Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The Congolese opposition on Saturday unveiled a rolling programme of strikes and civil disobedience aimed at forcing President Joseph Kabila from power. The announcement was made after two days of opposition talks in Kinshasa amid concerns that Kabila, in power since 2001, is seeking …
Read More »Kenya MP faces contempt charge for ethnic comments
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenyan police said on Friday they had arrested an opposition parliamentarian on suspicion of “ethnic contempt” over a public address he made ahead of next month’s tight presidential election. Junet Mohammed, a high-ranking member of leading opposition candidate Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement, was taken …
Read More »NRM summoned to court over unpaid Presidential election posters.
Kampala, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | The Commercial Court has summoned the ruling NRM party to respond to claims that it has refused to pay 580 million shillings being a debt for Presidential posters and flyers used in the 2016 Election Campaigns. Elite Graphics Printers Ltd says that it was contracted …
Read More »Kenya records five million new voters for August polls
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s election commission announced Tuesday that there would be five million new voters taking part in August polls, raising the stakes for incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta and his longtime rival Raila Odinga. After the first-ever audit of the voter’s register — often seen as a key …
Read More »KENYA: It is Odinga versus Kenyatta again
Eight candidates in the running for Kenya presidency Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s electoral commission on Monday approved eight candidates to take part in the presidential election in August, including incumbent leader Uhuru Kenyatta and his historic rival Raila Odinga. The vetting process left several candidates disappointed, including one …
Read More »Opposition member ‘assassinated’ in Rwanda
Kigali, Rwanda | AFP | A member of a banned Rwandan opposition party has been assassinated, party officials alleged Thursday, less than three months before national elections are due to be held. The body of Jean Damascene Habarugira, a member of the United Democratic Forces party (known by its French …
Read More »French election: what you need to know
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 …
Read More »Rwandan tycoon to challenge Kagame in elections
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 …
Read More »Ahmadinejad barred from Iran elections
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 …
Read More »Spat over Kenyan electronic vote tender goes to court
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 …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price