#THEMALDIVES: Bill Would Restrict Media Coverage Of Elections

[world politics news]

The Maldives parliament has opened debate on an amendment to the country’s General Elections Act proposed in mid-February by a lawmaker with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party, which would allow only journalists working for media outlets registered with the government and approved by the Election Commission to report from voting and vote-counting sites on election days, according to multiple news reports and Ahmed Naif, secretary-general of the Maldives Journalists Association.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SINGAPORE: Bill Would Reform Presidential Elections

[world politics news]

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is set to introduce two Government Bills tabling legislative amendments to the presidential elections, when Parliament sits for a session on Monday.

A presidential election must be called by Sep 13, with President Halimah Yacob’s six-year term expiring on that day.

It will be open to candidates of all races, as opposed to the reserved election in 2017 where only members of the Malay community were allowed to contest. 

A Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill debated in Parliament in 2017 introduced changes to how such polls are run, across areas like campaigning and rallies. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#UK: 16/17-Year-Old Voters In Wales Say They Need Better Voter Education

[world politics news]

Children should be taught about politics in school to encourage them to vote, according to young people about to vote for the first time.

Those aged 16 and 17 were able to vote for the first time in the Welsh Senedd, the region's parliament, in May 2021, although turnout was low among this age group.

Despite being given the right to vote for the first time in last May's Welsh Parliamentary elections, figures showed 50% of that group registered to vote, with an estimated 60% of those actually voting.

This age group can also vote in Scottish parliament elections, but not for the UK parliament.

A previous report on Welsh votes at 16 said work engaging youngsters needed to start earlier.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#TURKEY: Parliamentary Threshold For Parties Lowered To 7%

[world politics news]

The Turkish parliament on March 31 approved amendments to the election law, lowering the election threshold for political parties to earn seats in Parliament from 10 to 7 percent.

The military government in the aftermath of the 1980 coup d’état had introduced the 10% election barrier, which is the highest in the European continent, in a bid to maintain political stability.

The alliance the opposition are part of already garners more than 7%.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SOUTHAFRICA: Ballot Bill Raises Cost Concerns

[world politics news]

 

South Africa's Constitutional Court found in June 2020 that exclusive party proportional representation could no longer be used and that independent candidates should be allowed to stand for provincial and national elections.

In its judgment, the court gave parliament 24 months to correct the defect in the Electoral Act. The deadline is June.

But the ruling African National Congress Party has raised concerns about the bill currently before the National Assembly to solve the problem, which they say would make the paper ballots extremely long and expensive to produce.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#RUSSIA: Putin Gets Approval For Two More Terms As President

[world politics news]

Russia's lower chamber of the parliament -- the State Duma - recently adopted a bill allowing acting President Vladimir Putin to run for two more terms.

Putin has been either president or prime minister of Russia since 2001.

Apart from resetting previous terms of acting presidency, the bill sets requirements for presidential nominees -- such as Russian citizenship and a minimum age of 35. The nominees must have permanently resided in Russia for at least 25 years, and never had citizenship or a residence permit of another state.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#IRAQ: New Electoral Law Paves Way For June Election

[world politics news] 

The Iraqi parliament has passed an election law that paves the way for early elections, scheduled for next June.

A feature of the law is that each of the country's governing districts will be divided into a number of electoral constituencies that reflect the number of seats allocated for women in parliament under the Constitution, which is 25.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#EGYPT: Overseas Voters Cast First Ballots In Election

[world politics news] 

The first phase of parliamentary elections kicked off, Monday by allowing voters to find their ballot papers online on the National Elections Authority website in order to resend them to the embassies and diplomatic missions in different countries during the voting days.

A period of "electoral silence" for the House elections started Sunday ahead of the parliament elections. During the electoral silence period all candidates are prohibited from practicing any form of electoral advertising, in order to allow voters to choose freely.

According to the elections schedule, the candidates’ campaigns ended October 18.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#IRAQ: Parliament Approves Election Reforms After Protests

[world politics news]

Iraq's parliament has approved a new electoral law aimed at giving political independents a better chance of winning seats, a key demand of protesters to make elections fairer.

The new law redraws each of the country's 18 provinces into several electoral districts, with one legislator elected per 100,000 people.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#GREECE: Greeks Living Abroad May Get To Vote For Parliamentary Deputies, Serve In Parliament

[world politics news]

A proposal to give the right to vote to those Greeks living overseas, and even allow them to serve as Deputies in Parliament, is likely to receive unanimous support, reports say. The New Democracy Party-led government made the proposals, which would amend the nation's election laws, and leave it to parliament to enact legislation to determine the capacity in which ex-pat Deputies would serve.

All parliamentary parties have expressed, one way or the other, their cautious support to the governmental amendment and it remains to be seen whether this historic vote will garner the absolute unanimous support in the House; something extremely rare in the country’s turbulent political history.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#UK: Wales Labour Party TV Ad Pulled After "Fake Nurse" Revealed As Actress

[world politics news]

The Welsh Labour Party was forced to shelve a TV election campaign after it emerged the National Health Service nurse in it was an actress. The 30-second clip was broadcast on the several nationwide TV networks, and featured a nurse wearing a NHS-issue blue tunic.

