Latest news with #CentralElectionCommission
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Adv Asim Sarode opposes reusing assembly voter lists in local polls
Written by Shubham Kurale Advocates Asim Sarode and Shriya Awale have raised concerns about the state government's plan to reuse voter lists from last year's legislative assembly elections for the upcoming local body elections, calling the decision a continuation of 'corrupt electoral practices'. The concern was raised when the State Election Commission (SEC) requested to use the same voter lists that were employed during the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections. 'These lists have already been questioned in multiple court cases, with documentary evidence suggesting irregularities. Using the same voter lists would be repeating a corrupt experiment that relies on bogus voter information,' said Sarode. 'While the SEC handles the local body elections, they are required by law to use the final electoral roll prepared by the Central Election Commission. The scale of legal challenges to last year's state assembly election is unprecedented. Out of 288 assembly constituencies, around 100 seats have had their results challenged in the High Court through election petitions,' added Sarode. Moreover, a discrepancy in voter registration numbers was alleged during the press conference. 'The state had 9.73 crore registered voters in the 2024 legislative assembly elections, while the voter registration that followed was 9.80 crore. So if the old list is used, as many as 7 lakh new voters will be deprived of exercising their right to vote,' said Awale. The advocates alleged that the election officials were instructed to bypass the legally mandated procedures mentioned under the Voters Registration Rules of 1960 about adding or removing names from voter lists, compromising the transparency. 'Maintaining the same voter lists in the upcoming local body elections in which they were changed or prepared in such an opaque manner is a fraud on honest citizens in broad daylight. It would be a betrayal of the Constitution,' added Sarode. (The author is an intern at The Indian Express)
Bloomberg
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Taiwan to Hold Referendum on Restarting Closed Nuclear Reactor
Taiwan will hold a national referendum on restarting a nuclear reactor that it shut down just last week, potentially opening up a pathway to reverse the government's anti-nuclear policy. The Aug. 23 poll will decide whether the Maanshan nuclear power plant, the territory's last one to be shuttered, should resume operations if there are no safety concerns, according to a statement from Taiwan's Central Election Commission late on Friday.
Korea Herald
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Albania PM's Socialists score large election win: official results
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama's Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival, Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the 140-seat assembly. The vote was dominated by the contest between three-time premier Rama, 60, who focused his campaign on European integration, and right-winger Berisha, from the conservative Democratic Party of Albania. The two campaigned mainly on economic issues, such as pensions, wages, infrastructure and tourism. But there were bitter exchanges too on the fight against corruption and organized crime, both of which are seen as essential requirements for Albania's EU bid. On Tuesday, the 80-year-old Berisha -- Albania's first postcommunist president 1992-1997 -- made allegations of electoral irregularities, accusing the Socialists of pressure, fraud and vote-buying. "It's impossible to reconcile with such elections. No, forget (about) that," he told reporters in Tirana. Berisha called for a protest on Friday, when European leaders would be meeting in Tirana for the sixth European Political Community Summit The election was closely watched by the EU and seen as a test of the democratic maturity of the Balkan country, by far the most Europe-oriented in the region, after decades of dictatorship 1944-1985. "The elections were managed generally in an inclusive and transparent manner, the election day being calm and well organised, despite some shortcomings," EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said in a joint statement. Without waiting for the official results, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni late Tuesday congratulated her friend Rama for his "reappointment as head of the Albanian government." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his British counterpart Keir Starmer also congratulated Rama on the election victory.
France 24
14-05-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Albania PM's socialist party scores large victory in parliamentary elections
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama's Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Central Election Commission (CEC). Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the 140-seat assembly. The vote was dominated by the contest between three-time premier Rama, 60, who focused his campaign on European integration, and right-winger Berisha, from the Democratic Party of Albania. The two campaigned mainly on economic issues, such as pensions, wages, infrastructure and tourism. But there were bitter exchanges too on the fight against corruption and organised crime, both of which are seen as essential requirements for Albania's EU bid. On Tuesday, the 80-year-old Berisha -- Albania's first post-communist president -- made allegations of electoral irregularities, accusing the Socialists of pressure, fraud and vote-buying. "It's impossible to reconcile with such elections. No, forget (about) that," he told reporters in Tirana. Berisha called for a protest on Friday, when European leaders would be meeting in Tirana for the sixth European Political Community Summit The election was closely watched by the EU and seen as a test of the democratic maturity of the Balkan country, by far the most Europe-oriented in the region, after decades of dictatorship. "The elections were managed generally in an inclusive and transparent manner, the election day being calm and well organised, despite some shortcomings," EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas and Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said in a joint statement. Without waiting for the official results, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni late Tuesday congratulated her friend Rama for his "reappointment as head of the Albanian government". Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his British counterpart Keir Starmer also congratulated Rama on the election victory. In Sunday's vote, around 40 parties were trying to attract the ballots of a total of 3.7 million voters.
Al Jazeera
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Albania's ruling Socialists secure majority in parliamentary vote
Albania's ruling Socialist Party has won the country's parliamentary elections, according to a near-complete vote count, securing Prime Minister Edi Rama an unprecedented fourth term in office. With about 96 percent of ballots counted, the official results on Tuesday showed the Socialist Party got 82 seats in the 140-seat parliament with 52 percent of the votes. The opposition centre-right Democratic Party secured 51 seats with 34 percent of votes. Three other small parties will take the rest of the seats. The threshold for entry into the assembly in Albania is one percent for parties and five percent for party alliances. The full results are expected later on Tuesday. If confirmed, the results would be an increase from the last election, where Rama's party won 49 percent of the vote, and would give him a majority to form a government. The Central Election Commission, the electoral executive, has said that by law, the final results come out 48 hours after the vote ends. The results may be delayed following a request of the opposition not to consider about 53,000 ballots mailed from the diaspora in neighbouring Greece, claiming they are manipulated. For the first time, those in the diaspora could cast postal votes. About 195,000 mailed in their votes. Eligible voters in Albania and abroad voted to elect 140 lawmakers for a four-year mandate in the Balkan nation. Because of mass emigration, the country of 2.4 million people has a total of nearly 3.7 million eligible voters. Diaspora votes from Greece may move a number of seats in three or four areas in favour of the ruling party. The opposition claims they were manipulated by Socialist supporters. The postal company said it has confirmation signatures of all the voters in Greece. Rama, who has been in power since 2013, focused his campaign on working to gain membership in the European Union by 2030. Sali Berisha, the candidate of the conservative Democratic Party, argued that Albania still is not ready for the bloc's membership. Some analysts were surprised by the strength of Rama's success, expecting that a series of corruption scandals and the recent unrest in the country due to a crackdown on the opposition would affect his results. A joint international observation mission noted that despite being competitive and professionally managed, the election process so far was marked by the ruling party's misuse of public resources, a confrontational and polarising tone, the two main political parties using divisive language, non-transparent financing, and unbalanced media coverage of smaller parties.
