Electoral Politics

Rethinking U.S. Election Law

November 4, 2019 By Erica Frazier, Portside.org Create! Democracy, Electoral Politics

The United States has come to a political crossroads. Few Americans have favourable opinions of Congress. There is not a single third-party member of Congress, though there is widespread support for an alternative political group. Rampant gerrymandering means politicians choose their voters, and the Supreme Court has once again declined to intervene. Steven Mulroy’s book, Rethinking US Election Law: Unskewing the System, is an excellent response to what feels to many like a total impasse, exposing a number of structural problems as well as tangible, realistic proposals to address them.

Colombia’s Local Elections Mark Milestone In Major Cities

November 1, 2019 Francesco Manetto, El Pais, Translated by Resumen-english.org Create! Colombia, Electoral Politics, Latin America

Local elections held last Sunday in Colombia marked a milestone in the country’s two major cities, Bogota and Medellin. Claudia Lopez, candidate for the Green Alliance, became the first woman ever elected Mayor of the South American capital. A woman who last decade revealed the connivance among politicians, drug trafficking and paramilitarism, she is a public figure with a leading role in fighting corruption in recent years. She defeated Carlos Fernandez Galan, son of a presidential candidate murdered in 1989, and is a former senator of popular origins...

‘This Is Our Time’: National Congress Of American Indians Elects New Leadership

October 31, 2019 Acee Agoyo, Indianz.com Create! Electoral Politics, Indigenous Peoples

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico -- Members of the National Congress of American Indians made history here by choosing a woman as their president for only the third time since the organization's founding in 1944.Fawn Sharp, the president of the Quinault Nation, easily won election to NCAI's highest office during the group's 76th annual convention last Thursday. She defeated three other candidates -- all men -- with an resounding 62 percent of the vote."At this moment, I am incredibly overwhelmed with it,"...

Why Lebanon And Iraq Are At The Brink Of Further Strife

October 30, 2019 Staff, Moonofalabama.org Educate! Corruption, Electoral Politics, Iraq, Lebanon, Protests

An imminent breakdown of the very weak economy of Lebanon, partially caused by U.S. sanctions against Lebanese banks and the end of traditional Saudi subsidies to Lebanon, also led to protests and today to the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. He will now lead a caretaker government which will have too little power to change anything. Both, Iraq and Lebanon, have ethnic-sectarian systems that are finely balanced. The warlords or clan leaders of the various groups use the state for their own enrichment. Providing services for the whole country mean nothing to them.

Right Rejected In Colombia, Left Leads Going Into Second Round In Uruguay

October 29, 2019 Staff, Telesurenglish.net Create! Colombia, Electoral Politics, Latin America

The first results from validated exit polls indicate that there will be a second electoral round between the leftist Broad Front candidate Daniel Martinez and right-wing representative of the National Party Luis Lacalle Pou after Sunday's elections. According to various exit polls, the leftist Broad Front would reach around 37 to 40 percent of the votes while its contender the National Party would have around 30 percent, meaning an absolute majority over 50 percent would not be reached resulting in a runoff vote to be held on Nov. 24.

Latin America President-elect Fernandez Meets Macri As Argentina Faces New Future

October 28, 2019 Staff, Telesurenglish.net Create! Argentina, Electoral Politics, Latin America

Argentina's President-elect Alberto Fernandez arrived at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires on Monday for a meeting with outgoing incumbent Mauricio Macri where the two are expected to discuss the potentially tricky transition of power as financial markets watch closely. Peronist Progressive Fernandez swept into power on Sunday, ousting conservative leader Macri in an election result that shifts Latin America's No. 3 economy firmly toward the left amid swirling economic crisis and rising debt fears.

Chileans Have Launched A General Strike Against Austerity

October 25, 2019 Felipe Lagos-Rojas and Francisca Gomez-Baeza, Jacobinmag.com Organize! Austerity, Chile, Class Struggle, Electoral Politics, General Strike, Latin America

In Chile’s main cities, armed forces and tanks are filling the streets. But civilians are holding their ground, refusing to abandon public space. Official reports indicate eleven fatalities so far, though there are indications that the number is higher. The president has taken to national television to announce that the country is “at war with a powerful enemy who is willing to use violence without any limits.” There are blackouts all across the country. This is October 2019, but it could just as easily be 1973, when socialist president Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup, replaced with dictator Augusto Pinochet.

The Democrats’ Medicare Debate Overlooks The Elder Care Crisis

October 23, 2019 By Steve Quick, Inequality.org Create! 2020 Elections, Electoral Politics, Health Care, Reform

Once again, the Democratic primary debate on October 15 devoted considerable time to candidates’ competing proposals for expanding access to Medicare. But once again, the debate failed to address one of Medicare’s biggest flaws — the lack of long-term care coverage for our country’s rapidly growing elderly population. Some of the candidates’ Medicare proposals would go a long way towards fixing this problem, while others would not. But since this critical issue didn’t come up, the debate did nothing to dispel widespread public misconceptions about Medicare and long-term care.

