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Young supporters of Guinean opponent Cellou Dalien Diallo, who has declared himself the winner of the presidential election, clashed with police on Wednesday in the Wanindara district of the country's capital Conakry.
African election monitors said Tuesday that Guinea's weekend election was conducted properly, but the political opposition to incumbent Alpha Conde, which has already claimed victory, dismissed it as fraudulent.
Preliminary results for four of the country's 38 voting districts released by electoral commission chief Kabinet Cisse late Tuesday showed a strong lead for Conde over his main challenger Cellou Dalein Diallo, who had claimed victory Monday.
In three of the four districts, Conde secured more than the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff vote, although an electoral commission official told AFP it was "impossible to extrapolate" to the final national result, expected later this week.
"Alpha Conde is doing everything possible to change ballot-box results in his favour" Diallo's campaign director Fode Oussou Fofana had earlier told reporters in the capital Conakry.
The opposition campaign has been setting the stage for an election dispute, with Fofana accusing the government of "large-scale fraud" in counting ballots from the hotly contested October 18 poll.
Conde, 82, is seeking a controversial third presidential term, a move that has triggered months of deadly unrest in the West African nation.
- Augustin Matata Ponyo, the African Union's head of mission in Guinea, said the ballot took place "in transparency" while the head of the West African ECOWAS monitoring mission said the vote was lawful.
Celebrations in Conakry of Diallo's self-proclaimed victory quickly descended into violent clashes with security forces, in which several youngsters were shot dead, opposition officials said.
Meanwhile in a seeming response to Diallo's self-proclaimed win, security forces dressed in riot gear surrounded his house in the capital. He tweeted that he was trapped inside.
- 'Irresponsible and dangerous' -
Security forces killed dozens of people in protests against a Conde third term, which began in October last year--.
Although polling day was mostly calm, Diallo's self-proclaimed election victory has ratched up tensions in the former French colony of some 13 million people.
The government insists the vote was fair and that only the official electoral authority can declare the results.
Conde's RPG party also called Diallo's move "irresponsible and dangerous" on Monday.
The international community is concerned too. The United Nations, African Union, and the 15-nation ECOWAS called the premature declaration of results "regrettable", in a joint statement on Monday.
"This state of affairs is not conducive to preserving calm," the statement said.
But on Tuesday, the communications director for Diallo's UFDG party, Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, said the party's own analysis of polling data collected from individual stations showed the opposition leader had won over 50 percent of the vote
Many people have been killed since clashes began on Monday. Scores too had been killed in the run up to the vote as protestors marched against Conde's bid for a third term.
Assemblyman Michael Blake makes allegations of voter suppression
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June 26, 2020
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Assemblyman Michael Blake on Thursday refused to concede the closely-watched Democratic primary race alleging that the election was hampered by “intentional black voter suppression.”
“Intentional black voter suppression and undemocratic processes clearly don’t just happen in the South but also in the South Bronx,” he wrote.
Blake said another polling site located “in the heart of a Black neighborhood” didn’t open on time, prompting some voters to leave as the mercury climbed close to 90 degrees.
At a third site, affidavit ballots — cast by constituents who aren’t in the voter rolls but believe they’re still eligible — were so numerous that they had to be “put into a lockbox and taken to an unknown location,” Blake said.
City Councilman Ritchie Torres — who’s also black — is on track to win the primary for Serrano’s seat, holding a 11% edge over Blake in the Election Day ballot count.
Over the past seven years, states and localities have reverted to discriminatory practices that restrict the voting rights of Black, Brown, Native, and Asian American people and have put up unnecessary roadblocks to the ballot.
On this anniversary, Tina Knowles-Lawson, Mothers of the Movement, and Black women celebrities urge the Senate to pass H.R. 6800, The HEROES Act, that includes $3.6 billion in funding for state administration of federal elections.
Tina Knowles-Lawson; Viola Davis; Whoopi Goldberg; Octavia Spencer; Jada Pinkett Smith; Beyoncé Knowles Carter; Solange Knowles; Gabrielle Union; Taraji P. Henson; Kelly Rowland; Lala Anthony; Halle Berry; Yvette Nicole Brown; Melina Matsoukas; Janelle Monáe; Bozoma Saint John; Holly Robinson Peete; Oge Egbuonu; Lena Waithe; Kerry Washington; Rashida Jones; Gwenn Carr, Mother of Eric Garner; Kadiatou Diallo, Mother of Amadou Diallo; Sybrina Fulton, Mother of Trayvon Martin; Maria Hamilton, Mother of Dontre Hamilton; Wanda Johnson, Mother of Oscar Grant;Rep. Lucy McBath, Mother of Jordan Davis Tamika Palmer, Mother of Breonna Taylor; and Geneva Reed-Veal, Mother of Sandra Bland.
