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The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) has announced plans to conduct research aimed at determining some of the factors that lead to voter apathy particularly during by-elections in the country. Speaking in Nsanje at the end of the voter verification and registration exercise on Tuesday, MEC chairperson Justice Dr Chifundo Kachali said the decision has been […]
The post MEC to conduct research on voter apathy appeared first on Malawi 24.
\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.
Other countries scheduled to hold elections are Egypt, Guinea, Seychelles and Tanzania.
For countries that do hold elections, there may be special voting arrangements that can allow polls to go ahead but reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
In South Korea's elections in mid-April, the electoral commission encouraged people to vote before election day at any of the 3,500 polling stations throughout the country.
This not only decongested polling stations on election day but contributed to the highest turnout in the country for nearly 30 years.
This means that countries planning to hold elections in 2020 or early-2021 need to start discussing these arrangements - across party lines and among multiple relevant agencies - as soon as possible.
Malawi Regulatory Communications Authority (Macra) has threatened to shut down three powerful private broadcasters in the country for allegedly violating their broadcasting licence agreement during the ongoing campaign ahead of fresh presidential elections, a warning which has been rebuked by citizens and commentators.
In a letter on Tuesday, Macra director general Godfrey Itaye says preliminary assessment of some political broadcasts by Mibawa Television, Times Television (TTV), Times radio, Zodiak Broadcasting Station (radio and TV) indicate breaches contrary to section 22 of the second schedule to the Communications Act, 2016.
However, Malawians have angrily reacted in social media platforms, accusing Macra of bias and shielding state broadcaster Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) which recently showed obscene words against state vice president Saulos Chilima.
Macra summoned MBC management to appear before it last Wednesday, May 20 following a complaint filed by lawyers in conjunction with three civil rights society organizations -- Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC), Church and Society of the CCAP Livingstonia Synod and Youth and Society (YAS) that asked to take MBC Television and Radio off-air or they would immediately file for an order in the High Court, compelling the regulator to close the public broadcaster until the professional personnel there at are flushed out and duly replaced.
In their petition to MACRA, the four complainants had said MBC \"is a creature of Parliament and that its broadcasting licence is statutory, per section 108 of the Communications Act\".
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Commissioner Arthur Nanthulu has called on the District Elections Supervisory Team (DEST) for Nsanje District to ensure that all set procedures and guidelines are adhered to during next month's by elections. Speaking during an orientation meeting the electoral body organised for the DEST members on Sunday in the District, Commissioner Nanthulu […]
The post Do not compromise on standards – MEC commissioner advises district elections team appeared first on Malawi 24.
The key to a Democratic win in November is voter turnout, which former first lady Michelle Obama knows all too well.
In an interview conducted by TV showrunner Shonda Rhimes for Harper’s Bazaar, Michelle Obama said, “Some folks don’t see the impact of their vote on their day-to-day lives—if the trains still run, the kids are still going to school, and they still have a job, what difference does one vote really make, right?
Obama also pushed people to see beyond just the president when voting, “So every single person out there needs to ask themselves, do they trust the folks in charge to make the right call?
She also gave talking points for people how to dismiss their vote, “When I’m talking to young people, I like to ask them a simple question: Would you let your grandma decide what you wear on a night out to the club?
Not many people want someone else making their decisions for them, especially when that person might not see the world the same way as they do.”
By Tali Arbel Associated Press Several civil rights and other advocacy groups are calling on large advertisers to stop Facebook ad campaigns during July because they say the social network isn’t doing enough to curtail racist and violent content on its platform. The groups in the “#StopHateforProfit” campaign launch, include Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Sleeping []
[Malawi News Agency] Blantyre -Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Chairperson, Chifundo Kachale says the commission has a Constitutional mandate to re-look at null and void votes from all the polling stations because they have an impact on the final results.
Local organizers hope to increase voter turn turnout from Forester Athletic Complex to various voting locations including the Skyline Branch Library, the Martin Luther King Center and the Oak Cliff Sub-Courthouse Building on the success of its recent “Pack the Polls” car parade during the July primary election, local community groups and leaders are hosting a caravan designed to […]
This weekend marks the first round of elections for 568 seats in the lower house of parliament.
