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Zipani zotsutsa boma m’dziko muno zati mayi Annabel Mtalimanja atule pansi udindo wawo ngati mkulu wa Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) kaamba koti alephera kugwira bwino ntchito. Zipanizi zidanena izi pa msokhano wa atolankhani omwe zipani monga Alliance For Democracy (AFORD), United Transformation Movement (UTM), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) anachititsa ku Lilongwe. Zipanizi zinati ndizokaikitsa ngati […]
The post Mtalimanja atule pansi udindo – Zipani zotsutsa appeared first on Malawi 24.
\t On Friday, internet and international calls were cut off across the West African nation in anticipation of the election results, according to locals and international observers in the capital, Conakry.
\t This was the third time that Conde matched-up against Diallo. Before the election, observers raised concerns that an electoral dispute could reignite ethnic tensions between Guinea's largest ethnic groups.
Western Cape Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo on Wednesday joined community health workers as they visited homes in Scottsdene, Cape Town.
Equipped with a loud hailer, the MEC informed residents of Ashbury Court of the options available.
Residents said the fear of leaving their homes unattended for two weeks, no alcohol at quarantine facilities, and being separated from their families all contributed to their reasons for refusing to go.
READ | Covid-19: Another hard lockdown is possible, warns Mkhize
However, Theresa Snyders, a long-time resident of Ashbury Court, said it was a great privilege to have the MEC in her neighbourhood.
Snyders, who shares a two-bedroom home with nine other people, said she is doing everything to prevent her family from getting the virus.
Evariste Ndayishimiye, a retired general, will take over from President Pierre Nkurunziza, after he beat the main opposition candidate Agathon Rwasa, and five others, avoiding a runoff by securing more than 50% of the vote.
The main opposition candidate, Agathon Rwasa, president of the National Council for Liberty (CNL), has already described these results as “fanciful” and accused the government of “cheating” and “pure manipulation”.
Election held in the midst of COVID-19
\tAccording to partial results compiled by AFP covering 105 communes, Mr. Ndayishimiye obtained an absolute majority of the votes in 101 communes.
The CNL is also outraged at the case of the Musigati commune (west), where Mr. Ndayishimiye received 99.9% of the vote.
Burundi is ranked among the three poorest countries in the world according to the World Bank, which estimates that 75% of the population lives below the poverty line, compared to 65% when Mr. Nkurunziza came to power in 2005.
The Catholic church in the Democratic Republic of Congo has waded into the political crisis that has gripped the country calling for a divorce between the two coalitions running the affairs of the state.
On Tuesday (June 30) Archbishop of Kinshasa, Frindolin Ambongo has called for the dissolution of the political alliance between President Tshisekedi and his predecessor Kabila.
The cleric cited mistrust among members of Kabila’s Common Front of Congo, FCC and the president’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress, UPDS.
He noted the current political tension has been stoked by MPs of former president Joseph Kabila’s Common Front for Congo which has a parliamentary majority.
Monsignor Ambongo also accused the president of the Congolese national assembly of ‘contempt’ by renewing the mandate of the head of the country’s electoral commission.
[Monitor] Kampala -- The Electoral Commission (EC) has rolled out nominations for the local government councils.
Malawi's parliament has endorsed June 23 as the date for the presidential election re-run after a court annulled last year's vote over irregularities, a lawmaker says.
LOTTO Results edit post Daily Lotto results for Sunday, 28 February 2021 2021-02-28 edit post Lotto and Lotto Plus results for Saturday, 27 February 2021
ARTICLE 19: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 4 November 2020: ARTICLE 19 strongly condemns excessive use of force by security forces and the riots by supporters of political parties in the aftermath of the presidential election in Guinea. At least 21 people were killed, including three children, hundreds of people wounded and [Read More]
Benin was the seat of one of the great medieval African kingdoms called Dahomey. Europeans began arriving in the area in the 18th century, as the kingdom of Dahomey was expanding its territory. The Portuguese, the French, and the Dutch established trading posts along the coast (Porto-Novo, Ouidah, Cotonou), and traded weapons for slaves. Slave trade ended in 1848. Then, the French signed treaties with Kings of Abomey (Guézo, Toffa, Glèlè) to establish French protectorates in the main cities and ports.
However, King Behanzin fought the French influence, which cost him deportation to Martinique.
