watch the country reel through a succession of prime ministers without holding an election. While the opposition Labour Party is demanding an election, the governing conservatives are pushing on with choosing another prime minister from within their own ranks, which they have the right to do because of the way Britain’s parliamentary democracy works.

    BRITONS NEVER ACTUALLY VOTE FOR THEIR PRIME MINISTER

    Britain is divided into 650 local constituencies, and people tick a box for the representative they want to become their local member of parliament, or MP. In most cases, this will be a member of one of the country’s major political parties.

    The party that wins the majority of seats gets to form a government, and that party’s leader automatically becomes prime minister. While coalitions are possible, Britain’s voting system favors the two largest parties and in most cases a single party will take an absolute majority of seats, as is the case for the Conservatives in the current Parliament.

    HOW DO THE PARTIES CHOOSE THEIR LEADERS?

    Since 1922, all of Britain’s 20 prime ministers have come from either the Labour Party or the Conservative Party. This means the members of these parties have an outsized influence on who will be the country’s prime minister. The processes the parties use to choose them can appear Byzantine.

    Deep breath: For the Conservative Party, their lawmakers must first signal their support for a potential leader. If there is enough support, this person will become an official candidate. All Conservative MPs then cast a series of votes, gradually whittling down the number of candidates to two. Finally, the party’s ordinary members — around 180,000 of them — vote between these two candidates. Last time they chose Liz Truss over Rishi Sunak.

    If the MPs are able to unite behind a single candidate then there is no need for the wider party members to have a vote. This last happened in 2016 when the lawmakers backed Theresa May after the resignation of David Cameron and she automatically became prime minister. This could happen again.

    The Labour Party has its own process that is, arguably, even more complicated.

    BUT DIDN’T BRITAIN VOTE FOR BORIS JOHNSON IN 2019?

    Johnson was selected by his party following the resignation of Theresa May. He had already been prime minister for five months when electors ticked their ballot cards in December 2019. However, voters’ support for the Conservative Party did cement his position as prime minister.

    Even in that election, though, it was only actually around 70,000 people who got the chance to vote directly for or against Johnson — those who happened to live in his Parliamentary constituency of South Ruislip and Uxbridge, in west London.

    Since then, another prime minister, Liz Truss, has come and gone, and one more will be in place by the end of next week — all without anyone troubling the general electorate.

    WILL THERE BE A GENERAL ELECTION SOON?

    Constitutionally, no general election is required in Britain for two more years. But as the prime ministers come and go, selected by a tiny proportion of the population, a lot of Britons are beginning to wonder why they are not getting a chance to influence who is their next leader. The clamor for a general election in the near future is only likely to get louder.

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  • Swedish Parliament elects conservative prime minister

    Swedish Parliament elects conservative prime minister

    STOCKHOLM — The Swedish parliament on Monday elected Ulf Kristersson — the conservative Moderate Party leader — as prime minister at the head of a minority coalition that is being supported by a once-radical far-right party.

    Kristersson, 59, was elected by a vote of 176 to 173 and will present his government on Tuesday. His three-party coalition does not have a majority, but in Sweden, prime ministers can govern as long as there is no parliamentary majority against them.

    After a month of talks with the anti-immigration populist Sweden Democrats, Kristersson presented an agreement that gave them an unprecedented position of influence in Swedish politics. They took over 20% of the vote at the Sept. 11 election.

    Kristersson’s center-right coalition government is made up of his party, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats, but he has said it will remain in “close collaboration” with the Sweden Democrats. He depends on the support of the Sweden Democrats to secure a majority in Parliament, enabling them to influence government policy from the sidelines.

    The Sweden Democrats were founded in the 1980s by far-right extremists. They toned down their rhetoric and expelled openly racist members under Jimmie Akesson, who took over the party in 2005.

    Akesson, who doesn’t consider his party far-right, said he would have preferred Cabinet seats for the Sweden Democrats, but he supported the deal that would give his party influence over government policy, including on immigration and criminal justice.

    Since the election, the populist party has landed the chairmanships of four parliamentary committees, giving it the ability to wield more influence in mainstream Swedish politics.

    Kristersson will be replacing Magdalena Andersson, who heads Sweden’s largest party, the Social Democrats, which now are in opposition. He backs Sweden’s historic bid to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

    “It feels great, I am grateful,” Kristersson told a press conference. “ I am happy about the trust that I have received from the Riksdag. I am also humbled by the tasks that lie ahead of us.”

    The center-left opposition heavily criticized the new governing coalition, with Lena Hallgren of the Social Democrats, calling it “a strange construction.”

    Many said it represented a paradigm shift in Sweden and would damage its image in the world as an egalitarian and tolerant nation. Nooshi Dadgostar, the leader of the former communist Left Party, said her parents who fled from Iran could never have imagined that Sweden would embark on an authoritarian path.