Generation Z voters - here is what the establishment doesn't want you to know, and here's why you should vote now.
The report, Reconstruction in America, documents more than 2,000 black victims of racial terror lynchings killed between the end of the civil war in 1865 and the collapse of federal efforts to protect the lives and voting rights of black Americans in 1876.
In that brief 12-year period, known as Reconstruction, a reign of terror was unleashed by Confederate veterans and former slave owners in a brazen effort to keep black people enslaved in all but name.
The report is a prequel to EJI’s groundbreaking 2015 research that identified and recorded more than 4,400 black victims of racial terror lynchings from the post-Reconstruction period, 1877 to 1950.
The new report allows that grim tally to be further expanded with the addition of the 2,000 documented victims from the Reconstruction era itself – bringing the total number of documented cases of black people who were supposedly free yet were lynched in the most sadistic fashion to a staggering 6,500 men, women and children.
Bryan Stevenson, EJI’s executive director, told the Guardian that the new report highlights the capitulation and complicity of American institutions – from local sheriffs right up to the US supreme court in Washington – in the face of white supremacist violence.
Memphis Urban League Young Professionals (MULYP) will partner with the Memphis Urban League and the US Census Bureau to host a Voter Registration/Census Caravan and Neighborhood Clean Up on Saturday (Sept. 19). The event, which begins at noon, will feature a caravan through one of the lowest Census count areas of Memphis (South of the […]
The High Court has fired four Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Commissioners representing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), saying they were not duly appointed. Judge Kenyatta Nyirenda has delivered his ruling today after Malawi Congress Party (MCP) complained over the composition of the commission. The party cited Section 4 of the amended Electoral Commission Act of 2017 […]
The post Court fires four MEC commissioners appeared first on Malawi 24.
With Republican-led voter suppression efforts ramped up, one could make a legal argument of gross negligence about our election system. But can anyone prove it?
The High Court in Blantyre has ordered President Lazarus Chakwera to send letters of appointment to Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Commissioners Jean Mathanga and Linda Kunje. Judge Jack N'riva has made the ruling today after the two commissioners dragged the president to court over his refusal to give them their appointment letters. According to lawyer […]
The post Court orders Chakwera to formally appoint Kunje, Mathanga appeared first on Malawi 24.
In February 2010, the military of Niger staged a coup and overthrew the government of President Mamadou Tandja, replacing him with a leader of their own choosing, Salou Djibo. A new government, deemed the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, was also formed. Djibo promised the people of his country a return to civilian rule and elections to choose a new leader, but he has not said when that event will occur. The overthrow of Tandja, a former military man himself, is evidence that many in Niger were deeply unhappy with his recent abolishment of presidential term limits, seeing it as a threat to the countrys young democracy. Tandja had been in office for over 10 years.
In the first round of 2011 presidential elections which saw 51.6% voter turnout, Mahamadou Issoufou of the Niger Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS) won 36.2% of the vote while Seyni Oumarou of the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD) tallied 23.2%, triggering a runoff, which was held in March. After capturing 58% of the runoff vote, Mahamadou Issoufou assumed the presidential office. He appointed Brigi Rafini as prime minister.
See also Encyclopedia: Niger .
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes: Niger
By TAMARA LUSH and EMILY SCHMALL, Associated Press
Arizona’s Republican governor shut down bars, movie theaters, gyms and water parks Monday and leaders in several states ordered residents to wear masks in public in a dramatic course reversal amid an alarming resurgence of coronavirus cases nationwide.
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday that he’s postponing the restarting of indoor dining because people have not been wearing face masks or complying with recommendations for social distancing.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she will issue an executive order mandating the use of masks in stores and shops, restaurants, and in any situation where social distancing of 6 feet (2 meters) cannot be maintained, including outside.
In Texas, a group of bar owners sued on Monday to try to overturn Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s order closing their businesses.
One of Cuomo’s Republican counterparts, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, on a conference call with Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House coronavirus task force, also asked Pence and Trump to issue a national call to wear masks.
