Election News

Thailand Opposition Parties, After Stunning Election Win.

Published

1 year ago

2023-05-15

Thailand Opposition Parties, After Stunning Election Win.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand’s main two opposition parties began preparations for the next step of their bid to oust the military-dominated government on Monday, following a shock election triumph in which they secured a majority of seats in the House of Representatives.

The Move Forward Party, led by 42-year-old businessman Pita Limjaroenrat, won the election, outperforming most predictions. It narrowly defeated the Pheu Thai party, which was widely expected to win the election.

Despite the star power of Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former populist prime leader who was deposed in a 2006 military coup and who is the driving force behind the party, Pheu Thai has faltered.

“The overwhelming electoral victory by Move Forward and Pheu Thai is a decisive sign that voters want a polity where the people, not the military, decide their future,” said Tyrell Haberkorn, a University of Wisconsin Thai studies scholar.

“Voters want a Thailand with free speech, without compulsory military conscription, and where the people’s voices are valued, not something to be silenced or bought,” she stated.

Pita stated on Monday that he has been in discussions with five other parties about building a coalition government. It would have 309 House seats in total, which would be more stable than the previous 292-seat partnership with Pheu Thai as the sole ally. Parliament will choose a new prime minister in July, giving them roughly two months to reach an agreement.

On Monday afternoon, supporters of Move Forward paraded through Bangkok’s streets to celebrate their triumph. Pita smiled broadly and waved as an open truck convoy brought him and other party members gently through the streets of the capital’s historic quarter.

Thailand has been led for the past nine years by former army leader Prayuth Chan-ocha, who took power in a 2014 military coup and was re-elected prime minister following the 2019 election. He ran for reelection on Sunday, but has been chastised for a sluggish economy, a bungled early reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, and stifling democratic changes – a particular irritant among younger people.

“The sentiment of the era has changed, and it’s right,” Pita said on Monday. “And today is a new day, and hopefully it will be full of bright sunshine and hope for the future.”

Earlier, as it became evident that his party would take the lead, he stated that as the country’s 30th prime minister, he is ready to bring about change. “Whether you agree with me or not, I will be your prime minister.” I will serve you whether you voted for me or not.”

Move Forward and Pheu Thai are mainly united in their opposition to the military’s periodic meddling in politics, as seen by more than a dozen coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, and most recently in 2006 and 2014.

Both parties support some aspects of monarchy reform, which irritates the traditional royalist establishment, which sees the institution as sacred. Move Forward is viewed as radical in the perspective of mainstream Thai politics since it has been more outspoken on the matter.

With nearly all votes counted as of Monday, Move Forward has won over 24% of the popular vote for 400 constituency seats and more than 36% of the votes for the 100 seats allocated under proportional representation.

The Pheu Thailand party was a close second, with a combined seat total of 141 expected.

Prayuth’s United Thai Nation Party is ranked fifth in constituency votes and third in party preferences, with a predicted total of 36 seats.

Despite the fact that the numbers favour Pita becoming the next Prime Minister, he faces a long road ahead.

Candidates are hampered by constitutional provisions created by the military regime to prevent populist political parties from taking root and upending the long-established conservative system.

The prime minister of Thailand is chosen by a combined session of the newly elected House’s 500 members and the military’s 250 senators. The winning candidate must receive at least 376 votes.

The Senate, together with the army and the courts, voted unanimously for Prayuth in 2019, allowing him to overcome Pheu Thai’s first-place finish and form a coalition government.

There is a considerable risk that Pita will be viewed as too radical by some partner parties, forcing them to seek a more moderate candidate.

Paetongtarn, Pheu Thai’s party base, is the most favoured pick. However, her ties to her father, Thaksin, with whom the military has never reconciled since deposing him in 2006, would make gaining Senate support impossible. In that situation, real estate magnate Srettha Thavisin, another Pheu Thai candidate for prime minister, would have a stronger chance.

There are also concerns that conservative groups in Thai politics would once again use dirty techniques to maintain power. Since Thaksin’s demise, they have regularly exploited the courts and ostensibly independent state bodies like the Election Commission to produce contentious legal judgements that have crippled or sunk political threats from opponents. Such tactics would very certainly spark violent street protests.