    “What is happening now in Sweden is frightening,” she told Parliament.

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  • Holocaust survivor opens Senate as far-right to govern Italy

    Holocaust survivor opens Senate as far-right to govern Italy

    ROME — Italy’s Fascist past and its future governed by a party with neo-fascist roots came to an emotional head Thursday when a Holocaust survivor presided over the first seating of Parliament since general elections last month.

    Liliana Segre, a 92-year-old senator-for-life, opened the session in the upper chamber, subbing in for a more senior life senator who couldn’t attend. Her speech formally launched the sequence of events that is expected to bring the Brothers of Italy party, which won the most votes in Sept. 25 elections and has its origins in a neo-fascist movement, to head Italy’s first far-right-led government since the end of World War II.

    Speaking to the Senate, Segre marveled at the “symbolic value” of the coincidence of her role and the historic moment that Italy is witnessing. She noted that she was presiding over the Senate as Italy soon marks the 100th anniversary of the March on Rome, which brought Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini to power, and as war rages once again in Europe with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    “Today, I am particularly moved by the role that fate holds for me,” Segre told the hushed chamber. “In this month of October, which marks the centenary of the March on Rome that began the Fascist dictatorship, it falls to me to temporarily assume the presidency of this temple of democracy, which is the Senate of the Republic.”

    Segre was one of the few Italian children who survived deportation to a Nazi death camp, and she has spent recent decades telling Italian schoolchildren about the Holocaust. Her advocacy led President Sergio Mattarella to name her a senator-for-life in 2018 as Italy marked the anniversary of the introduction of fascist-era racial laws discriminating against Jews.

    In her speech, Segre choked up as she recalled that those laws forbade Jewish children like her from attending school.

    “It is impossible for me not to feel a kind of vertigo, remembering that that same little girl who on a day like this in 1938, disconsolate and lost, was forced by the racist laws to leave her elementary school bench empty. And that, by some strange fate, that same girl today finds herself on the most prestigious bench, in the Senate.”

    Her emotional remarks brought the 200 senators to their feet in applause, including the Brothers of Italy delegation headed by Ignazio La Russa. La Russa, who once proudly showed off his collection of Mussolini memorabilia, was later elected Senate speaker.

    The Brothers of Italy, headed by Giorgia Meloni, has its origins in the Italian Social Movement, or MSI, which was founded in 1946 by former Mussolini officials and drew fascist sympathizers into its ranks. It remained a small far-right party until the 1990s, when it became the National Alliance and worked to distance itself from its neo-fascist past.

    Meloni was a member of the youth branches of MSI and the National Alliance and founded Brothers of Italy in 2012, keeping the tricolor flame symbol of the MSI in her party logo.

    During the campaign, amid Democratic warnings that she represented a danger to democracy, Meloni insisted that the Italian right had “ handed fascism over to history for decades now, ” and had condemned racial laws and the suppression of democracy.

    Segre didn’t refer to the party by name in her speech, but she said Italian voters had expressed their will at the ballot box.

    “The people have decided. It is the essence of democracy,” Segre said. “The majority emerging from the ballot has the right to govern, and the minority has the similarly fundamental obligation to be in the opposition.”

    Looking ahead to the upcoming legislature, she called for a civilized debate that does not degenerate into hateful speech and respects the Italian Constitution.

    She cited in particular the Constitution’s Article 3, which states that all Italian citizens are equal under the law “without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion or personal or social condition.”

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  • Malaysia’s Mahathir, 97, to run in general elections

    Malaysia’s Mahathir, 97, to run in general elections

    PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — Malaysia’s 97-year-old former leader Mahathir Mohamad announced Tuesday he will defend his seat in the general elections expected next month, though he wouldn’t say whether he would be prime minister a third time if his political alliance wins.

    “We have not decided who will be prime minister because the prime minister candidate is only relevant if we win,” Mahathir told a news conference.

    Though unlikely, he would be the oldest ever candidate for the post, which has a five-year term.

    Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved Parliament on Monday for snap polls, caving in to pressure from his United Malays National Organization party, which is hoping for a big win on its own amid feuds with allies in the ruling coalition. The Election Commission will meet on Oct. 20 to fix a date for the vote, which must be held within 60 days of Parliament’s dissolution.

    Despite his age and a health scare this year, Mahathir said he will defend his parliamentary seat in Langkawi island. He also warned that a win by the ruling UMNO party could see imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak pardoned and let off the hook.

    Mahathir was a UMNO premier for 22 years until his retirement in 2003. Then, in 2016, he was inspired to return to politics by the massive looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund during Najib’s term in office and rode a wave of public anger to lead the opposition to a historic victory in 2018 polls that ousted UMNO, which had ruled since the country’s independence from Britain in 1957.

