Latest news with #politicalReform
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Liberal Lee Jae-myung elected South Korea's new president
South Korea held a snap election to choose a successor to Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached over his short-lived martial law declaration in December. The Democratic Party's (DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung was elected. The 61-year-old has promised political and economic reforms to help the country recover from the shock of December's brief martial law. He also faces several legal cases that could plunge his term into crisis before it has even begun
Al Jazeera
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Hezbollah holds firm in Lebanon's municipal elections
Beirut, Lebanon – As southern Lebanon continues to suffer from sporadic Israeli attacks despite a ceasefire signed in November between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, establishment parties have emerged as the biggest winners of municipal elections. Voting took place over four weeks, starting in Mount Lebanon – north of the capital, Beirut – followed by the country's northern districts, Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley, and concluding on Saturday in southern Lebanon. While Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political and armed group, suffered setbacks to its political influence and military capabilities during 14 months of war with Israel, the group's voter base was still intact and handed it and Amal, its closest political ally, victories across dozens of municipalities. 'The Hezbollah-Amal alliance has held firm and support among the Shia base has not experienced any dramatic erosion,' Imad Salamey, a professor of political science at the Lebanese American University, told Al Jazeera. Despite establishment parties winning the majority of seats across the country, candidates running on campaigns of political reform and opposition to the political establishment also made inroads in some parts of the country, even winning seats in municipalities in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah historically has enjoyed strong support. In Lebanon, there is no unified bloc of reformists although political actors and groups that emerged during the 2019 antigovernment protests over the economic crisis are referred to locally as 'el-tagheyereen', or change makers. 'Alternative Shia candidates in some localities were able to run without facing significant intimidation, signalling a limited but growing space for dissent within the community,' Salamey said. The fact the elections were held at all will be seen as a boon to the pro-reform government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who came to power in January, say analysts. The polls, initially set for 2022, were delayed three times due to parliamentary elections, funding issues and the war with Israel, which started in October 2023. Critics, however, argued the elections favoured established parties because the uncertainty over when they would be held meant candidates waited to build their campaigns. As recently as March, there were still proposals to delay the elections until September to give candidates a chance to prepare their platforms after Lebanon suffered through the war and a two-month intensification by Israel from September to November, which left the country needing $11bn for recovery and reconstruction, according to the World Bank. The war left Hezbollah politically and militarily battered after Israel killed much of its leadership, including longtime Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and his successor Hachem Safieddine. The war reordered the power balance in Lebanon, diminishing Hezbollah's influence. Many villages in southern Lebanon are still inaccessible, and Israel continues to occupy five points of Lebanese territory that it has refused to withdraw from after the ceasefire. It also continues to attack other parts of the south, where it claims Hezbollah still has weapons. With their villages still destroyed or too dangerous to access, many southerners cast ballots in Nabatieh or Tyre, an act that recalls the 18-year Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000. During the occupation, elections for southern regions under Israeli control were also held in other cities still under Lebanese sovereignty. Hezbollah has given up the majority of its sites in the south to the Lebanese army, a senior western diplomat told Al Jazeera and local media has reported. The recent post-war period also brought to power a new president, army commander Joseph Aoun, and the reform camp's choice for prime minister, Salam, former president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Municipal elections are not seen as an indicator of the country's popular sentiment due to low voter interest and local political dynamics differing from those at the national level. Some analysts dismissed the results, calling them 'insignificant' and added that next year's parliamentary elections would more accurately reflect which direction the country is headed. Voter turnout was lower in almost every part of the country compared with 2016, the last time municipal elections took place. The places it fell included southern Lebanon, where 37 percent of the population voted. In 2016, 48 percent of its voters cast ballots. This was also true in most of the Bekaa Valley, an area that also was hit hard during the war and where Hezbollah tends to be the most popular party. In the north, voter turnout dropped from 45 percent in 2016 to 39 percent in 2025. In Beirut, the turnout was marginally higher – 21 percent in 2025 compared with 20 percent in 2016. Many people in southern Lebanon are still living through the war as Israel continues to carry out attacks on areas like Nabatieh. While some in and from the south have questioned Hezbollah's standing and decision to enter into a war with Israel on behalf of Gaza when they fired rockets on the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms territory on October 8, 2023, others still cling to their fervent support for the group. 'The municipal elections confirmed that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement remain strong,' Qassem Kassir, a journalist and political analyst believed to be close to Hezbollah, told Al Jazeera. 'The forces of change are weak, and their role has declined. The party [Hezbollah] maintains its relationship with the people.' Although reform forces did win some seats, including in Lebanon's third largest city, Sidon, they were largely at a disadvantage due to a lack of name familiarity, the short campaign time and misinformation circulated by politically affiliated media. Claims of corruption and contested election results marred voting in parts of the north, where many candidates from traditional political parties dominated. In Beirut, forces for change were dealt a heavy blow. After receiving about 40 percent of the vote in 2016, which still was not enough to earn them a municipal seat, the reformist Beirut Madinati (Beirut My City) list won less than 10 percent of this year's vote. The defeat took place despite the worsening living conditions in the capital, which critics blamed on establishment parties, including those running the municipality. 