From a Colony of France to Independence:
In 1892 Dahomey became a French protectorate and part of French West Africa in 1904. Expansion continued to the North (kingdoms of Parakou, Nikki, Kandi), up to the border with former Upper Volta. On 4 December 1958, it became the République du Dahomey, self-governing within the French community, and on 1 August 1960, the Republic of Dahomey gained full independence from France. T he country was renamed Benin in 1975
Between 1960 and 1972, a succession of military coups brought about many changes of government. The last of these brought to power Major Mathieu Kérékou as the head of a regime professing strict Marxist-Leninist principles. The Parti de la Révolution Populaire Béninoise (Revolutionary Party of the People of Benin, PRPB) remained in complete power until the beginning of the 1990s.
Kérékou, encouraged by France and other democratic powers, convened a national conference that introduced a new democratic constitution and held presidential and legislative elections. Kérékous principal opponent at the presidential poll, and the ultimate victor, was Prime Minister Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo.
Supporters of Soglo also secured a majority in the National Assembly.
Benin was thus the first African country to effect successfully the transition from dictatorship to a pluralistic political system. In the second round of National Assembly elections held in March 1995, Soglos
Police recovered 14 guns in Princes Town on Friday, the third major seizure in recent weeks.
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a 44-year-old businessman in connection with the illegal guns.
In a statement, the police said a search warrant was executed at the home of a suspect at St Croix Road around 1.40 pm. The search was done in the presence of the female relative, police said.
Police said they recovered four AK-47 rifles, one Draco rifle, three M4 rifles, five AR pistols, a Ruger Precision 308 rifle, 14 lower receivers, six rifle magazines, a pistol magazine, a flash suppressor and one round of 7.62-millimetre ammunition.
The exercise was spearheaded by ACP Oswain Subero, Snr Supts Roger Alexander and Earl Elie, and Supt Spence, co-ordinated by ASP Anand Ramesar and supervised by Insp Forbes.
The search involved officers from Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), with the assistance of members of the Canine Unit.
In October, two sets of illegal firearms were recovered in Santa Cruz. Those two finds followed the gun attack against deputy prisons commissioner Sherwin Bruce at his Barataria home.
Bruce's daughter and his driver, Steve Phitt, 49, were shot in that incident.
The lone suspect who was charged in that incident, Emmanuel Joseph, died in the prison on October 21, hours after he appeared in court charged with two offences of attempted murder and gun related charges.
An autopsy found that Joseph died of shock and haemorrhage, poly-trauma and blunt force trauma.
Joseph was expected to be laid to rest on Saturday.
The post Police seize 14 guns in Princes Town, warrant out for suspect appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
The electoral commission, INEC, has approved direct primary for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to select its candidate for the September 19 governorship election in Edo State.
The APC headquarters had approved direct primary while the Edo chapter of the party wanted indirect primary.
Festus Okoye, the INEC spokesperson, appealed to the various political parties to conduct their primaries in full compliance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act 2010 law.
\"In accordance with Sections 85 and 87 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), 15 out of the 18 registered Political Parties have notified the Commission of their intention to conduct primaries for the purpose of nominating candidates for the Edo State Governorship election slated for 19 September 2020.
\"The Commission appeals to the various Political Parties to conduct their primaries in full compliance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Political Party Primaries (2018) and the INEC Police COVID-19 Pandemic of 21\" May 2020.
A law expert has said the resignation of Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Jane Ansah just weeks into a crucial presidential election has plunged the country into yet another electoral crisis.
Justine Dzonzi: Fresh elections are court sanctioned polls therefore do not disrupt the electoral process
Justin Dzonzi of Justice Link says it will not be possible for a new commission to hold an election in two weeks' time.
The term of office for Ansah--a judge of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal--was set to expire in October this year while that for her eight commissioners is ending on June 5 this year
\"This means in two weeks' time, we will have no commission at all.
\"Take into account that we will have an election on 23 June, this is an electoral crisis,\" he said.
The judgment was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal, the country's top judicial authority, after an appeal by Mutharika and the electoral body.
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) may face postponing the court-sanctioned presidential election slated for next week Tuesday in the wake of logistical problems including budget deficit of K9 billion to finance the polls.
The electoral body is holding a National Consultative Forum (Necof) with electoral stakeholders in Lilongwe and a consensus will be reached on the route map of the new polling day.