Survey: People In The US Want A More Progressive Foreign Policy, Including On Israel

October 23, 2019 Michael Arria, Mondoweiss.net Educate! 2020 Elections, Electoral Politics, Israel, US Foreign Policy

During the recent Democratic debate in Ohio, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard asked Senator Elizabeth Warren if she would join her in calling for an end to “the regime change war in Syria.” “So, look, I think that we ought to get out of the Middle East,” Warren responded. “I don’t think we should have troops in the Middle East. But we have to do it the right way, the smart way.” Warren’s answer was enough to rankle Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden. “I was surprised last night in the debate,” he told a crowd in Iowa the next day. “One of my colleagues said we should remove all troops from the Middle East.”

Tens Of Thousands Rally Against Former Ruling Party In Sudan

October 22, 2019 Khalid Abdelaziz, Reuters.com Resist! Electoral Politics, Protests, Sudan

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Sudanese demonstrated in Khartoum and other cities on Monday to call for the former ruling party to be dissolved and for ex-officials to be put on trial. Thousands gathered in Freedom Square, where ousted president Omar al-Bashir held a large rally in his final months in power, to call for the dissolution of his National Congress Party and to put Bashir-era officials on trial for alleged corruption. A key demand of the rally, called by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) that spearheaded anti-Bashir demonstrations that led to his overthrow...

Bolivia Elections: ‘We’ll Launch a Coup If Evo Wins’

October 21, 2019 By Cindy Forster, Telesurenglish.net Educate! Bolivia, Elections, Electoral Politics, Latin America

The U.S. embassy is always fighting the old race wars, but its ambitions are larger. Elections in Bolivia on October 20 are being watched closely by those who have followed the astounding successes of that majority Indigenous nation, now led by an Indigenous social movement and its mestizo allies called the Movement toward Socialism (MAS). MAS, which is both a gathering of labor and grassroots coalitions and a political instrument, has presided over one of the hemisphere’s most vibrant economies, especially if measured by human happiness.

Our Strength Is In Struggle

October 21, 2019 Diego Castro Vilaboa, Towardfreedom.org Strategize! Electoral Politics, Latin America, Uruguay

Eleven men are competing for the job of president, but only two have the potential to be elected: progressive Frente Amplio candidate Daniel Martínez and Luis Lacalle Pou from the right wing National Party. Behind them are Ernesto Talvi from the Partido Colorado, which ruled the country nearly uninterrupted for 200 years. Polling in fourth place is Cabildo Abierto, a party created in April whose candidate, Guido Manini Ríos, was commander in chief of the armed forces for four years during the Frente Amplio governments. The remaining parties are much smaller, with support hovering around one percent.

Brother Of Honduran President Found Guilty In U.S. Drug Trial

October 19, 2019 Brendan Pierson, Reuters.com Educate! Corruption, Electoral Politics, Honduras

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Honduran politician Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez was found guilty of U.S. drug trafficking charges on Friday after a two-week trial that featured dramatic accusations of corruption against his brother, the Central American nation’s president. The verdict against Hernandez, 41, on all counts was handed up by a jury in federal court in Manhattan. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 17 and faces up to life in prison.

DC’s Atlantic Council Raked In Funding From Hunter Biden’s Corruption-Stained Employer While Courting His VP Father

October 16, 2019 Max Blumenthal, Thegrayzone.com Educate! Corruption, Electoral Politics

With its relentless focus on corruption in Russia and Ukraine, the Atlantic Council has distinguished itself from other top-flight think tanks in Washington. Over the past several years, it has held innumerable conferences and panel discussions, issued a string of reports, and published literally hundreds of essays on Russia’s “kleptocracy” and the scourge of Kremlin disinformation. At the same time, this institution has posed as a faithful partner to Ukraine’s imperiled democracy, organizing countless programs on the urgency of economic reforms to tamp down on corruption in the country.

The Global Left Can Learn A Lot From This Tiny Country

October 14, 2019 Natasha Hakimi Zapata, Truthdig.com Strategize! Electoral Politics, Europe, Ideology, Left Politics, Portugal, Revisionism

There’s a place in the West where a smattering of anti-austerity, pro-immigration, pro-public-spending left-wing parties are not only in power, but are actually popular. I’m talking about Portugal, the small European country I have witnessed grow into a global political marvel. On Sunday, progressives around the world cheered as a loose left-wing coalition won enough seats to rule the country for another four years. The story of Portugal’s resurgent left starts in 2015, when, as a center-right government continued to force austerity measures painfully down the throats of a suffering nation, the Portuguese voted for an alternative—sort of.

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