'The municipality lives on another planet, completely detached from the concerns of the people,' Sarah Mahmoud, a Beirut Madinati candidate, told Al Jazeera on May 18 on the streets of Beirut as people went out to vote. Since an economic crisis took hold in 2019, electricity cuts have become more common, and diesel generators have plugged the gap. These generators contribute to air pollution, which has been linked to cardiovascular and respiratory ailments in Beirut and carries cancer risks. Despite the criticisms and degraded living situation in the city, a list of candidates backed by establishment figures and major parties, including Hezbollah and Amal, but also their major ideological opponents, including the Lebanese Forces and the right-wing Kataeb Party, won 23 out of 24 seats. This list ran on a platform that stoked fears of sectarian disenfranchisement and promised sectarian parity. Municipalities, unlike Lebanon's parliament, do not have sectarian quotas. The unlikely coalition of establishment parties, which was similar to the successful list in 2016 that aligned establishment parties against reform candidates, puzzled some in the capital. In separate incidents, television reporters confronted representatives from Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces, drawing angry and confrontational reactions from them but little clarification as to why they'd align with an avowed enemy. Bernard Bridi, a media adviser for the list, said its priority was to bring in a foreign consultancy that would advise the municipality on how to manage Beirut like other major international capitals. She added that the opposing parties decided to unify because the stakes are so high this year after years of economic suffering, particularly since the war. Critics, however, accused the establishment parties of trying to keep power concentrated among themselves rather than let it fall to reformists who could threaten the system that has consolidated power in the hands of a few key figures and groups in the post-civil war era. 'The question is what are you fighting for,' Karim Safieddine, a political organiser with Beirut Madinati, said, referring to the establishment list. 'And if they can tell me what they're fighting for, I'd be grateful.' Now the nation's eyes will turn to May next year as parties and movements are already preparing their candidates and platforms for parliamentary elections. In 2022, just more than a dozen reform candidates emerged from Lebanon's economic crisis and subsequent popular uprising. Some speculated that the reform spirit has subsided since thousands of Lebanese have emigrated abroad – close to 200,000 from 2018 to 2021 alone – and others have grown disillusioned at a perceived lack of immediate change or disagreements among reform-minded figures. Many Lebanese will also have last year's struggles during the war and need for reconstruction in mind when heading to the polls next year. Some have started to question or challenge Hezbollah's longtime dominance after seeing the group so badly weakened by Israel. Others are doubling down on their support due to what they said is neglect by the new government and their belief that Hezbollah is the only group working in their interests. 'Taken together, these developments imply a future trajectory where Shia political support for Hezbollah remains solid but increasingly isolated,' Salamey explained, 'while its broader cross-sectarian coalition continues to shrink, potentially reducing Hezbollah's influence in future parliamentary elections to that of a more pronounced minority bloc.'
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
South Koreans eye constitutional change to president's power after martial law
By Ju-min Park SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's political crisis has ignited bipartisan calls for constitutional amendments to reshape the power of the president, an issue hotly debated ahead of the June 3 snap election. The election was called after former President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached and removed from office over his shock martial law decree in December, and contenders from the major parties have vowed to pursue constitutional reforms. "Chances to succeed in a constitutional amendment are higher than ever," said Chae Jin-won, a professor at Kyunghee University's Institute of Public Governance. The constitution was last revised in 1987 to introduce direct presidential elections and a single, five-year term. Changes have long been debated but never implemented. Frontrunner Lee Jae-myung, of the liberal Democratic Party, has proposed four years in office and two consecutive terms for presidents who would take office from 2030 and onwards, a run-off system for presidential elections and parliamentary nomination on the prime minister. "The responsibility of the president should be strengthened and powers should be decentralised," he said on May 18. Kim Moon-soo, presidential nominee from the conservative People Power Party, has also unveiled a reform proposal including a four-year, two-term presidential system for future presidents. He promised to cut his own term down to three years if he is elected as the next leader so presidential and general elections could happen in the same year from 2028. He also pledged to strike down presidential immunity. Yoon was a member of the PPP until he resigned from the party on May 17. In recent years, presidential candidates from across the political spectrum have supported revisions including giving presidents two four-year terms, but there have been few concrete steps after new leaders were chosen. A Gallup Korea opinion survey last month found 67% of respondents supported revising the constitution to fix the presidential system, with 21% saying it is unnecessary. In April, Lee rejected a proposal by Woo Won-shik, the speaker of the parliament, to hold a referendum on constitutional reform on the June 3 presidential election day. At the time Lee said ending the political turmoil was the top priority. The next president should begin to gather public consensus based on election pledges for the constitutional amendment and move forward with bipartisan support, he told reporters on Sunday. Kim and his party criticised Lee for not pledging to reduce the term for the next presidency, but Lee said stable governance and economic recovery would be more important for the next leader than spending much of the term only on the constitutional revision. Professor Chae said while Lee and Kim shared similar goals, the two contenders were driven by differing motivations. "I think candidate Kim put forward the idea of a transitional government to revise the constitution as a way to apologise for the martial law," he said. "Candidate Lee initially didn't want to jump to it, not to divert attention toward him, but now he is saying it to bring in more moderate voters."
