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Electoral authorities in Guinea on Saturday declared President Alpha Conde winner of Sunday's election with 59.49% of the vote, defeating his main rival Cellou Diallo.
Some people went to the streets to protest immediately after the announcement. Such demonstrations have occurred for months after the government changed the constitution through a national referendum, allowing Conde to extend his decade in power.
Opposition candidate Cellou Diallo received 33.50% of the vote, the electoral commission said. Voter turnout was almost 80%.
Political tensions in the West African nation turned violent in recent days after Diallo claimed victory ahead of the official results. Celebrations by his supporters were suppressed when security forces fired tear gas to disperse them.
They accuse the electoral authorities of rigging the vote for incumbent president Alpha Conde.
At least nine people have been killed since the election, according to the government. The violence sparked international condemnation by the U.S. and others.
``Today is a sad day for African democracy,'' said Sally Bilaly Sow, a Guinean blogger and activist living abroad. The government should take into account the will of the people who have a desire for change, he said.
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
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.
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.
\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.
Democratic Republic of Congo: President Tshisekedi reneges on justice pledge, leaving victims in despair
\tPresident Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo has reneged on his inauguration pledges to strengthen the rule of law, fight impunity and ensure justice, leaving the families of hundreds of people killed during the country’s pre-election crisis in despair, Amnesty International said today.
“President Tshisekedi and his government must acknowledge the pain that victims and their families have been enduring and publicly commit to promptly and effectively prosecute those responsible,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southern Africa.
Victims of 2015-2018 brutal crackdowns denied justice in the DRC, Amnesty International interviewed 115 survivors and victims’ family members, on their quest for justice.
Farcical investigations
\tUnder international pressure, former President Joseph Kabila constituted three committees to investigate the deadly crackdowns on protestors, none of which have resulted in any prosecutions.
A second committee created in February 2018 investigated the use of deadly force against protestors on 31 December 2017 and 21 January 2018, recommending prosecution of security officers who ordered or used excessive force against protestors.
Officials and experts are sounding the alarm as Malawi shifts to top campaign gear with giant rallies for an unprecedented presidential re-run despite the coronavirus pandemic.
He said Malawians “will only fully understand the impact once we start to see burial teams and mass graves” because the disease is “deceptively undramatic until it is too late”.
Malawians will only fully understand the impact once we start to see burial teams and mass graves\" because the disease is \"deceptively undramatic until it is too late
\tPolitical scientist Michael Jana said the bitter power struggle has seen the country throw caution to the wind.
The southern African country will hold polls in just under two months after the Constitutional Court overturned the results of last year’s controversial election, which handed President Peter Mutharika a second term.
Mutharika garnered just 38.5 percent of the May 21 vote but the Constitutional Court annulled the result, citing “grave” and “widespread” irregularities, including the use of correction fluid on ballot papers.
Early Kingdoms in the Region:
The first inhabitants of the region [now Equatorial Guinea] are believed to have been Pygmies, of whom only isolated pockets remain in northern Rio Muni. Bantu migrations between the 17th and 19th centuries brought the coastal tribes and later the Fang. Elements of Fang may have generated the Bubi, who immigrated to Bioko from Cameroon and Rio Muni in several waves and succeeded former Neolithic populations.
The Annobon population, native to Angola, was introduced by the Portuguese via Sao Tome.
Europeans Discover the Island of Formosa:
The Portuguese explorer, Fernando Po (Fernao do Poo), seeking a route to India, is credited with having discovered the island of Bioko in 1471. He called it Formosa (pretty flower), but it quickly took on the name of its European discoverer [it is now known as Bioko]. The Portuguese retained control until 1778, when the island, adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the Niger and Ogoue Rivers were ceded to Spain in exchange for territory in South America (Treaty of Pardo).
From 1827 to 1843, Britain established a base on the island to combat the slave trade. The Treaty of Paris settled conflicting claims to the mainland in 1900, and periodically, the mainland territories were united administratively under Spanish rule.
Spain lacked the wealth and the interest to develop an extensive economic infrastructure in what was commonly known as Spanish Guinea during the first half of this century.
Through a paternalistic system, particularly on Bioko Island, Spain developed large cacao plantations for which thousands of Nigerian workers were imported as laborers.
At independence in 1968, largely as a result of this system, Equatorial Guinea had one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa. The Spanish also helped Equatorial Guinea achieve one of the continents highest literacy rates and developed a good network of health care facilities.
A Province of Spain:
In 1959, the Spanish territory of the Gulf of Guinea was
Joseph P. Bradley , (born March 14, 1813, Berne, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 22, 1892, Washington, D.C.), associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1870. Bradley was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Electoral Commission of 1877, and his vote elected Rutherford B. Hayes president of the United States. As a justice he emphasized the power of the federal government to regulate commerce. His decisions reflecting this view, rendered during the period of rapid industrialization that followed the American Civil War, were significant in assuring a national market for manufactured goods. His refusal to allow constitutional protection for the civil rights of blacks assisted in the defeat of Reconstruction in the South.