The new chairperson for the electoral body Dr Chifundo Kachale wants to deliver a credible election.
During presentation of the 2020/21 National Budget in Lilongwe last Friday, Minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamveka said donors are not forth-coming to support the elections budget.
Ministry of Finance spokesperson Williams Banda said the government is however working hard to have the money ready for the election.
[Monitor] Finance minister Matia Kasaija was last night on the defensive following accusations that he irregularly dangled a top government job to secure the exit of his opponent in a parliamentary contest.
In 1996, Avel Louise Gordly became the first African American woman to be elected to the Oregon State Senate. Gordly was born in Portland on February 13, 1947. Her father, Fay Gordly, was a railroad worker active with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids; her mother, Beatrice Bernice Coleman Gordly, was a long-time […]
The post Avel Louise Gordly: First African-American Woman Elected to the Oregon State Senate appeared first on Black Then.
[African Arguments] I was arrested and beaten last week for daring to contest the presidential election. This is not a fair fight, but I have no option but to be strong.
The Getty Research Institute (GRI) seeks a motivated and knowledgeable archivist to work in partnership to accession both newly acquired and legacy archival collections with an emphasis on materials related to modern and contemporary art. While the core work of the position will be to accession incoming archives, the successful candidate will also apply professional standards and best practices to arrange, re-house, and describe small to medium-sized mixed-format archives of artists, curators, collectors, dealers, educators, and scholars, in order to promote collection discovery, access, preservation, and use.
Agathon Rwasa, Burundi's opposition leader and deputy speaker of Parliament has filed a petition at the country's constitutional court disputing the win of the ruling CNDD-FDD party's Evariste Ndayishimiye.
Mr Ndayishimiye won the May 20 presidential election with 68 per cent of the vote against Mr Rwasa's 24 per cent.
\"If the constitutional court rules in their favour I will move to the African Court because all the results that were announced by the electoral commission were wrong,\" said Mr Rwasa.
The country's Catholic Church deployed 2,716 observers countrywide, and has also expressed misgivings on the election process and its outcome.
However the chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Pierre Claver Kazihise, said that members of the Catholic church observer mission weren't well educated and informed about the electoral process.
Other countries scheduled to hold elections are Egypt, Guinea, Seychelles and Tanzania.
For countries that do hold elections, there may be special voting arrangements that can allow polls to go ahead but reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
In South Korea's elections in mid-April, the electoral commission encouraged people to vote before election day at any of the 3,500 polling stations throughout the country.
This not only decongested polling stations on election day but contributed to the highest turnout in the country for nearly 30 years.
This means that countries planning to hold elections in 2020 or early-2021 need to start discussing these arrangements - across party lines and among multiple relevant agencies - as soon as possible.
(The Center Square) – The Washington State Board of Natural Resources on Tuesday approved the $55 million purchase of more than 9,000 acres of forestland in Wahkiakum County using mostly funding from the state's carbon auctions. It's the state's largest land acquisition in more than a decade and revenue from anticipated timber harvests are expected […]
The post WA uses carbon auction funds to make largest land purchase in more than a decade appeared first on The Black Chronicle.
Malawians return to the polls on Tuesday for the second time in just over a year to vote for a new president after Peter Mutharika's re-election was annulled over rigging.
The election is much anticipated after the Constitutional Court early this year ruled that the May 2019 vote, won narrowly by Mutharika, was fraught with \"grave and widespread irregularities\" including the use of correction fluid on results sheets.
Tuesday's election is practically a two-horse race between the president and his main rival Lazarus Chakwera, who lost the May 2019 election by 159,000 votes.
Last week Kachale vowed \"the highest commitment of myself and the entire commission to deliver a credible election whose results will be acceptable by all stakeholders\".
Gift Trapence of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition, which led months-long countrywide street protests against last year's election results, has high hopes this time around.
Violence rocked Guinea's capital Conakry on Friday as supporters of opposition leader Cellou Diallo clashed with security forces who tried to disperse them.
They threw stones and blocked roads. Police responded with teargas and bullets. The clashes erupted as soon as provisional results released by the electoral commission showed president Alpha Conde winning with a big margin.
Conde, 82, won twice as many votes as his nearest rival, opposition candidate Cellou Dalein Diallo, with 37 of 38 districts counted, according to preliminary results from the commission.