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Romania might be about to make a Trump-admiring former football hooligan its president. This is why
At first glance, Romania's presidential race, which comes to a head in a second round of voting this Sunday, might look like a de facto referendum on Europe. The far-right George Simion – a former football hooligan who is banned from entering Ukraine for what Kyiv calls 'systematic anti-Ukrainian activities' – surged to first place in the first round last week with 41% of the vote. Trailing him is Nicușor Dan, Bucharest's reformist mayor, with just 21%. The race pits Dan, a technocratic pro-European candidate, against a bombastic, Maga-admiring nationalist who rails against 'Brussels' and promises to put the 'national interest' above international obligations. If Simion wins, Romania risks becoming the next illiberal outpost inside the EU, joining Hungary and Slovakia. He could use his presidential powers to stall aid to Ukraine and undermine negotiations towards a collective climate and migration policy, while sowing further distrust in EU institutions. But the truth is that 'pro-Europe' and 'anti-Europe' are just labels. They disguise the fact that what Romanians are really rejecting is a domestic political class that has wrapped itself in the EU flag while overseeing years of economic stagnation, corruption and broken promises. After all, nearly 90% of Romanians support EU and Nato alignment, according to a survey from this year. Both presidential candidates are, in their own way, anti-establishment. While Dan built his career fighting shady real-estate barons and politicians in the courts, Simion built his through televised outrage and fiery speeches that spoke to people's frustrations with political elites. Simion is backed by Călin Georgescu, the political maverick whose surprise win in the first round of presidential elections in December was annulled by Romania's constitutional ourt, following allegations of Russian interference. Simion has adopted a similar tone, but has stopped short of openly calling for Romania to leave the EU or Nato. Distinguishing himself from Georgescu, he has called Putin's Russia a 'threat' to Europe – though he has also criticised military aid to Ukraine, echoing Donald Trump's position on the war. The Romanian diaspora accounted for about 10% of the total votes in the first round. And more than half of them backed Simion. These are Romanians who live and work in countries such as Spain, Germany, the UK and France, directly benefiting from the freedoms and economic stability provided by the EU. It is unlikely that these voters were rejecting 'the west' or the EU as such, but rather a domestic political class that they blame for squandering the opportunities offered by EU membership, and the fact that they had to leave their home country in the first place. Nevertheless, the EU's reputation is taking a battering with Simion's ascent. This is because his targets are successive pro-European Romanian governments, dominated by the establishment parties, which promised prosperity but presided over the embezzlement of infrastructure funds, failed to modernise hospitals and delayed highway projects that Romanians had long been promised – all while EU money poured in. Romania is currently experiencing the highest level of inflation in the EU, combined with low wages and high taxes. Add to that the pandemic restrictions, widely seen as heavy-handed attempts to control personal freedoms, and the government's alignment with EU policy on Ukraine, and apparent frustration at the bloc has deepened. Elena Calistru, a Romanian civic activist and governance expert, tells me that Simion's is a more sophisticated approach than Georgescu's, who was outwardly proposing exiting the EU and Nato. 'Simion is seeding deep distrust in democratic institutions themselves and promoting narratives that portray Romania as a 'second-class country' in Europe, treated like a colony by the EU and potentially dragged into foreign conflicts,' she says. There's a grain of truth in his rhetoric. Romania was kept out of the Schengen area until the beginning of this year, and Romanian migrant workers have long faced humiliation abroad, whether as exploited construction labourers in the Netherlands or as care workers in Italy, often working in conditions that border on modern slavery. These frustrations have fed a broader sense of grievance over what many see as double standards applied to newer EU member states. Simion's rise, therefore, is less about policy than about national identity. His campaign slogan is 'Respect', something many Romanians, including the migrant workers in the diaspora, have been craving. 'The Romania you dream of, the Romania you want to return to, we will build it together,' he said in a speech after his first-round victory. This election will mark the end of an era. Romania's transitional period from dictatorship to democracy is over. For the first time ever, in both the cancelled December election and now the re-run, none of the establishment parties reached the second round of the presidential elections. Romanians won't head to the polls on 18 May to decide whether they want to be in the EU, because they overwhelmingly do. What they're really voting on is how to confront a broken system: through reform and international collaboration – or isolation and nationalism. Andrei Popoviciu is a Romanian investigative journalist