Tina Knowles-Lawson, Viola Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, Octavia Spencer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Beyoncé Knowles Carter, Solange Knowles, Gabrielle Union, Taraji P. Henson, Kelly Rowland, Lala Anthony, Halle Berry, Yvette Nicole Brown, Melina Matsoukas, Janelle Monáe, Bozoma Saint John, Holly Robinson Peete, Oge Egbuonu, Lena Waithe, Kerry Washington, Rashida Jones, Gwenn Carr (Mother of Eric Garner), Kadiatou Diallo (Mother of Amadou Diallo), Sybrina Fulton (Mother of Trayvon Martin), Maria Hamilton (Mother of Dontre Hamilton), Wanda Johnson (Mother of Oscar Grant), Rep. Lucy McBath (Mother of Jordan Davis), Tamika Palmer (Mother of Breonna Taylor), Geneva Reed-Veal (Mother of Sandra Bland)
The Harris County District Court ruled that Texas law allows Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins to send vote-by-mail applications to all registered voters as part of his authority to conduct and manage elections. If the Court’s decision stands, more than 1.9 million registered voters in Harris County under the age of 65 will receive vote-by-mail […]
The post Harris County Clerk cleared to send vote-by-mail applications appeared first on DefenderNetwork.com.
… , of these instances have involved African-Americans, including using derogatory
language such … Clerk Terri Hollingsworth, the first African-American female to hold the position …
Commentary: Election theft and the reluctant democracy
The post Commentary: Election theft and the reluctant democracy appeared first on WS Chronicle.
In their final report on the March 2nd polls, the European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) has said that the integrity of the entire electoral process was “seriously compromised” by vote count in Region Four and has cited the senior Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials for acting in violation of the law.
“However, the integrity of the entire electoral process was seriously compromised by the non-transparent and non-credible tabulation of results in the largest and decisive Region 4 by senior Guyana Elections Commission officials, acting in blatant violation of the law and High Court orders issued in this regard.”
These results gave APNU+AFC and PPP/C 136,057 and 77,231 votes, respectively, for the general elections in Region 4, which would be enough for the ruling coalition to overcome the opposition’s advantage in the other regions and take the lead nationally.
Key shortcomings include unregulated registration and operations of political parties, mostly unregulated campaign finance, lack of provisions prohibiting misuse of state resources, full discretion of parties to select their parliamentarians after the elections, no guarantee for women’s representation in parliament and lack of transparency in the publication of the • The list of electors was generally inclusive, despite fervent controversies over its preparation and accuracy.
In a largely unregulated environment, GECOM invited all parties to sign a code of conduct three days before election day, too late to have a real impact on the • The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) observed the misuse of state re-sources by the ruling coalition.
The opposition PPP says that even if the Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield subverts the electoral process by not submitting the correct results today for the March 2nd general elections, GECOM can act on its own.
A statement by the PPP follows:
The APNU+AFC continues their relentless attempts to prevent the accurate results of the 2nd March 2020 National and Regional elections from being declared.
In their monumental efforts to pervert the will of the electorate, they continue to rely on Keith Lowenfield, the Chief Election Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), to carry out their illicit and undemocratic design.
As a result, the Chairperson rejected Mr. Lowenfield’s adjustments to the elections results based upon these irregularities and gave him very clear and precise instructions to prepare a report, required under Section 96 of the Representation of the People Act.
In the event that Mr. Lowenfield persist in subverting the elections results, by using erroneous figures in the preparation of the report, then the Commission has sufficiently wide powers under Article 162 of the Constitution, to declare the results of the elections, as produced by the national recount exercise.
While any primary school child would tell you that 33 is greater than 32, educated minds appearing at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) were complicating the simple: Dr. Alexis posited arguments to interpret the term “majority” in Article 106 of the Constitution of Guyana to mean “absolute majority” as opposed to “simple majority.”
Against that background, I not surprised by the latest opinion tendered by Dr. Alexis which was generously splashed across the front and third pages of the Guyana Chronicle dated 2020.06.28.
The report of the Chief Election Officer (CEO) to GECOM on that recount affords a proper formula for calculating the valid votes cast at the election, and so enabling the declaring of a President and members of the National Assembly.”
It is apparently clear to Dr. Alexis, but unclear to everyone else, that Lowenfield is the “fit and proper” person so empowered to conjure up a formula to ascertain the valid votes cast.
Further, Dr. Alexis and the many legal minds enlisted to argue against the voice of the people of Guyana are simply on the wrong side of history.
As the June 9 primary elections draw nearer, the importance of absentee voting in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic becomes more apparent.