Much has been made of the impact that Black voter turnout had on Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
But the contributions go far beyond just showi
[Nation] Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leader Raila Odinga has accused some government officials of using the police force to settle political scores in the just concluded by-elections.
Your vote is your voice. We need you to use it this November to achieve real change. We need you to use it to create the beloved community John Lewis dreamed of.
The Electoral Commission (EC) has revealed that only presidential candidates will be given free and equal airtime on the state owned media outlets as provided for in the Presidential Elections Act 2005.
Mr Byabakama said the electoral body will meet the Uganda Commissions Commission (UCC) to discuss the enforcement of the law which requires all presidential candidates to have the same access to the state-owned media outlets.
Section 23 (1 and 2) of Presidential Elections Act 2005 stipulates that all presidential candidates shall get equal treatment, freedom of expression and access to information of candidates.
\"
According to the electoral body, a presidential candidate is free to buy airtime from privately owned media houses to supplement their free access to the state owned media.
In February, Parliament passed the Presidential Elections Amendment Bill which stipulates punitive measures to state owned media managers such as a year in jail or a fine of up to Shs10m for denying presidential candidates coverage.
Malawi's opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera was sworn in Sunday as the southern African country's new president after winning the re-run of a hotly disputed election.
Chakwera, a former evangelist preacher, was declared the winner of the election replay held on Tuesday with almost 59% of the vote, according to results announced late on Saturday.
Chakwera was pronounced the winner with 2.6 million votes, while Mutharika took 1.75 million and underdog candidate Peter Dominico Kuwani over 32 400.
In power since 2014, Mutharika had won 38% of the discredited vote last year, just ahead of Chakwera with about 35%.
Kenya's former prime minister Raila Odinga - who lost to the incumbent in the country's 2017 vote re-run - was among several politicians to congratulate Chakwera.
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.
Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Commissioner Steven Duwa has decried the tendency by some politicians in the country who shun their campaign promises once elected, saying such conduct is retrogressive. Speaking at Magoti Primary school on Saturday in Nsanje when he launched the Lalanje ward by Elections slated for next month, Commissioner Duwa said it is […]
The post Don’t lie to voters, MEC commissioner tells politicians appeared first on Malawi 24.
Republican lawmakers in Texas have moved to introduce laws to tighten ID requirements, limit early voting and enhance consequences for... View Article
The post Texas GOP introduce slew of voting restriction bills following 2020 elections appeared first on TheGrio.
The Face of Voter Suppression How can you be charged with illegally voting when you did not vote? Further, how can you be incarcerated for making a “mistake” casting a vote? What is a provisional ballot? Does a provisional ballot constitute a vote? How did the term “intentionally voted illegally” become the elephant-in-the -room in […]
Initiative to Include Radio Ads, Digital PSAs, Voter Outreach “Caravan” in 11 Key States Today, Black Voters Matter Fund (BVMF) announced a major voter outreach ...
“Joe Biden owes black people, and black women in particular, a debt of gratitude for reviving a campaign that was dead,” said Colette Phillips, founder of the Get Konnected social network and a supporter of the former vice president in the primary.
Black women in particular supported the former Delaware senator, leading to big wins in primaries across the South as rival candidates dropped out and coalesced around Biden.
To many African Americans, Biden’s vice presidential choice should reflect the Democratic Party’s most loyal base, a black woman who can inspire a strong turnout by voters of color in November and help replicate the coalition that twice elected Barack Obama to the White House.
“If Joe Biden thinks he can not choose a black woman and win, my name is Alexander Hamilton,” said the Rev. Miniard Culpepper, pastor of the Pleasant Hill Baptist Church and a primary supporter of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Massachusetts state Rep. Nika Elugardo of Jamaica Plain, who co-chaired the Sanders campaign in the Bay State, said Biden should find a woman of color from the heartland with strong ties to the labor movement and the experience of immigrants — drawing from the demographic foundation of the Democratic Party.
Malawi held an investiture for President Lazarus Chakwera and Vice President Saulos Chilima on Sunday, hours after the elections body declared Chakwera winner of the June 23 polls.
