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ABIDJAN (Reuters) -Ivory Coast’s Constitutional Council on Tuesday confirmed the West African nation’s presidential election results, securing President Alassane Ouattara’s fourth term, council president Chantal Nanaba Camara announced.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Ayen Deng BiorEditing by Bate Felix)
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(Reuters) -Former President Barack Obama touted Democratic candidates for governor in two states at campaign rallies on Saturday, urging voters in next week’s election to reject what he called the “lawlessness and recklessness” of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Obama, the two-term president still highly popular among Democrats, laid out a biting indictment of the Trump administration at rallies for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and New Jersey candidate Mikie Sherrill.
“Let’s face it, our country and our policy are in a pretty dark place right now,” Obama told a roaring crowd of Spanberger supporters at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
“It’s hard to know where to start.” he said, “because every day this White House offers people a fresh batch of lawlessness and recklessness and mean-spiritedness and just plain craziness.”
Obama blasted what he called Trump’s “shambolic” tariff policy and deployment of National Guard troops to U.S. cities. He criticized Republicans in Congress for failing to check Trump “even when they know he’s out of line.”
He said he was surprised at how quickly business leaders, law firms and universities opted to “bend the knee” to appease Trump.
Later Saturday at an event in Newark, New Jersey to support Sherrill, Obama struck many of the same themes as he continued his criticisms of the Trump White House. “It’s like every day is Halloween, except it’s all tricks and no treats,” Obama.
The former president occasionally dipped into sarcasm in mentioning Trump decisions such as remodeling parts of the White House even as a federal shutdown continues.
“In fairness he has been focused on some critical issues, like paving over the Rose Garden so folks don’t get mud on their shoes, and building a $300 million ballroom,” Obama said.
Polls show Spanberger, 46, with a sizable lead over the Republican candidate, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, 61. Spanberger, a former CIA officer, was a congresswoman for six years.
Most polls show Sherrill with a single-digit lead over Republican Jack Ciatterelli, 63, a former state assemblyman making his third consecutive run for the governor’s seat.
Republicans in New Jersey have been encouraged in recent years by some statewide races that were closer than expected. Although New Jersey Democrats have a 2-to-1 edge in registered voters, Ciatterelli lost by only three percentage points in the 2021 gubernatorial race, and Donald Trump lost New Jersey by just six points in last year’s presidential election.
(Reporting by Joseph Tanfani and Helen Coster; Editing by Sergio Non and David Gregorio)
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(Reuters) -Tanzania’s electoral commission declared on Saturday that President Samia Suluhu Hassan had won, with nearly 98% of the votes, an election that set off violent protests across the country this week.
The result hands Hassan, who took power in 2021 after the death in office of her predecessor, a five-year term to govern the East African country of 68 million people.
Protests erupted during Wednesday’s vote for president and parliament, with some demonstrators tearing down banners of Hassan and setting fire to government buildings and police firing teargas and gunshots, according to witnesses.
Demonstrators are angry about the electoral commission’s exclusion of Hassan’s two biggest challengers from the race and what they described as widespread repression.
Tanzania’s main opposition party said on Friday hundreds of people had been killed in the protests, while the U.N. human rights office said credible reports indicated at least 10 people were killed in three cities.
The government dismissed the opposition’s death toll as “hugely exaggerated” and has rejected criticisms of its human rights record.
Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures.
(Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Clarence Fernandez)
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DAKAR (Reuters) -Cameroon opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary said on Friday he had been escorted to a secure location by soldiers loyal to him for his protection, a move that could signal a split within the army following a disputed election.
Tchiroma had been holed up in his house in the northern city of Garoua since a presidential election on October 12 in which he claimed victory.
Although he did not give the number of soldiers, his assertion that members of the army are loyal to him could indicate a split within the country’s security forces.
“I thank the loyalist army, which has shown its patriotism by escorting me to a safe location and is currently ensuring my protection,” Tchiroma said in a message on his Facebook page.
A spokesperson for the central African nation’s defence ministry declined comment to Reuters.
Cameroon’s Constitutional Council on Monday declared President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest ruler at 92, as the winner of the election, leading to violent protests in several cities of the oil- and cocoa-producing nation.
The disputed election has escalated tensions in the country, with security forces accused of killing at least 23 protesters and detaining over 500, according to a civil society group.
