Jordan joins regional push to sideline Islamist opposition: The Jordanian authorities have banned the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition movement in the kingdom, in a major new crackdown. On Wednesday April 23, security forces raided Brotherhood offices, confiscating assets and property, and outlawed all of the group’s activities. One week earlier, 16 Brotherhood members were …
Chad presidential election: assassination of main opposition figure casts doubt on country’s return to democracy: The assassination of Chad’s main opposition leader, Yaya Dillo, is hanging heavy over presidential elections due in early May. Dillo was killed on 28 February when the headquarters of the opposition Party Socialiste sans Frontières (Party of Socialists without Borders) …
Black November: remembering Uganda’s massacre of the opposition three years on: November marks a sombre anniversary in Uganda’s recent political history. In 2020, the east African country’s leading opposition politician, Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, was arrested. He was on the campaign trail ahead of the 2021 presidential elections. Mass demonstrations demanding the release of …
Proposed smoking ban would improve UK public health – but tobacco industry opposition could be a major roadblock: In his speech on Tuesday, King Charles III outlined what measures the government plans to introduce to cut smoking rates and create a smoke-free generation in England. Among the measures the government hopes to introduce as part …
Gabon elections: how the Bongo family’s 56-year rule has hurt the country and divided the opposition: Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba speaks during a trade conference in London in 2018. Chris Jackson/Getty Images Gabon’s president Ali Bongo Ondimba (2009-present) recently announced his intention to stand for re-election in the country’s presidential poll scheduled for 26 …
Afghanistan: two years after Taliban takeover the west is letting down the democratic opposition: The consequences of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan two years ago are bad enough for the people who live there, especially women and girls, but also for the region and the world, in the flow of migrants and threat of terrorism. …
Wagner group mercenaries in Africa: why there hasn’t been any effective opposition to drive them out: Wagner has assisted rebel leader Khalifa Hiftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces GettyImages It is easy to understand what African rulers see in the mercenary group Wagner. Its fighters can be deployed quickly. It brings sophisticated arms with it and …
South Africa’s ruling party is performing dismally, but a flawed opposition keeps it in power: The African National Congress has lost electoral support but remains dominant. Phill Magakoe / AFP via Getty Images. As power cuts continue, the economy falters, unemployment rises and the currency tumbles, South Africa’s political commentators tend to agree that support …
Kenya’s opposition wants to split up the country – but secession calls seldom succeed: Getty Images Kenya’s opposition politicians recently called for secession – which is the withdrawal of territory and sovereignty from part of an existing state to create a new state. Led by Raila Odinga, who received 48.8% of the presidential vote in …
Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu: Turkey’s opposition leader is leading in the polls, here’s what you need to know: Turkey’s general election on Sunday, May 14 will see voters cast their ballots for 600 members of its parliament and the country’s powerful presidency. This election has become intensely competitive in a country which has undergone severe democratic erosion …
Zimbabwe’s ruling party vilifies the opposition as American puppets. But the party itself had strong ties to the US: Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa addressing a rally in Bulawayo recently. Zinyange Auntony/AFP via Getty Images The Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), which has governed Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, is well known for denouncing the …
‘Stalin-style’ show trials and unexplained deaths of opposition figures show the depth of repression in Putin’s Russia: Longtime Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza has been found guilty of treason and sentenced to 25 years in prison after what the journalist and activist has dismissed as a 1930s-style “show trial”. The 41-year-old, who holds Russian and British …
Cuban election: high turnout despite opposition call for boycott: Results of the five-yearly Cuban national assembly elections on March 26 will have disappointed opposition figures, who had called for a boycott to signal unhappiness with the government’s performance. Two-thirds of the electorate submitted valid votes (that were not spoiled nor blank) despite opposition calls for …
Keir Starmer: four lessons from history for an opposition trying to be the ‘government-in-waiting’: Labour’s Keir Starmer has one inestimable quality in leading a government-in-waiting a year out from a general election: a consistent 20-point lead in opinion polls. He also boasts an increasingly rare biographical feature: a big job before he went into politics. …
Samia Suluhu Hassan is reforming Tanzania – it’s winning her fans but boosting the opposition: Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan. Drew Angerer/Getty Images A series of political manoeuvres by Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan have set the east African country on an unfamiliar, yet hopeful, political path. Since her elevation to the presidency two years …
Tanzania: opposition rallies are finally unbanned – but this doesn’t mean democratic reform is coming: Supporters of Tanzania's main opposition party Chadema wave during a rally in Mwanza. Michael Jamson/AFP via Getty Images In Tanzania, the political rally is back. Chadema, Tanzania’s leading opposition party, held mass rallies outside the official election campaign for the …
Ukraine war: why Russian soldiers’ mothers aren’t demonstrating the strong opposition they have in previous conflicts: Ukraine’s military launched a devastating strike on New Year’s Day hitting a building housing recently mobilised Russian soldiers in the occupied region of Donetsk. Russia’s official response has been surprising. The ministry of defence took the unusual step of …
Angola’s ruling party faces united opposition in upcoming poll. But it’s pushing back: President João Lourenço is campaigning for a second term. Gilson Lázaro The election of Angolan President João Lourenço in 2017 raised hopes of a shift from the authoritarian and corrupt era of his predecessor. This was thanks to the new, more open …