A farm boy with a thirst for learning, Bradley managed to find a way to attend Rutgers College. He thereafter passed the New Jersey bar. He grew to be both a reflective master of the law and an active participant in large undertakings; the Camden & Amboy Railroad was his most important client. In 1870 Bradley was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ulysses S. Grant and was assigned, as a traveling circuit justice, to the Fifth (Southern) Circuit. His first major civil-rights case was United States v. Cruikshank, which he heard initially in federal circuit court in 1874. It concerned an armed attack by whites who killed 60 blacks at a political rally in Louisiana. Bradley ruled that such rights as the citizen’s right to vote, to assemble peaceably, and to bear arms and the rights to due process and equal protection were not protected by the federal government but by the states. When the case reached the Supreme Court, the majority held the same view.
In 1883 Bradley and the court majority declared unconstitutional two sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which had forbidden discrimination on the ground of colour in inns, public conveyances, and places of amusement. Bradley held that the act was beyond the power of Congress because the Fourteenth Amendment barred discriminatory actions only
Given the generally perceived poor performances of the governments during this period it is no surprise that the three elections have been the most competitive (one seat majorities/minorities for the winner) in the history of Guyana’s elections.
As some writers have suggested, Guyana’s elections are dynamic because of the increased Mixed and Indigenous citizens, influx of youthful voters unburdened by loyalty or distrust, and older voters willing to give third (e.g. AFC) parties a voice in parliament.
GECOM, the body tasked to provide an appropriate OLE has not done so despite major activities over the past 10 years: three general elections, two local government elections, claims and objection periods and an aborted partial house-to-house registration.
got the clear impression from the Chairman (retired Justice Claudette Singh) and all of the Commissioners that they were quite satisfied that the preparations for elections were onstream and that we can all look forward to having a credible and efficient election by the 2nd of March,”
Given the above, I am convinced all parties went into the 2020 election accepting the OLE and were well aware of the “bloat”.
Statements from observers and almost all the contesting parties suggest that GECOM election day staff and processes effectively thwarted most of the efforts to use the OLE illegally.
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.
With loud cheers and applause they waved Malawi’s red, black and green flag in celebration. 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.
Some 6.8 million voters in the southern African country had returned to the polls on Tuesday. And on Saturday, electoral commission announced that Chakwera has been duly elected as the president of Malawi.
Mutharika came second with over 1.7 million votes, while a thiurd candidate Peter Dominico Kuwani received 32,456.
Mutharika did not wish to comment on his defeat. But earlier on Saturday, he argued that the election re-run had been flawed, citing violence and intimidation against his party monitors.
In office since 2014, Mutharika had won 38.5 percent of the discredited vote in which Chakwera garnered a close 35.4 percent.
[Daily News] Zanzibar -- ZANZIBAR Electoral Commission (ZEC) has announced September 11, the official day for commencing election campaigns, which are scheduled to last after 46 days.
In its 142-page decision the seven judges in Malawi's Supreme Court of Appeal, among them the Chief Justice, Andrew Nyirenda, are unanimous in upholding the finding of the Constitutional Court: the May 2019 elections failed in their aim of 'duly electing' a new President.
That's because the country's electoral commission, commenting on the Appeal Court decision, has suggested that it might not be possible to have the new President sworn in by the court's deadline if the original re-run schedule prevails.
In fact, it would be hard to read the Appeal Court's decision as anything other than a sharp rebuke to the commission about the way it handled matters, particularly as the votes were being collected and tallied, and then again when the validity of the polls was tested in court.
The position of Malawi's courts had been that if the results were not affected by irregularities, the elections should stand.
Stating its revised position on the matter, the judges said that it would be hard for a court in Malawi to uphold an election where its conduct was 'largely compromised', especially since voting numbers in such a case could be the result of flouting electoral law.
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 said.
The election had handed President Peter Mutharika a second term, but with just 38.5% of the vote.
Legally parliament had to validate the new polling date.
He said the court ruling \"clearly states that parliament must set a date for the elections\".
Meantime, a new electoral commission was sworn-in on Tuesday to organise the new vote, after the top court also ordered an investigation into the conduct of the previous one.
“To the polls” was presented as the answer this week as members of Keepers of 306, a National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM) initiative that engages civic-minded young leaders moved to answer the question being asked by many: “Where do we go from here?” The no-wavering answer came on Tuesday (June 30) evening during a virtual []
With both the local government and general elections on the horizon, there are mounting calls for the Government and the Opposition to give urgent consensus to holding both polls simultaneously in light of a number of prevailing conditions being faced by the country.
The last local government elections were held in November 2016 and with the next polls due between November 2020 and February 2021.
Jamaicans last elected a government in February 2016, with the current administration’s five-year term ending in February 2021 and the next election due within a maximum of three months thereafter, closing the window in May.
For him, local government and national elections should not be held just because they are due, but for real benefits to the citizens and the country.
In the 2016 general election, only 47.7 per cent of the 1.82 million registered voters participated in the process, the lowest turnout since 1983, when the PNP boycotted the 1983 snap election.
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.