In a separate message on Facebook on Friday, Tchiroma called for a three-day national lockdown from Monday urging supporters to suspend activities and remain at home to show disagreement with the election results.
“Let the entire country come to a standstill, so that the whole world knows that we are resisting and that we will not yield,” Tchiroma said in a video.
“Let us keep our shops closed, suspend our activities, remain at home, in silence, to demonstrate our solidarity and to remind this regime that the strength of an economy is its people.”
(Reporting by Bate Felix and Amindeh Blaise Atabong; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian)
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LIMA (Reuters) -Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Peru’s late former President Alberto Fujimori, said on Thursday she will run for president in Peru’s April election, days after the country’s constitutional court dismissed a money-laundering case against her.
Keiko Fujimori ran in Peru’s three most recent presidential elections, finishing in each as the runner-up.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Brendan O’Boyle; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Horatiu Potra, an associate of former Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu, will voluntarily return to Romania from Dubai to face trial on national security charges, his lawyer said on Thursday.
The European Union and NATO state cancelled its presidential election last December due to suspected Russian interference in favour of Georgescu, a strong critic of NATO, Brussels and Western support for Ukraine. Moscow denied the allegations of meddling in the election.
In September, Romanian prosecutors indicted him and Potra alongside 20 other people for conspiring to stage violent protests after the election was cancelled.
Potra, a former French Foreign Legion soldier, has been under criminal investigation this year and evaded arrest by flying to Dubai. Romanian prosecutors sought his extradition and said they believed he was trying to seek asylum in Russia.
Lawyer Christiana Mondea told local television station Digi 24 that Potra had informed her he wished to return to Romania to face trial alongside his son and nephew who were also indicted.
“They will return soon, we don’t know the exact date yet,” Mondea said. “They had wanted to return for a long time but they had to follow procedure.”
Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Wednesday quoted the head of the Russian Middle East Society as saying he was trying to stop Potra’s extradition.
“I can confirm there is no Russian involvement in this story about Dubai, Romania, extradition, criminal trial,” Mondea said.
Romania’s presidential election was re-run in May and won by pro-European centrist Nicusor Dan.
Georgescu was banned from standing again and placed under investigation in two cases. He and Potra have denied wrongdoing.
During raids on Potra’s home in February prosecutors found a large cache of weapons including grenade launchers and hidden cash.
It was unclear when the trial would start.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie, editing by Ed Osmond)
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(Reuters) -Police in Tanzania’s main city of Dar es Salaam fired gunshots and teargas on Thursday to disperse protesters who returned to the streets a day after a general election marred by violent demonstrations, a Reuters witness said.
Protests broke out in Dar es Salaam and several other cities during the vote on Wednesday, with demonstrators infuriated by the exclusion of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s two biggest challengers from the presidential race, as well as what they say is increasing repression of government critics.
Police ordered an overnight curfew in Dar es Salaam, a city of more than seven million people, and internet access remained disrupted across the country.
Dozens of protesters returned to the streets of the Mbagala, Gongo la Mboto and Kiluvya neighbourhoods on Thursday, where police fired gunshots and teargas, the Reuters witness said.
PROTESTERS DISCUSS PLANS FOR NEW MARCHES
The U.S. embassy said that some major roads, including the main one leading to Dar es Salaam’s international airport, were closed.
On the Zello app, which allows a smartphone to function like a walkie-talkie, some protesters discussed plans for further demonstrations, including marches on government buildings.
Spokespeople for the Tanzanian government and police did not respond to requests for comment.
The unrest, which included the burning of at least one government office, presents a major test for Hassan.
She won plaudits after taking office in 2021 for easing repression of political opponents and censorship that had increased under her predecessor John Magufuli.
In recent years, however, rights campaigners and opposition candidates have accused the government of unexplained abductions of its critics.
Hassan said last year she had ordered an investigation into reports of abductions, but no official findings have been made public.
CIVIL SERVANTS AND STUDENTS TOLD TO STAY HOME
In a post on his Instagram account, government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa said all civil servants should work from home on Thursday except for those whose duties require them to be present at their workplaces.
The state television channel also announced that students should study from home on Thursday.
Tanzania’s main opposition party CHADEMA had called for protests during the election, which it said amounted to a “coronation” of Hassan.
