Berlin, Germany | AFP | Chancellor Angela Merkel sailed to victory in Germany’s general election on Sunday but her win was soured by the entry of an Islamophobic hard-right party to parliament and prospects of tough coalition talks. Here are the first takeaways from the election and the looming challenges ahead. …
Read More »ANALYSIS: Angela Merkel, Germany’s ‘eternal chancellor’
Berlin, Germany | AFP | Angela Merkel has been derided as Europe’s “austerity queen”, cheered as a saviour by refugees and hailed as the new “leader of the free world”. But as the pastor’s daughter raised behind the Iron Curtain just won a fourth term at the helm of Europe’s …
Read More »Kenya police ordered to investigate election officials
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s chief prosecutor has ordered the police and anti-corruption agency to investigate the country’s election commission for alleged “irregularities and illegalities” in the conduct of August’s annulled presidential poll. Director of public prosecutions Keriako Tobiko said the wide-ranging investigations into the Independent Electoral and Boundaries …
Read More »Merkel wins 4th term, hard right gains foothold in parliament
Berlin, Germany | AFP | Chancellor Angela Merkel clinched a fourth term in Germany’s general election on Sunday, but her victory was clouded by the hard-right AfD party winning its first seats in parliament. Merkel, who after 12 years in power held a double-digit lead for most of the campaign, …
Read More »‘Bring home the bacon,’ Merkel tells voters on eve of poll
Berlin, Germany | AFP | Chancellor Angela Merkel and her rival Martin Schulz rallied voters on the eve of Sunday’s election, urging Germans to shun the first hard-right party expected to enter parliament in force since the end of World War II. Merkel, the clear frontrunner after 12 years in power …
Read More »New Zealand’s Trump-esque ‘Kingmaker’ to decide election
Wellington, New Zealand | AFP | For decades New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has been known as “The Kingmaker” — a role the populist anti-immigration campaigner is set to play again after the country’s general election ended in a stalemate. New Zealand’s complex proportional voting system means minor parties usually …
Read More »Booze, Porsches and secrets: Germany’s candidates get real
Berlin, Germany | AFP | Germany’s 2017 election campaign, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to cruise to a fourth term, may have been widely panned as a snoozefest. But a closer look reveals that the candidates themselves are anything but dull. Here’s a rundown of some of the most …
Read More »Kremlin says not involved in Russia-linked Facebook ads
Moscow, Russia | AFP | The Kremlin on Friday distanced itself from the controversy over Russia-linked Facebook ads which may have influenced last year’s US election, saying Moscow had nothing to do with them. “We don’t know who places ads on Facebook and how,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told …
Read More »ATTORNEY GENERAL: No constitutional crisis if Kenya polls delayed
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta will remain president until a new leader is sworn in, the country’s attorney general said Friday, seeking to assuage fears of a constitutional crisis if elections are delayed further. Questions have mounted over the status of the government after the Supreme Court annulled …
Read More »Kenyan election delayed to October 26
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya’s electoral commission on Thursday postponed a re-run of the presidential vote to October 26, giving itself nine extra days to fix problems that had caused the first poll to be annulled. The decision came a day after the Supreme Court issued a detailed judgement lambasting …
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