… , by contrast, pundits often portray Black Americans as an undifferentiated mass – loyal … of Black Americans as Democratic loyalists.
Our new survey of 1,215 African Americans … fewer than half of young Black Americans surveyed in battleground states say …
Tolbert was ousted in a military coup on April 12, 1980, by Master Sgt. Samuel K. Doe, backed by the U.S. government. Does rule was characterized by corruption and brutality. A rebellion led by Charles Taylor, a former Doe aide, and the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), started in Dec. 1989; the following year, Doe was assassinated. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) negotiated with the government and the rebel factions and attempted to restore order, but the civil war raged on. By April 1996, factional fighting by the countrys warlords had destroyed any last vestige of normalcy and civil society. The civil war finally ended in 1997.
In what was considered by international observers to be a free election, Charles Taylor won 75% of the presidential vote in July 1997. The country had next to no health care system, and the capital was without electricity and running water. Taylor supported Sierra Leones brutal Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in the hopes of toppling his neighbors government and in exchange for diamonds, which enriched his personal coffers. As a consequence, the UN issued sanctions against Liberia.
In 2002, rebels—Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD)—intensified their attacks on Taylors government. By June 2003, LURD and other rebel groups controlled two-thirds of the country. Finally, on Aug. 11, Taylor stepped down and went into exile in Nigeria. By the time he was exiled, Taylor had bankrupted his own country, siphoning off $100 million and leaving Liberia the worlds poorest nation. Gyude Bryant, a businessman seen as a coalition builder, was selected by the various factions as the new president.
Amadou Toumani Touré , byname ATT (born November 4, 1948, Mopti, French Sudan [now in Mali]), Malian politician and military leader who twice led his country. He served as interim president (1991–92) after a coup and was elected president in 2002. In March 2012 he was deposed in a military coup. He officially resigned the next month.
Touré studied to be a teacher and later joined the army in 1969, receiving military training in France and the U.S.S.R. At one time he was a member of the Presidential Guard in Mali, but he had a falling out with the president, Gen. Moussa Traoré, and lost this position.
Touré first came to international prominence on March 26, 1991, as the leader of a coup that toppled Traoré (who had himself come to power in 1968 in a coup against Modibo Keita). Touré’s coup was generally welcomed because of Traoré’s repressive policies, which had led to popular unrest, often manifested in violent riots, in 1990–91. It was after days of such rioting that the coup took place, and it seemed to many that Touré had acted in the name of the people and brought stability and democracy to the country. Be this as it may, the pro-democracy forces in the country lost little time in organizing the 1992 presidential election, in which Touré did not stand, and he retired as president on June 8, 1992.
For the next decade Touré occupied himself with nonmilitary activities, mostly concerned with public health. In 1992 he became the head of Mali’s Intersectoral Committee for Guinea Worm Eradication, and he was associated with campaigns to eliminate polio and other childhood diseases as well as working for the control of AIDS in Africa, often collaborating with the Carter Center, the nonprofit humanitarian organization run by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. Touré also was active in trying to resolve disputes in the Great Lakes region (Rwanda, Burundi, and Democratic Republic of the Congo) and served as a United Nations special envoy to the Central African Republic after a coup occurred in that country in
Guinea Bissau was warned on Saturday to prepare for a possible increase in coronavirus cases by the head of its response commission, as a team of Cuban health workers arrived to help the nation tackle the pandemic.
Almost all cases (94%) have been recorded in the capital Bissau.
Former health minister Magda Nely Robalo, who was appointed to take charge of the response, urged people to continue preventive measures as she welcomed the 23 Cuban doctors and health workers who came at the request of the Bissau government.
Robalo said Guinea Bissau was facing major challenges due to the weakness of its health system.
Over 170 of Bissau's 2,000 health workers have contracted coronavirus, according to the World Health Organisation, while health authorities have raised the alarm over a lack of oxygen to treat patients.
Malawi's governing party has called for a third presidential election, citing irregularities and intimidation in this week's re-run vote as unofficial tallies show incumbent President Peter Mutharika losing to the opposition leader.
By Cash Michaels and Peter Grear, Greater Diversity News If preliminary data estimates on the recent 2020 primaries in North Carolina are accurate, student voters on HBCU campuses must raise their turnout game come the general election this November. So says Dr. William Busa, founder of EQV Analytics, a ‘North Carolina-focused campaign consulting firm serving
President Nana Akufo-Addo said the country’s health minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu is in a stable condition after contracting the new coronavirus.
“Let us wish our hardworking minister for health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, a speedy recovery from the virus, which he contracted in the line of duty,” Akufo-Addo said in an broadcast, giving an update on the pandemic situation in Ghana.
Let us wish our hardworking minister for health, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, a speedy recovery from the virus.
Ghana has recorded 11,964 positive coronavirus cases, one of the highest in the region, but has also carried out one of the highest number of tests in the continent at 254,331 and has one of lowest number of deaths from the virus.
With 54 deaths reported thus far in Ghana, the ratio of deaths to positive cases stands at 0.4%, compared to the global average of 5.5%, and the African average of 2.6%, Akufo-Addo said.