CHADEMA was disqualified in April from the election, which also included votes for members of parliament and officials for the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago, after it refused to sign a code of conduct, and its leader Tundu Lissu was charged with treason.
The commission also disqualified the candidate for opposition party ACT-Wazalendo, leaving only minor parties to take on Hassan.
(Writing by Vincent Mumo Nzilani; Editing by Aaron Ross and Gareth Jones)
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ABIDJAN (Reuters) -Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has secured a fourth term with a commanding re-election win, according to provisional results announced by the electoral commission on Monday
The 83-year-old former international banker won 89.77% of the vote, his third consecutive decisive victory after the much closer election that brought him to power in 2011.
His predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to acknowledge defeat in that race, sparking a four-month war that killed around 3,000 people.
Ouattara has since overseen a period of relative stability and steady economic growth in the world’s biggest cocoa producer.
The turnout of around 50% was comparable to the presidential elections in 2010 and 2015 but far below the 80% who voted in the first round in 2010.
Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, former CEO of Credit Suisse, were not legally permitted to run this year, and the remaining opposition candidates lacked the backing of a major political party, making Ouattara the clear favourite.
The results are expected to be validated by the Constitutional Council in the coming days.
(Reporting by Robbie Corey-Boulet)
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DOUALA (Reuters) -At least four people were killed by gunshots in opposition protests in Cameroon’s commercial capital Douala on Sunday, according to the campaign of presidential candidate Issa Tchiroma, who is seeking to oust veteran leader Paul Biya.
Tchiroma called for the protests to demand that the results of an October 12 vote be respected, a day before the outcome is due to be announced.
(Reporting by Bate Felix; Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Ros Russell)
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(Reuters) -Kosovo’s parliament on Sunday failed to elect Albin Kurti as prime minister, deepening the country’s political crisis with a snap election seen as the only solution to overcome a political deadlock after inconclusive polls in February.
(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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DUBLIN (Reuters) -Catherine Connolly, an independent lawmaker on the far left of the Irish political spectrum, was elected president on Saturday after winning 63% of the first preference vote for the largely ceremonial role.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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By Coulibaly Media and Robbie Corey-Boulet
ABIDJAN (Reuters) -Ivory Coast is voting in a presidential election on Saturday with incumbent Alassane Ouattara, 83, claiming credit for nearly 15 years of economic growth and relative stability while strongly hinting it will be his final campaign.
A former international banker and deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Ouattara took power in 2011 after a four-month civil war that killed around 3,000 people.
The war was triggered by the refusal of his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, to acknowledge defeat in the 2010 election.
Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, former CEO of Credit Suisse, were deemed ineligible to run this year, and the remaining opposition candidates lack the backing of a major political party, making Ouattara the clear favourite.
Announcing his candidacy in July, Ouattara said a fourth term would be one of “generational transmission.” He reiterated the point at a lunch this week attended by journalists as well as his 73-year-old prime minister and 76-year-old vice president.
“We know that the country needs to renew its team,” he said. “It’s not easy to work at the same pace at our age.”
Ivory Coast’s median age is 18.
YOUNG IVORIANS VOICE SCEPTICISM
The world’s biggest cocoa producer is among the fastest-growing economies in the region. Its international bonds are some of the best performing in Africa.
Ouattara has tried to diversify economic output, with mining a key focus, while investing in schools and road infrastructure to attract more private investment.
“We have turned Ivory Coast around,” he said at a triumphant final rally in the commercial capital Abidjan on Thursday.
“The country has experienced extraordinary growth since 2011. And this growth must continue.”
Not everyone is convinced.
“We are tired of seeing old people making decisions for us, the younger generation,” said Landry Ka, a 22-year-old student.
“We are young and we want someone who really understands the problems facing young people in Ivory Coast, someone who will come and enable us to find jobs.”
Ka said he is backing Simone Gbagbo, the former first lady and Ouattara’s highest-profile challenger. She is 76.
The youngest candidate in the race is former commerce minister Jean-Louis Billon, at 60. He failed to get the backing of the main opposition party PDCI, led by Thiam, who is 63.
“Many young Ivorians express deep scepticism toward the political elite, citing persistent unemployment, economic inequality, and a lack of meaningful representation,” said Chukwuemeka Eze, director of the Democratic Futures in Africa Program at Open Society Foundations.