She slams the Conservative Party for trying to 'sell the NHS to Donald Trump' and promises to increase funding for the Health Service. But the Labour Party of Wales was forced to withdraw the party political broadcast after someone pointed out the nurse was an actress, and was not identified as such as required by election laws.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#RUSSIA: Duma Commission Calls Foreign Media, Facebook And Google "Spies," Violated Election Laws

[world politics news]

A special commission of the Russian Duma has called for the legislature to take measures against a number of foreign media for violating the Russian election laws, alleging that some of them were spies, the Commission said in a report.

The Commission on the Investigation of Foreign Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs accused Radio Liberty, Current time, Medusa, BBC Russian Service, MBK-Media and Voice of America for violating “the legislation by carrying out an election campaign on election day,” during the country’s local elections in September.

Facebook and Google, according to the Commission’s Chairman Vasilii Piskarev, may also join the “team” waiting for “appropriate measures,” as the parliamentarians received confirmation that they have also violated the election laws.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SOUTHAFRICA: High Court Hears Case Arguing Requiring Candidates To Be In Political Parties Violates Constitution

[world politics news]

The nation's Constitutional Court is hearing a case arguing that requiring candidates to be members of political parties violates their rights. Plaintiffs led by New Nation Movement and the Indigenous First Nation Advocacy South Africa argued that the Electoral Act was unconstitutional for barring people from standing for public office without joining political parties.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#THAILAND: Electoral Commission Rules That Princess Cannot Enter Politics As PM Candidate After King's Rebuke

[world politics news]

Thailand's election commission Wednesday asked the constitutional court to dissolve a political party that put forward a princess as candidate for prime minister, days after the move earned a royal rebuke from her brother, the king. Thailand has been mired in political drama since Friday, when Princess Ubolratana's name was submitted by Thai Raksa Chart, a party allied with the powerful Shinawatra clan.

Ubolratana's unprecedented bid to enter politics unravelled within hours after King Maha Vajiralongkorn decried the entry of a royal into the political fray as "highly inappropriate." Thailand's monarchy is seen as above politics, although royals have intervened in public during times of political crisis.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#CANADA: Alberta Party Leader Banned From Politics For 5 Years; Missed Filing Deadline

[world politics news]

The head of the Alberta Party has been banned from running in provincial elections for 5 years for missing a filing deadline with Elections Alberta.

Stephen Mandel is one of several candidates declared ineligible to run in the coming provincial election, according to a list released by Elections Alberta. But Mandel believes there was a deadline mixup from Elections Alberta and plans to continue campaigning and fight the ban in court if necessary. 

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#TAIWAN: New Regulations Would Ban Foreign Money Funding Political Ads

[world politics news]

Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior will draft an amendment to ban the media from publishing advertisements paid for by foreign interests, in a bid to quell foreign influence on Taiwanese elections. The proposed amendment hopes to alter the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, and will also call for greater transparency to domestic funding of political advertisements.

[FULL STORY HERE]

World Politics News is dedicated to raising Americans' knowledge of political events, elections, and legislation throughout the world.

#SOUTHKOREA: Governor Faces Arrest For Manipulating Online Opinion Polls

[world politics news]

Special investigators are seeking to arrest Kim Kyoung-soo, the incumbent governor of South Gyeongsang Province, over his involvement in an online opinion-rigging scandal. Kim is suspected of colluding with a blogger to use illegal software to manipulate public opinion ahead of last year’s presidential election.  Kim was grilled twice by the special counsel investigating the case, on Aug. 6 and 9.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#JAPAN: Upper House Passes Bill To Raise Number Of Its Members To 248

[world politics news]

The Upper House of the Legislature, the House of Councillors, has passed an amendment to the election law calling for increasing the number of seats in the upper chamber of Japan’s Diet by six from the current 242. The bill was sponsored by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and passed mostly with votes from its coalition partner, Komeito. The legislation has been sent to the House of Representatives, the powerful lower chamber.

[FULL STORY HERE]

#SINGAPORE: Pres. Election Pushed Back A Month, New Rules Announced In Legislation

[world politics news]

This year's presidential election will be pushed back to September, to avoid the campaigning period coinciding with National Day celebrations in August, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Chan Chun Sing, who announced a new bill in parliament featuring several new election rules. In the past, Polling Day typically fell in the last week of August. Presidential hopefuls will get more time to submit their papers, and the committee which assesses whether they are eligible to run for election will also have more time to go through applications. President Tony Tan Keng Yam's term expires on Aug 31.

[FULL STORY HERE]

Pictured: Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Chan Chun Sing

#INDONESIA: Gov't Wants To Keep 3.5% Threshold For Parties Winning Seats In Parliament

[world politics news]

The government has signaled it plans to keep in place a requirement that parties contesting elections for parliament earn 3.5% of the national vote total to win any seats. Some smaller parties had urged elimination of the requirement. Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said it doesn't have the votes to raise the percentage, or it would. Even if smaller parties win more than 3.5% in regional elections, that would not qualify them for seats in the House of Representatives.

[FULL STORY HERE]