“Is Pita’s proposed coalition, with 309 seats, stable enough?” It is the most stable in a democratic world. However, in a world of half-dictatorship in which the Senate is a key component, Move Forward must leverage the Senate with the voices of the people,” said Pinkaew Laungaramsri, an anthropology professor at Chiang Mai University.

“We’ll have to wait and see if the authoritarians will dare to use their illegitimate powers against the will of the people.” If they do that, they’re just encouraging people to return to the streets, (asterisk) she remarked.

thailand

SOURCE – (AP)

Election News

Max Verstappen Holds Off Lando Norris To Win Emilia Romagna Grand Prix And Extend F1 Lead

Published

4 hours ago

2024-05-19

Kiara Grace

AP News - VOR News Image

IMOLA, ITALY Max – Verstappen defeated McLaren’s Lando Norris to win the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, extending his Formula One championship lead.

Verstappen began on pole and led Norris from the start but was pushed by the McLaren driver near the end, winning by less than a second.

“I lost grip, especially in the closing 10 to 15 laps. I slid a lot. “I saw Lando closing in,” Verstappen explained. “It’s quite difficult when the tires are no longer working, and you have to run flat out, so I couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes. Thankfully, we didn’t, and we’re overjoyed to have won here today.”

AP – VOR News Image

Max Verstappen Holds Off Lando Norris To Win Emilia Romagna Grand Prix And Extend F1 Lead

It was the defending champion’s fifth victory in seven Grand Prix races this year, following Verstappen’s defeat by Norris in Miami two weeks ago.

Norris’ Second Place Sunday demonstrated the McLaren team’s credentials as the closest contender to Verstappen and Red Bull this season. “It hurts me to say it, but one or two more laps, I think I would have had him,” stated Norris. “It would have been beautiful, but just not today.”

Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari, the Italian team’s first podium finish in Imola since 2006.

Overtaking is always challenging on the narrow Imola track, and this year, asphalt run-off zones on key corners were replaced with gravel traps, discouraging risk-taking even more.

AP – VOR News Image

Max Verstappen Holds Off Lando Norris To Win Emilia Romagna Grand Prix And Extend F1 Lead

Leclerc got in on Norris midway through the race but made a mistake and ran across the grass, costing him time.

Oscar Piastri qualified second for McLaren but was relegated to fifth after a penalty for impeding Kevin Magnussen in a Haas. He got ahead of Sainz during the pit stops and finished fourth, ahead of the Spanish driver.

Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time champion, and his teammate George Russell finished sixth and seventh following a challenging weekend for Mercedes.

Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, began 11th following a mistake in qualifying and finished ninth. His major impact on the race came when he briefly held up Norris and Leclerc following their pit stops, thereby assisting Verstappen.

AP – VOR News Image

Max Verstappen Holds Off Lando Norris To Win Emilia Romagna Grand Prix And Extend F1 Lead

Yuki Tsunoda took ninth place for RB, while Lance Stroll finished tenth for Aston Martin.

Verstappen has a 48-point advantage over Leclerc, who has surged ahead of Perez to second place.

SOURCE – (AP)

Politics

Trudeau Liberals Electoral Chances are as Good as Dead

Published

3 days ago

2024-05-16

Geoff Thomas

Trudeau Liberals Electoral Chances are as Good as Dead

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party’s popularity has plummeted to record lows in recent polls. Scandals and his carbon tax weakened Trudeau’s support after years of support. Many election Analysts belive Justin Trudeau and his Liberals will not survive the next election.

The newest Angus Reid survey shows the Conservatives leading nationwide, with Trudeau and his Liberals losing support in most provinces, especially Ontario and Quebec. Analysts say Trudeau’s leadership fatigue, unhappiness over inflation, ridiculous carbon tax, and continual policy flip-flopping are driving voters away.

Trudeau’s carbon tax is unpopular across Canada. Many Canadians hate its higher prices for homes and businesses.