HUNDREDS ARRESTED DURING CAMPAIGN
More than eight million people are registered to vote on Saturday. Polling stations open at 0800 GMT and close at 1800 GMT.
Provisional results are expected within five days. A runoff will be held if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote.
Though Ivory Coast has a history of election-related violence, this year’s campaign has been mostly calm, with scattered protests in numerous locations including the political capital Yamoussoukro.
The government has deployed 44,000 members of the security forces throughout the country and enforced what Amnesty International said was a disproportionate ban on protests.
Hundreds have been arrested, and the interior ministry said dozens had received prison terms of up to three years for offences including disturbing public order.
Government spokesperson Patrick Achi, a former prime minister, told Reuters that the government protected freedom of speech but was also determined to maintain order.
“Let’s keep stability, and then the generation to come will improve. But at least the economy that went through so much won’t again be destroyed,” he said.
(Reporting by Media Coulibaly and Robbie Corey-Boulet; Additional reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly and Ange Aboa; Editing by William Maclean)
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(Reuters) -Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Thursday he will run for re-election next year, seeking a fourth term in office.
Speaking during a state visit to Indonesia alongside President Prabowo Subianto, Lula said he remains energized despite his age.
“I’ll be 80, but I have the same energy I had at 30. I will run for a fourth term in Brazil,” Lula said.
His current term ends in late 2026. The leftist leader has already won three presidential elections – in 2002, 2006 and 2022.
Earlier this year, Lula had already hinted a possible re-election, but stopped short of making a formal announcement. His latest remarks came about a year ahead of the 2026 election.
It remains unclear who will be his main challenger.
Former President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost to Lula in 2022, is currently barred from running due to electoral court rulings and was recently sentenced to over 27 years in prison for an alleged coup attempt. He denies wrongdoing and says he will run.
(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes; Writing by Isabel Teles; Editing by Ros Russell)
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NAIROBI (Reuters) -A senior official from Tanzania’s main opposition was arrested on Wednesday outside the court where the treason trial of its leader was under way, a party spokesperson said, a week before a presidential election.
The East African nation’s two largest opposition parties – CHADEMA and ACT-Wazalendo – are barred from contesting the October 29 election, leaving incumbent Samia Suluhu Hassan facing only smaller party candidates.
In the lead-up to the vote, opposition politicians and human rights groups have accused the government of abductions and arrests of political opponents.
Hassan has said that her government is committed to respecting human rights and ordered an investigation into reports of abductions last year. No official findings have been made public.
CHADEMA deputy chair John Heche was being held at the central police station in the country’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam, the party’s Secretary General John Mnyika told reporters, adding that officials had given no reason for his detention.
Heche was detained outside the city’s high court when he arrived to attend the trial of party leader Tundu Lissu, party spokesperson Brenda Rupia said on social media platform X.
She said police had yet to disclose the reason for his arrest and had transferred him to Tarime in northwest Tanzania without giving any further details.
The immigration department said in a statement on Saturday that Heche had left the country without following procedures. His party denied the accusations, saying he had been expected to attend the funeral of Kenya’s former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Tanzanian government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment on Wednesday’s arrest. Senior police commanders Jumanne Muliro and Yustino Mgonja could not immediately be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Nairobi Newsroom; Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Ammu Kannampilly and Muvija M)
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ABIDJAN (Reuters) -Simone Gbagbo, a former first lady in Ivory Coast who was once wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, is running for president on Saturday, marking a new chapter in her political career without her ex-husband.
The 76-year-old politician, known in the West African nation as the “Iron Lady”, is the most high-profile name among those who were allowed to run against incumbent Alassane Ouattara, who is widely expected to win a fourth term.
Simone Gbagbo played a leading role during the tumultuous tenure of former President Laurent Gbagbo, which was marked by civil war from 2002 to 2007 and again after the 2010 election.
“All the ministers respect me, and I am often placed above them,” she once told the French newspaper L’Express.
FROM ARREST TO FOUNDING A NEW PARTY
Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to acknowledge defeat to Ouattara in 2010 led to fighting that killed around 3,000 people and ended when the couple was arrested together at their Abidjan residence.
In 2021, Laurent Gbagbo filed for divorce, bringing to a close a partnership that stretched back to their days as young opposition activists. A year later, Simone Gbagbo launched her current party, the Movement of Skilled Generations, which she has described as rooted in social democratic principles.