There are a couple of ways to do so: 1) You can call the Charleston County Election Commission at 843-744-8683; 2) You can visit a great website put together by the Charleston County Democratic Party to request your ballot by email; 3) If you cannot do option 1 or 2, you can vote in-person absentee at the Charleston County Headquarters (4367 Headquarters Rd North Charleston SC 29405) beginning Monday, May 11th which will be open Monday – Friday (excluding holidays) from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Our office is committed to ensure that all voters can cast their ballot whether via absentee balloting or by voting at the polls on Election Day.”
All registered voters are eligible to cast absentee ballots for the June 9 primary and runoffs.
Some of the options being discussed include:
1) Mail-in ballot applications to all churches with a point of contact at each church to speak about registering and voting;
2) Full page newspaper ads on the importance of being registered and requesting an absentee ballot; and 3) Use newsletters and Facebook to deliver information about the importance of being registered and voting by Absentee Ballot this November.
Nine people, including one police officer, have died in the West African state of Guinea, the security ministry said Wednesday, following days of unrest after a tense weekend presidential election.
In a statement, the ministry pointed to shootings and stabbings in the capital Conakry and elsewhere in the country since Sunday's presidential vote.
\"This strategy of chaos (was) orchestrated to jeopardise the elections of October 18, \" the ministry said, adding that many people had been injured and property was damaged.
Clashes were ongoing in Conakry on Wednesday, where a security officer, Mamadou Keganan Doumbouya, told the press that at least three people had died.
And a local doctor, who declined to be named, said he had received two dead bodies, and nine injured people, at his clinic.
The violence follows the high-stakes election in which President Alpha Conde ran for a third term in a controversial bid that had already sparked mass protests.
With tensions already running high, Guinea's main opposition leader Cellou Dalein Diallo on Monday declared victory in the election -- before the announcement of the official results, which are expected this week.
Opposition supporters are deeply suspicious about the fairness of the poll, although the government insists that it was fair.
Much of the tension in Guinea centres on Conde's candidacy.
In March, the 82-year-old president pushed through a new constitution which he argued would modernise the country. It also allowed him to bypass a two-term limit for presidents, however.
Security forces repressed mass protests against the move from October last year, killing dozens of people.
On Wednesday, plumes of black smoke rose over an opposition stronghold in the capital Conakry, where protesters erected barricades and lit fires, an AFP journalist saw.
Youths in alleyways also hurled stones at police officers stationed along a main artery who fired back tear gas canisters.
The security ministry stated that \"a police officer was lynched to death\" in a Conakry suburb, without specifying when the attack occurred.
In a social media post earlier on Wednesday, Conde appealed for \"calm and serenity while awaiting the outcome of the electoral process\".
- Clashes and barricades -
Ten candidates are in the race besides alongside frontrunners Conde and Diallo, old political rivals who traded barbs in a bitter campaign.
Despite fears of violence after the pre-vote clashes, polling day was mostly calm.
Then Diallo's self-proclaimed election victory ratcheted up tensions, and celebrations by his supporters descended into violent clashes with security forces on Monday.
The opposition politician said that security forces killed three youngsters that night, although AFP was unable to confirm the details.
Security forces also barricaded Diallo inside his house, the politician said on Tuesday.
Monitors from the African Union and the 15-nation West African bloc ECOWAS both said that Guinea's election was mostly fair, despite insistence from Diallo's camp tha
- Chakwera (r) with Obasanjo and Mills showing 'Democracy Works' Malawi vice president Saulos Chilima (r) is seen here with Obasanjo and Lesotho's Finance Minister Dr Morketsi Majoro at the Olusegun Obasanjo library in Nigeria
We failed the people of Malawi when Africa, through its observers, gave the election of 21 May 2019 its blessing.
The African Union election observer mission reported that \"the elections took place in a peaceful, transparent and orderly manner, and thus met national, regional, continental and international standards for democratic elections... \".
Fortunately, the people of Malawi were saved by their courageous Constitutional Court which declared in a unanimous judgment the election null and void and ordered that a new election be held in free and fair circumstances that would guarantee a democratic outcome that would reflect the will of the people.
The legitimacy and success of Malawi's election is essential if we are to strengthen the movement towards democracy and legitimate governance on the African continent.
We should start by making sure that the Malawian election is free, fair and the result reflects the will of the people as an example of how democratic practices should unfold under this pandemic.
By BILL BARROW Associated Press/BNC Contributor ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump and his challenger, Joe Biden, have found something they agree on: The November election could be rife with corruption because of how officials handle the voting process. Of course, the Republican incumbent and his Democratic rival place the prospective blame in different places. Each points at the others party. I really, really, really believe were on the cusp of what could be the most corrupt process that weve seen in a general election if we dont monitor this every single second, Biden told donors Tuesday evening as he []
The post Biden and Trump Agree Election Could be Corrupt appeared first on Black News Channel.