Opposition supporters accuse the electoral authorities of rigging the vote for incumbent president Alpha Conde.
Sekou Koundouno, head of mobilisation for the opposition coalition FNDC said Conde had committed 'high treason'.
\"He is an illegal and illegitimate candidate who is stubbornly pursuing his obsession to turn Guin ea into a monarchy in which, by the way, he will dictate orders to his subjects,\" said Kounduno.
Diallo maintains that he won with a landslide despite irregularities, according to his own tally. He remains barricaded in his home which security forces have besieged since Monday.
ICC warning
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor warned on Friday that warring factions in Guinea could be prosecuted after fighting erupted.
“I wish to repeat this important reminder: anyone who commits, orders, incites, encourages and contributes in any other way to crimes … is liable to prosecution either by the Guinean courts or the ICC,” she said.
#ICC Prosecutor #FatouBensouda: "I wish to repeat this important reminder: anyone who commits, orders, incites, encourages or contributes, in any other way, to the commission of #RomeStatute crimes, is liable to prosecution either by #Guinean courts or by the #ICC."
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) October 23, 2020
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.
Candidates seeking electoral positions in Uganda's general election due early next year will have to conduct their campaigns without physical contact as dictated by Covid-19 social and physical distancing, the Electoral Commission has announced.
The commission, which released a new roadmap of electoral activities, has set November 2 and 3, 2020 as nomination dates for Presidential candidates.
NO POSTPONING ELECTION
Article 61(2) of the Constitution provides that the \"Electoral Commission shall hold general presidential, parliamentary and local government council elections within the first thirty days of the last ninety days before the expiration of the term of the President.\"
Responding to questions about calls for postponing the election to give all candidates a fair chance in light of the Covid-19 disruption, Mr Byabakama said, \"The option of postponing the election has not even occurred to us as a commission because it is not in our mandate.
Mr Byabakama added that the commission's mandate is limited only to state (public) media which is required to give equal space to all presidential candidates.
A jury has finally been seated for the YSL RICO trial that centers around Young Thug. The jury selection, which started in January, took 11 months to complete. On Nov. 1, Judge Ural Glanville gave an ultimatum by stating that he needed to 'swear a jury in today.' The process included 50 qualified jurors, but […]
The post Jury Finally Seated For Atlanta Rapper Young Thug’s RICO Trial, 11 Months Later first appeared on Atlanta Tribune.
The post Jury Finally Seated For Atlanta Rapper Young Thug’s RICO Trial, 11 Months Later appeared first on Atlanta Tribune.
Malawi’s presidential campaign is in full swing despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
As soon as the country’s Supreme Court of Appeal cleared the last hurdle on the road to the 2 July presidential election, campaigns were intensified with total disregard of measures prescribed by health experts to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Last week, crowds gathered around opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera in the streets of the capital Lilongwe, to celebrate the decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal to uphold the annulment, for fraud, of Peter Mutharika’s re-election in 2019.
From public meetings, publicity caravans and door-to-door visits – the electoral frenzy is in full swing throughout the country, as if the novel coronavirus pandemic did not exist.
So I keep going to the rallies, because I know that in Malawi the coronavirus is very political…”
\tIndeed, while the pandemic has stirred the sacred union reflexes of most of its neighbors, it’s also fueled some very partisan fights in Malawi.
And now just emerging from no contact with voters, there are concerns about whether the election calendar and roadmap as set by the National Electoral Commission in December 2018 is still viable considering the time \"lost.\"
\"The Commission has to fulfil Section 8 of the Presidential Elections Act and Section 9 of the Parliamentary Elections Act that provide appointment of nomination days and time,\" reads the commission document, \"for campaigns for presidential elections to commence latest by first week of September 2020 nomination of presidential candidates must have been completed latest third week of August.\"
The first round of nominations must have been completed latest third week of July 2020, while nominations and campaigns for parliamentary elections \"should commence latest by second week August 2020.\"
Sam Rwakoojo, the Secretary to the Electoral Commission told The EastAfrican that the roadmap has been disrupted and some special interest group elections that should have been held around this time (end of May to beginning of June) can't take place, yet they contribute to the national elections and the consequences of those delays are not clear at the moment.