Arthur Banga, a historian and political analyst, said he does not expect Simone Gbagbo to win this year because her new party has a limited voter base.
“But she is positioning herself for the future,” he told Reuters, noting that she could take advantage of the void left by Laurent Gbagbo and Tidjane Thiam, a former Credit Suisse CEO. Both their candidacies were rejected by the electoral commission.
“She will become the leader of the political opposition after these elections,” Banga said.
BACKGROUND IN OPPOSITION POLITICS
Simone Gbagbo started her political career as a trade unionist in the 1970s when she opposed the single-party rule of the country’s founding President Felix Houphouet-Boigny.
In the 1980s, she co-founded the Ivorian Popular Front party alongside Laurent Gbagbo, whom she married in 1989, and other opposition figures. She entered national politics in 1995, winning a seat in the National Assembly during general elections dominated by then President Henri Konan Bedie’s Democratic Party.
Her husband went on to assume the presidency five years later.
After their arrest in 2011, Laurent Gbagbo was sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, but Ouattara’s government refused to transfer Simone Gbagbo.
Instead she went on trial at home and in 2015 received a 20-year sentence for crimes against the state.
In 2018, Ouattara granted her an amnesty in a move widely seen as an effort to ease political tensions.
PLEDGE FOR NATIONAL RECONCILIATION
Simone Gbagbo’s platform features a national reconciliation plan that would involve both justice and reconciliation for past political violence.
Her party has said she would introduce a general amnesty law to release all political and military prisoners and facilitate the return of exiles.
Simone Gbagbo is also known for her call to achieve “true monetary autonomy” in Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest cocoa producer, by replacing the euro-pegged CFA franc with another currency at the subregional level.
She has also said she would support countries from the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in West Africa, where military leaders have seized power in coups in recent years. Those countries – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – have an antagonistic relationship with Ouattara.
Earlier this month, Simone Gbagbo’s campaign gained backing from Charles Ble Goude, a close ally of her ex-husband who like Laurent Gbagbo was acquitted by the ICC in 2019.
“Simone Gbagbo has demonstrated that she is a committed politician and, above all, a pragmatic woman,” Banga said, adding that she seems poised to strengthen her popular legitimacy by running in this election, which is widely expected to be the last time Ouattara, 83, runs.
“Let’s not forget that 2030 will be different,” he said.
(Reporting by Ange Aboa and Anait MiridzhanianEditing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Frances Kerry)
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By Amindeh Blaise Atabong
YAOUNDE (Reuters) -Cameroon’s security forces fired tear gas on Tuesday to disperse opposition party supporters protesting in the capital Yaounde and the northern city of Garoua, as tensions rise over the outcome of the October 12 presidential election.
Partial results reported by local media, citing the election vote tallying commission, indicate that 92-year-old President Paul Biya is poised to secure an eighth term in office.
Biya, who has ruled the oil- and cocoa-producing Central African nation since 1982, could extend his presidency until he is nearly 100 years old if the constitutional council confirms the results later this week.
Biya’s anticipated victory may escalate tensions after his main challenger, Issa Tchiroma, a former minister and ally, claimed victory last week and warned that any other outcome could plunge the country into unrest.
Sporadic protests have erupted nationwide following unverified tallies circulating on social media suggesting Biya’s reelection.
Demonstrators in Garoua, Tchiroma’s hometown, as well as other cities including Bafoussam, Dschang, Kousserie, and Douala, have voiced concerns over alleged irregularities in the vote count, reflecting broader fears about transparency and fairness in the electoral process.
The government has rejected concerns over alleged irregularities and called for calm until results are announced.
Cameroon’ Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji said on Tuesday that authorities had arrested more than 20 people in Garoua during street demonstrations.
In a statement, Nji said some of those detained face charges of “incitement to rebellion and insurrection” and will be tried by military tribunal, signaling a government crackdown on dissent amid heightened tensions.
(Reporting by Amindeh Blaise AtabongEditing by Bate Felix and Chizu Nomiyama )
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SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea is in working-level talks with Japan to hold a bilateral summit between the two countries, Kang Yu-jung, spokesperson for Korea’s presidential office, told a press briefing on Tuesday.
The potential meeting could take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit scheduled for the end of October in South Korea, Kang said.