Critics say it unfairly targets energy, threatening jobs and prosperity. Skeptics believe the tax fails to solve global climate challenges despite claims it will reduce emissions.

Provincial governments like Alberta passionately oppose federal intrusion. The carbon tax still divides society.

Steven Guilbeault, Trudeau’s Environment and Climate Change Minister, has lost support from neutral public and provincial governments and the powerful climate action lobby.

Don Braid of the Calgary Herald says Chickens with their heads cut off run around in circles. In politics, the federal Liberals are starting to exhibit this postmortem behaviour.

Braid says their electoral chances are as good as dead, and their head, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, seems only tenuously attached to his party. Still, they dash around crazily, patching this and launching that, all while sticking to their unpopular policies, ministers and leader.

Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault, the core cabinet fowl who said no new roads should be built in Canada, continues to press his climate extremism.

“The result is political fiasco.”

Alberta and Saskatchewan have always been bitterly opposed to many measures. But Guilbeault is now losing support from the public, provincial governments that once were at least neutral and, crucially, the powerful climate action lobby.

The disasters are self-inflicted. Trudeau and Guilbeault stuck to the carbon tax even after the policy’s disastrous deflation by the “carve out” for home heating oil, a benefit mainly to Atlantic Canada.

Their faux-tough response — nobody else gets that, dammit! — actually cost farmers a break that had been planned, but suddenly looked like another exemption.

The carbon tax, revealed as a purely political tool, is ripe for axing by a potential new leader like Mark Carney. Even New Democrats have argued that the tax should exit, stage left.

Now, Guilbeault has introduced amendments to the Impact Assessment Act, allegedly bringing it into line with the Supreme Court ruling that found the law seriously intrudes on powers rightly belonging to the provinces.

Trudeau’s power grabs shot down

Guilbeault has never acknowledged this was a defeat. He treats the ruling as a simple policy problem rather than a 5-2 thumping by judges not usually known for hostility to federal power grabs.

Alberta was predictably furious about the amendments. Premier Danielle Smith always said Guilbeault would make a gesture and proceed as usual, forcing yet another court challenge.

“When you look at the unconstitutionality of the first draft, you can’t just make tweaks and bring this in line with the Constitution,” says Rebecca Schulz, Alberta’s minister for environment and protected areas.

“That’s really the issue here. Minister Guilbeault still has the ability to involve himself in projects that are within provincial jurisdiction.

“In the end, this piece of legislation remains unconstitutional. We are going to be taking this back to court and I’m confident in our position, because their changes don’t actually address the issues that we’ve raised.”

The trouble is, legal uncertainty causes still more delays in building crucial projects. Ottawa imposed a ban on designating new major projects after the court ruling. It has been in effect for seven months.

Trudeau’s middle ground game not working

The Impact Assessment Agency, the powerful regulatory body that oversees all this, said in a statement: “No decisions to designate projects will be taken. Consideration of any new designation requests will only resume, as appropriate, once amended legislation is in force.”

Most striking is the fury from the climate action lobby toward Guilbeault’s amendments.

“Overall, the bill is a complete federal abdication to address proposed high-carbon projects such as in situ oil mines,” Steven Hazell, a retired environment lawyer and federal regulator told the National Observer, Canada’s best chronicler of climate stories and policy.

Green party Leader Elizabeth May said the government was “erring on the side of stupidity.” May sees the court decision as an opportunity to go further with legislation, not retreat to meet demands of provincial jurisdiction.

She’s the politician who believes the country should be put under virtual martial law to deal with the climate emergency, with all power to Ottawa. And those people are, more or less, the Liberals’ natural allies.That’s where Trudeau and his crew have got themselves as they race around, trying to find a murky middle ground on everything from climate action to taxation and Israel’s war against Hamas (no major religious group in Canada now favours the Liberals, according to a new poll from the Angus Reid Institute).Source: The Calgary Herald

Election News

South Africa Braces for a Milestone 2024 Election

Published

4 days ago

2024-05-15

Geoff Thomas

South Africa Braces for a Milestone 2024 Election

After 30 years of dominating South Africa politics, the ruling African National Congress will confront its most difficult election this month, with most opinion surveys predicting it will lose its parliamentary majority for the first time.