By Astrid Galvan and Christina A. Cassidy Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — With the Trump administration openly trying to undermine mail-in voting this fall, some election officials around the country are hoping to bypass the Postal Service by installing lots of ballot drop boxes in libraries, community centers and other public places. Such boxes have been used with success for several years in states like Oregon, Washington and Colorado that rely largely or entirely on ballots that must be sent in. But their use is being expanded because of the coronavirus outbreak and, more recently, concerns about the post office's […]
The post Ballot drop boxes seen as a way to bypass the post office appeared first on Black News Channel.
Malawi's opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera appeared headed for victory on Thursday in a re-run of a presidential vote that was scrapped over massive irregularities, unofficial tallies showed.
The smart thing to do right now is for GECOM to focus their attention on ensuring all the ballots in the Electoral District number four, which had not one, but two fraudulent declarations, are counted.
However, Electoral District number four, the most populous voting district, will ultimately determine the winner of the March 2 National and Regional elections.
The two additional stations should be to speed up the counting of Electoral District number four, especially since we are not sure if the CARICOM team will be here beyond the 25 days.
Great move, more stations, but the only way to truly be productive and smart, is to have all new stations focus on Electoral District number four and not what stations 11 and 12 were assigned to count.
It is crucial for our democracy that Electoral District number four is done within the 25 days period.
She recently announced her department will be sending out unsolicited absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million registered voters in Michigan.
In the past, opponents have been successful before Michigan courts stopping mass mailings of absentee ballot applications.
In Fleming, the court ruled unconstitutional the Macomb County Clerk’s mass mailing of absentee ballot applications.
The case relied on the following facts: the applications discriminated in favor of a narrow portion of voters, they were limited to persons over 60-years of age; the applications were sent out by a county clerk; and it violated Art. 2, Section 4 of the Michigan Constitution.
This time around a different legal outcome is more likely; because the mass mailing of absentee ballot applications is being done by a current Secretary of State, Michigan’s principal elections official, not a local county clerk.
Standing in line at their local polling place, a longtime ritual for many Californians, will be a thing of the past this Election Day for half of the state's voters. That's because in 2016 the California Legislature passed the Voter's Choice Act, which allows counties to transition from polling places to a vote center and […]
The post Before the pandemic, California’s polling places were already disappearing appeared first on Black Voice News.
… Political Empowerment Project is that African-Americans vote in each and every … impact the many problems which African-Americans face on a daily and … affect the future of our African-American communities, both locally and nationally …
Exactly five months after voters went to the polls and the rolling back of blatant efforts to rig the March 2nd general elections in favour of APNU+AFC, the PPP/C’s presidential candidate Irfaan Ali was dramatically sworn in yesterday as Guyana’s 9th President.
The article Ali sworn in as President appeared first on Stabroek News.
The materials have been sent- the ballots, and the ballot boxes are in place. Over 90% of the electoral voters' cards have been distributed.
According to Mamadi Kaba, spokesperson for Guinea's National Independent Electoral Commission (Céni), everything is ready for the country's presidential election.
But maybe not really.
On the eve of the crucial election, some members of the National Independent Electoral Commission (Céni) have raised issues about the electoral process. A surprise declaration signed by four commissioners of the institution list on five pages alleged breaches and violations of the electoral code.
Their report still points to duplicates, voters with several cards, but also cards that have disappeared in some localities. In conclusion of the statement: “Doubt is settling on the credibility of the process. This opens the door to probable post-election disputes\".
- A campaign that had started timidly -
Twelve candidates are in this race for Guinea's presidency. Over the last two week of campaigns, they have given many speeches, and amid exacerbating intercommunal tensions, violent incidents were recorded. Prime Minister Ibrahima Kassory Fofana's convoy was attacked en route the central part of the country to campaign on behalf of the outgoing president.
A few days later, main opponent Cellou Dalein Diallo in turn encountered hostility from people blocking his route to the Kankan region, the stronghold of President Alpha Condé. The UFDC party headquarters in the region was ransacked.
Homes and shops of people perceived to be pro-opposition were torched and or vandalized. This violence was unanimously condemned by local authorities and political parties.
- Sunday's election -
There are some 5.4 million registered voters in Guinea, many of whom are expected to cast their ballots on Sunday. President Conde who is 82 is running for a controversial third term. For nearly a year the country was plagued by massive demonstrations against his candiacy.
But it remains to be seen how things would play out during the votes and how credible it would be.
Initial results are expected to be announced several days afterwards.
At the courts and polls, President Trump and his allies move to limit voting. The GOP cites fraud, but voting rights advocates see an old foe: voter suppression.