Mr Rwankoojo said no concrete proposals can be generated on specific dates for certain activities because, \"we don't know yet how this disease and lockdown will go,\" he said, adding that while the Constitution is clear on when to hold certain processes, the only available leg room is to determine which activities or elections can be held together to remain within the confines of the law.
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) says it will take delivery of a consignment of indelible link and thumbprint pads ahead of the court-ordered fresh presidential election tentatively set for June 23.
Mathanga: The indelible ink and thumbprint pads will be taken for storage at MEC warehouses in Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Blantyre.
Chief elections officer Sam Alufandika says the materials will arrive at 17:30pm through Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe.
\"After receipt at the airport, the indelible ink and thumbprint pads will be taken for storage at MEC warehouses in Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Blantyre,\" he says.
Earlier, commissioner Jean Mathanga said the printing of ballot papers would only be done after parliament sets date for the election.
Ugandans are engaged in heated debates over the merits, possibilities and effectiveness of participating in what is being popularly referred to as a ‘scientific election’.
The East African country is scheduled to hold presidential, parliamentary and local government elections next year.
The electoral commission last week told the nation to prepare for an unusual election where campaigning will be done digitally, as the destabilizing effects of the coronavirus continue.
Justifying scientific elections
Uganda which currently has over 700 confirmed cases of the coronavirus has been slowly easing restrictions and emphasizing measures of social distancing for all activities in the country.
The commission says it is bound by Article 61 (2) of Uganda’s constitution which tasks it to organize elections within 120 days before the expiry of the term of president, parliament or local government.
In conducting a scientific election, the commission hopes to exercise its duty to facilitate Ugandans’ right to choose their leaders in a healthy and safe environment.
How it will be conducted
Aspirants at all levels will only be able to conduct campaigns electronically via television, radio and social media, since open-air public rallies have been banned.
“This is because electoral activities involve public gatherings and hence pose high COVID-19 risk of person-to-person and object-to-person transmissions,” the commission explained in a statement.
The three months of a lockdown imposed since March across the country also means that some activities will have to be accomplished in a much shorter time.
With hardly six months to the elections scheduled to be held between January and February next year, political parties are yet to nominate flag-bearers for the different offices that will be contested.
Voting itself is to be conducted normally, with president Yoweri Museveni telling the nation on Monday that government can effectively ensure social distancing and other precautionary measures at polling stations.
“… the gathering for the elections themselves, can be safely managed with hand-washing, social-distancing or leaving gaps of the necessary metres between voters in line,” Museveni said.
“This would remove the uncertainty that would be created by the postponement of the elections but also ensure that elections are held safely. I call upon Ugandans to support this option.”
Ugandans react
Key stakeholders in the electoral process including leaders of political parties and the voters themselves have shared mixed reactions to the electoral commission’s proposal.
While the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) has welcomed the proposal and says it will adjust its programme accordingly, many in the opposition say the commission is playing into the hands of incumbent Museveni and other powerful NRM politicians.
The opposition politicians accuse the electoral commission of not consulting them as it drafted the revised election roadmap. According to the popular legislator and presidential hopef
Supporters of Malawi’s new president Lazarus Chakwera gathered for a fireworks display in the capital Lilongwe, celebrating his victory in a keen presidential election re-run.
Chakwera won with 58.57 percent of the vote, the electoral commission said Saturday.
It was a dramatic reversal of fortune for incumbent, Peter Mutharika, whose victory in the May 2019 election was overturned by the Constitutional Court, citing widespread fraud.
And on Saturday, electoral commission announced that Chakwera has been duly elected as the president of Malawi.
In office since 2014, Mutharika had won 38.5 percent of the discredited vote in which Chakwera garnered a close 35.4 percent.
As polls suggest the opposition alliance will win on 23 June, President Mutharika has been trying to forcibly remove the country's chief justice.
When Peter Mutharika was declared the official winner of Malawi's hard-fought presidential elections in May 2019, he would not have expected - or wanted - to be doing it all again just one year later.
Moreover, in his 5 June State of National Address, Mutharika asked parliament to reverse the court ruling that demanded Malawi switch from its first-past-the-post system to one that requires the victor to garner a 50+1 majority.
In the annulled 2019 elections, President Mutharika of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was declared the winner with 38.6% of the vote.
Lazarus Chakwera of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) garnered 35.4%; Saulos Chilima of UTM came third with 20.2%; and Atupele Muluzi of the United Democratic Front (UDF) received 4.7%.