    Mahathir became the world’s oldest head of government at 93, and oversaw graft charges against Najib and other UMNO leaders. But his reformist alliance collapsed in less than two years due to defections, returning UMNO to power under a new coalition government.

    After his government’s collapse in 2020, Mahathir formed the Pejuang party and a new alliance with several small parties.

    Mahathir, echoing both the opposition and UMNO allies, slammed UMNO on Tuesday for putting its own interest first in rushing elections during the annual monsoon season in November that brings major floods. He said UMNO aims to win big by offering bribes and money to the people.

    He said UMNO’s main objective is to free Najib, who began his 12-year jail term in August after losing his final appeal in a corruption case linked to the 1MDB scandal. Najib also faces several other trials linked to 1MDB that could lengthen his jail term if he is found guilty. UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is also on trial for dozens of graft charges unrelated to the 1MDB case.

    “If they win this election, their first move would be to ask (Malaysia’s king) to pardon Najib. At this moment, they have made a request but has not been pardoned,” Mahathir said. “Should they be able to win and form the government, that is their first objective, not about the welfare of the people.”

    Mahathir said his political alliance hasn’t been approved by the government and that some 120 candidates will run under Pejuang’s banner in Malay-dominated parliamentary seats.

    Analysts said Mahathir’s pull may no longer appeal to ethnic Malay voters who supported him in 2018. UMNO, which had only 36 out of 222 lawmakers in the just-dissolved Parliament, believes many Malays have returned to its fold following its landslide victory in recent byelections.

    The Alliance of Hope, which Mahathir led to victory in 2018 polls, remains the key contender with 90 lawmakers. Its prime minister candidate is Anwar Ibrahim, who was originally due to succeed Mahathir before their government collapsed.

    While Mahathir competes head-on with UMNO and others for votes of Malays, who account for two-thirds of Malaysia’s 33 million people, Anwar’s alliance remains on a multi-racial platform. Ethnic Chinese and Indians form large minorities in the country.

    Anwar said Monday that the election will be a time for the people to vote out traitors who led to the collapse of his alliance government in 2020.

    “Did you think we could reverse 60 years of entrenched corruption and kleptocracy with just one election? Did you think these conniving robbers and thieves would just give up?” Anwar said in a statement. “We don’t give up, either. We don’t give up, ever.”

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  • Sweden: Right-wing party get 4 chairmanships in parliament

    Sweden: Right-wing party get 4 chairmanships in parliament

    STOCKHOLM — A right-wing populist party that received the second-most votes in Sweden’s general election last month landed the chairmanships of four parliamentary committees Saturday and with it, the ability to wield more influence in mainstream Swedish politics.

    The positions to be held by lawmakers from the Sweden Democrats include chairing the Riksdag’s justice, foreign affair, business affairs and labor market committees.

    “It is important for us, a milestone in the party’s history,” legislator Richard Jomshof, a Sweden Democrat who was tapped to be the next chairman of the justice committee, told Swedish public broadcaster SVT. “It is an expression of the fact that we are Sweden’s second largest party.”

    In addition to the four chairperson posts, the party was allowed to name the vice-chairs of parliament’s civil affairs, traffic, defense and tax committees.

    Sweden Democrats, a nationalist and anti-immigration party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, is part of right-wing bloc that won a narrow majority in the Riksdag in the Sept. 11 election.

    Decisions on the posts were announced Friday in a joint statement from the four center-right parties that are in talks to form a coalition government. Sweden Democrats, which is one of the four, announced its nominees Saturday.

    Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the center-right Moderates, the party that placed third, has been tasked with forming a government that is likely to have the Sweden Democrats as part of a governing coalition or at least the party’s support in securing a majority in parliament.

    Kristersson has until Oct. 12 to present results of his talks with parties to Parliament speaker Andreas Norlen.

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  • Latvian leader’s party expected to fare well in election

    Latvian leader’s party expected to fare well in election

    HELSINKI — Polling stations opened Saturday in Latvia for a general election influenced by neighboring Russia’s attack on Ukraine, disintegration among the Baltic country’s sizable ethnic-Russian minority and the economy, particularly high energy prices.

    Several polls showed the center-right New Unity party of Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins emerging as the top vote-getter with up to 20% support.

    Karins, who became head of Latvia’s government in January 2019, currently leads a four-party minority coalition that along with New Unity includes the center-right National Alliance, the centrist Development/For!, and the Conservatives.

    Support for parties catering to the ethnic-Russian minority that makes up over 25% of Latvia’s 1.9 million population is expected to be mixed; a share of part of loyal voters have abandoned them – for various reasons – since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

    A total of 19 parties have over 1,800 candidates running in the election, but only around eight parties are expected to break through the 5% threshold required to secure a place in the 100-seat Saeima legislature.

    Some 1.5 million people are eligible to vote.

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