Tag Archives: election

Paris, France | AFP | Pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron takes on far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the second-round run-off of France’s presidential election on Sunday. – Why is it important? – France is the eurozone’s second-biggest economy as well as a global military and diplomatic heavyweight, with veto power as …

Daughter of late Rwandan tycoon to challenge Kagame Kigali, Rwanda | AFP |  The 35-year-old daughter of a tycoon who once bankrolled the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front said Wednesday she plans to run as an independent candidate against President Paul Kagame in August’s elections. “Everybody is scared to express themselves …

Ahmadinejad barred as Iran Guardians pick vote candidates Tehran, Iran | AFP |  Former Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was barred from running in next month’s election Thursday while President Hassan Rouhani was among six candidates approved by Iran’s conservative-controlled Guardian Council, state media reported. The other candidates selected were hardliners …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  Six Kenyans urged a court Wednesday to suspend a controversial decision by election officials to scrap a tender process and directly procure an electronic voting system for the August polls. The petition is the umpteenth disruption to already chaotic election preparations, a sensitive process in …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | FIFA president Gianni Infantino will be in South Africa and Zimbabwe this week to meet African football bosses and attend a birthday party. He will also visit Uganda and Rwanda. He has invited all 54 African national football association presidents to Johannesburg for two …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP | The head of Gambia’s electoral commission has fled to neighbouring Senegal fearing a plot against him, a month after declaring President Yahya Jammeh lost elections following 22 years in power, one of his relatives said. Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairman Alieu Momar Njie “fled to …

Antananarivo, Madagascar | AFP |  Controversial moves to extend Congolese President Laurent Kabila’s stay in power appeared to advance Sunday as a close ally said elections would not be held until April 2018, 16 months after Kabila was due to leave office. Foreign Minister Raymond Tshibanda also warned that the …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | In Cairo, capital of the most populous Arab country, the US election is met with self-absorbed indifference or loathing for one, and sometimes both, candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The staff at a barber shop in Cairo’s middle class Dokki neighbourhood looked at one …

Washington, United States | AFP | Does Donald Trump have enough “hidden” support among Americans reluctant to publicly express they will vote for him to win the presidency on Tuesday? These undeclared backers might just be Trump’s secret weapon — potentially making the difference in an extremely close race against …

Mogadishu, Somalia | AFP |  Troubled Somalia on Monday announced it was delaying its elections for one more month to October and November due to security issues and administrative problems. Somalia’s internationally-backed government was supposed to hold national elections this year but instead scheduled a limited franchise election in which …