The ANC’s reputation, once admired under Nelson Mandela’s leadership and regarded as a beacon of hope by the Black majority following the fall of apartheid in 1994, has been tarnished by record levels of unemployment, widespread poverty, the collapse of some government services, and more than a decade of corruption scandals, leaving voters disillusioned.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is hoping for re-election on May 29. However, if the ANC loses its majority, it would be forced to form a government in a coalition, which would be a first for the country and might complicate governing in Africa’s most sophisticated economy.

South Africans do not directly elect their president, but rather vote for parties that are allotted seats in Parliament based on their share of the ballot. Following that, lawmakers select the head of state.

Ramaphosa was a major member in the ANC in the early 1990s, and he was once considered Mandela’s apprentice. He left politics to become a successful businessman before returning to serve as South Africa’s deputy president in 2014. He became president in 2018 when Jacob Zuma resigned amid corruption charges.

Ramaphosa has tried to repair the ANC’s credibility by cracking down on government corruption. However, during his president, unemployment has climbed to 32%, the highest in the world, and he has struggled to reduce poverty.

Electricity Crisis in South Africa

An electricity crisis has caused 62 million power outages across the country as a result of problems at the state-run electricity supplier. It had a negative impact on the economy and Ramaphosa’s reputation as someone who could solve South Africa’s problems, even though the blackouts were caused by mismanagement during the Zuma administration.

The ANC is still projected to win the most votes, but if it obtains less than 50%, it will require coalition partners to reelect Ramaphosa, who is 71 years old.

John Steenhuisen leads the Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party. The centrist DA has claimed to “rescue” South Africa from the ANC’s corruption and ineptitude, but has yet to win a national election. The DA received 22% of the vote in the last national election in 2019, while the ANC won 62%.

The DA reached a pre-election deal with smaller opposition parties, thinking that their combined vote would secure a majority and depose the ANC. However, they would all need to dramatically expand their share, which is considered implausible.

Economic Freedom Fighters

Steenhuisen, 48, is the sole white leader among South Africa’s major political parties. In a society where race remains at the forefront of national awareness, critics argue that the DA serves the interests of the white minority more than the 80% of South Africans who are Black.

Since its founding in 2013 by Julius Malema, a former ANC youth leader ousted from the ruling party, the Economic Freedom Fighters have risen quickly to become South Africa’s third largest party in Parliament.

His fiery, far-left language has made the 43-year-old South African politician the most divisive, but his argument that the ANC has failed poor, Black South Africans has found momentum, particularly among unemployed and disenfranchised youth.

The EFF has advocated for mine nationalization and land transfer to poor Blacks. The party, which adheres to Marxist doctrine, claims that economic disparity based on race persists decades after apartheid, with whites generally wealthy and Blacks impoverished.

Security concerns for the 2024 election

Malema and other EFF MPs have frequently interrupted opponents’ speeches in Parliament and gotten into scuffles with security personnel, bringing a militant brand of politics to the heart of South Africa’s democracy. The EFF is a potential coalition partner for the ANC, while neither party has stated whether there is an agreement.

Former President Zuma added a fresh dimension when he declared in December that he would leave the ANC he once commanded and return to politics with a new party.

Zuma’s MK Party is unlikely to threaten the top three, but it is expected to severely diminish the ANC vote just as the ruling party confronts its most difficult electoral test. The 81-year-old former leader continues to command support, particularly in his home region of KwaZulu-Natal.

His reemergence has also raised security concerns for the election, as his conviction for contempt of court and subsequent prison sentence in 2021 sparked a week of rioting and looting that resulted in the deaths of over 350 people in South Africa’s worst violence since apartheid’s final days.

Zuma is battling in court over whether his criminal history bans him from running for Parliament. There is concern about unrest if he gets disqualified. Even if he isn’t, his new reputation as an agitator is sure to exacerbate tensions ahead of a key election.

Source: AP