In Tokyo, hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi was elected as Japan’s first female prime minister on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Heejin Kim and Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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By Kantaro Komiya and Tim Kelly
TOKYO (Reuters) -Formed in 2010 to shake up Japan’s political establishment and loosen Tokyo’s administrative stranglehold, the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, is now set to help the ruling Liberal Democratic Party extend seven decades of dominance.
The opposition group from industrial Osaka, Japan’s No. 2 metropolis, said it is ready to ally with the LDP, all but guaranteeing its new hardline conservative leader Sanae Takaichi will become the country’s first female prime minister when parliament picks a new premier on Tuesday.
“Politics should be about taking risks when necessary to open up new paths,” Ishin leader and Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said on Monday during a television interview, as his party finalised its partnership deal with Takaichi, albeit without sending any minister to her cabinet.
It was, however, a “very difficult decision” because most parties that entered a coalition with the LDP “disappeared.”
Led by Yoshimura from its western power base and co-leader Fumitake Fujita in parliament, Ishin shares Takaichi’s hardline stance on national security and immigration. In 2023, a then-leader even described the party as being “the second LDP”.
Like Takaichi, Yoshimura and Fujita want to rewrite Japan’s pacifist constitution, expand a defence buildup aimed at deterring neighbouring China and impose stricter immigration controls. They have proposed a cap on foreign resident numbers and restrictions on property purchases by overseas investors.
The more moderate Komeito party quit its 26-year-old coalition with the LDP after Takaichi became leader this month.
The LDP and Ishin also share an electoral problem: each has lost or barely gained seats in lower and upper house elections held in the past year, whereas other conservative parties, including the far-right Sanseito, have surged.
To win voters back to a party rooted in Japan’s rural communities, Takaichi has promised higher spending, which she says will revive the economy and support households squeezed by inflation.
The more market-oriented Ishin differs. Fujita, a former gym instructor turned politician, and Yoshimura, who rose to prominence directing Osaka’s COVID-19 response, are championing lower spending, tax cuts and smaller government.
Ishin on Thursday handed Takaichi a list of 12 policy goals it wants to pursue. They include a one-tenth cut in parliamentary seats, social security reform, free high school education and a two-year pause to the consumption tax on food.
Yoshimura has voiced support for legal changes to let women retain their surnames after marriage, a revision that social conservatives such as Takaichi see as a threat to family unity, although Ishin has conceded to a more stopgap solution.
He also wants to designate his hometown Osaka as a backup capital that could administer Japan if a major disaster crippled Tokyo.
At a press briefing on Thursday, Yoshimura said he would invite Takaichi, who grew up in nearby Nara, to a parade in Osaka next month to celebrate the Hanshin Tigers baseball team’s Central League victory. If she accepts, it will be as prime minister.
Like Takaichi, Yoshimura calls himself a Tigers fan, though he says, “not as fanatical.”
(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Tim Kelly; additional reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama)
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By Monica Machicao and Lucinda Elliott
LA PAZ (Reuters) -Bolivia’s president-elect Rodrigo Paz, who claimed victory in Sunday’s presidential runoff, is the son of a former president of the Andean nation who was born in exile from its military dictatorship and schooled in the U.S.
Paz, 58, of the Christian Democratic Party, defeated conservative rival Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in Sunday’s presidential runoff to end nearly two decades of leftist rule.
Paz’s moderate platform resonated with voters disillusioned by the ruling Movement to Socialism (MAS) party, founded by former President Evo Morales, amid a deepening economic crisis.
“This is a new stage for Bolivian democracy in the 21st century,” Paz said in an interview with Reuters two days before the election at his family’s ranch in the southern gas-producing region of Tarija.
Paz, who takes office on November 8, reiterated plans to open up parts of the economy to private investment and close loss-making state firms, while maintaining cash transfers to vulnerable groups.
“The state is an obstacle,” he said. “There are freeloaders earning salaries (from the state) without doing anything.”
Paz was born in Santiago de Compostela, Spain during his family’s exile under Bolivia’s military dictatorship. Throughout his childhood he studied at various Jesuit schools, later graduating from the American University in Washington. His father is former President Jaime Paz Zamora, who ruled Bolivia from 1989 to 1993.
His father was the sole survivor of a plane crash in Bolivia — an incident later revealed to be a targeted attack ahead of the country’s 1980 coup. His mother also survived a mysterious car crash while in exile, episodes that he said marked his formative years and political ambition.
When his family eventually returned to Bolivia in the 1980s, Paz began his political career in Tarija, gradually advancing from city councilor to senator. He has aligned himself with parties from across the political spectrum over the years, ranging from his father’s Revolutionary Left Movement to right-leaning alliances.
During this election, Paz positioned himself as a centrist candidate, pledging to maintain social programs for the poor while promoting private-sector-led growth. His economic plan includes tax incentives for small businesses and the self-employed, and greater fiscal autonomy for regional governments.
“Ideologies don’t put food on the table,” he said.
Like his opponent Quiroga, he has said he wants to improve diplomatic ties with Western countries, including the U.S., after years where Bolivia had aligned itself with Russia and China.
Paz expressed concern over the country’s rising external debt obligations, which he said required urgent renegotiation. He confirmed meeting with representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund in Washington last month.
“Debts are a deal that we are renegotiating,” he said.
PROMISES TO KEEP BENEFITS
To win over left-leaning voters who abandoned the socialists but were wary of cost-cutting pledged by Quiroga, Paz had adopted a more populist tone than in the first round.
“From day one, we will have fuel, we will have tax incentives,” Paz said in a televised debate on October 12. “All social benefits will be respected.”
Opponents said those promises were unrealistic, and economists warned that whoever won the vote will have their work cut out for them.
“The fiscal hole is immense,” said Jonathan Fortun at the Institute of International Finance. “The question is not whether adjustment comes, but how fast and how disruptive it will be.”
Among the incoming government’s immediate challenges is a fragmented legislature to push through necessary reforms. No single party holds a majority in either house, meaning Paz will need to forge alliances to govern effectively. Paz’s Christian Democratic Party won 49 of 130 seats in the lower house and 16 of 36 in the Senate in August, making them the largest minority group.
(Reporting by Lucinda Elliott in Montevideo and Monica Machicao in La Paz. Additional reporting by Daniel Ramos in La Paz and Brendan O’Boyle in Mexico City. Editing by Christian Plumb, Rosalba O’Brien and Lincoln Feast.)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Sunday for efforts to advance “reunification” in a message of congratulations to the new leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party, whose election took place amid accusations of interference by Beijing.
Former lawmaker Cheng Li-wun, who will take over as leader of the Kuomintang (KMT) party on November 1, won Saturday’s election at a time of rising tension with Beijing, which views the democratically governed island as its own territory. Taiwan’s government strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims.
The KMT traditionally backs close relations with China and is Beijing’s preferred dialogue partner. China refuses to talk to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, calling him a “separatist”.
Xi, in a message in his role as head of China’s Communist Party, told Cheng the two parties should strengthen their “common political foundation”, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Both parties should also “unite the vast majority of people in Taiwan to deepen exchanges and cooperation, boost common development, and advance national reunification,” he added.
Cheng, in her message to Xi, did not make any mention of union with Beijing, but said both sides of the Taiwan Strait were “members of the Chinese nation”, using an expression in Chinese that refers to ethnicity rather than nationality.
“Both parties should, in light of the current situation, strengthen cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation on the existing foundation (and) promote peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Cheng said, according to a party statement.
ACCUSATIONS OF CHINESE INTERFERENCE
While the KMT lost the presidential election last year, the party and its ally, the small Taiwan People’s Party, together hold the most seats in parliament.
Cheng, 55, opposes Taiwan increasing defence spending, a key policy plank of Lai’s, and won the leadership vote over the KMT establishment candidate, former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin.
Accusations of Chinese interference in the election by a key supporter of Hau’s, the KMT’s vice presidential candidate last year, Jaw Shau-kong, overshadowed the campaign. Jaw said social media accounts had spread disinformation about Hau.
China said on Wednesday that the election was a KMT matter, and that online comments did not represent an official stance.
Writing on his Facebook account on Sunday, Jaw said the KMT must reduce pro-China influence and that the majority of Taiwanese desire peaceful relations and dialogue with China.
“The KMT must recognise that elections are held in Taiwan, and voters are in Taiwan, not mainland China,” Jaw added.
Late on Saturday, DPP spokesperson Justin Wu said there were clear signs of Chinese interference in the KMT election.
His comments were dismissed by the KMT, which responded with a statement saying: “Who is this?”
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Ben Blanchard;Editing by Helen Popper)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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