KARACHI: As the local government elections in the city draw near, the women’s wing of different political parties of Karachi have geared up their campaigns.
Heads of women’s wing of political parties told The Express Tribune that they are busy in door-to-door campaigns and in arranging corner meetings to spread their respective party’s word.
RIYADH: Chairman of the executive committee and spokesman of the municipal council elections Jadee Al-Qahtani said using technology in municipalelections contributed to easing access to electoral information to candidates and voters.
The electric portal opened new doors in communicating with people and candidates, whether on official website of the municipality or in the Entikhab application on smartphones, saying text messages are among the most effective methods of communicating with voters.
Turkey’s next government is due to be announced this week, three-weeks after the Nov 1 election in which the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) secured a comfortable majority at parliament.
Although it is not yet certain when the government will be submitted to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for approval, it is expected to be finalized this week.
ISTANBUL: The charismatic co-chairman of Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party has escaped an assassination attempt, the party said on Monday (Nov 23), but the authorities denied any such armed attack had taken place.
Selahattin Demirtas of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was in his armoured vehicle in the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir late on Sunday when it was hit by a single bullet at head height, the party said in a statement.
Turkish police said on Nov. 23 that damage to the car of Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş was not caused by gunfire, after a party spokesman said it had been hit by a bullet in an apparent assassination attempt.
A spokesperson for the HDP had said the car’s rear window was hit on Nov. 22 as he drove in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.
But the city’s police said analysis of damage to a rear window in the car showed no evidence of gunfire.
KARACHI: The Jamaat-i-Islami said on Sunday that its election alliance with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf for the Dec 5 local government election was against the extortionists and targeted killers.
Speaking at a joint JI-PTI election rally in west district, Karachi JI chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rahman said that the alliance between the two parties would bring back the peace in the metropolis and restore its identity as the city of lights.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has sought reconfirmation from the Election Commission of Pakistan that army troops will be deployed inside and outside polling stations in the by-election to be held on Dec 23 on the National Assembly seat from Lodhran.
In a letter to the ECP secretary, Jahangir Khan Tareen, the PTI candidate in the by-election, has reminded the commission that when the polling was scheduled to be held in the same constituency on Oct 11, it had announced that the army would be deployed at polling stations.
İsmail Kahraman, the Istanbul deputy from the ranks of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), has been elected as the new parliament speaker in the third round of the voting on Nov 22.
A veteran conservative politician, Kahraman served as minister of culture in the mid-1990s under Necmettin Erbakan’s governments, which were later shut down by the Constitutional Court. Kahraman is known as one of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s closest associates. After a break of 12 years, he returned to the active politics through the Nov. 1 elections.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has announced that it will hold its annual congress to elect a new leader for the party on Jan. 15-16, after having failed to capitalize on a snap election on Nov. 1 which allowed the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to regain power.
ISLAMABAD: Despite PPP’s concerns over the victory of Zulfiqar Mirza’s group in the local government elections in Badin town, Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah accepted the results on Friday and urged others to respect the people’s decision.
Talking to reporters after meeting Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, he said: “We should all accept Badin’s results as the decision of the people of the area.”
As unofficial results of Thursday’s local government elections in Sindh and Punjab continue to trickle in, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party retained their dominance in their respective strongholds.
PML-N strong in Punjab
The PML-N consolidated itself in the second phase of local government polls as it won a massive 1,067 seats in 12 districts of Punjab with independents giving a strong account of themselves securing 894 seats.
If former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz ran for prime minister, more Israelis would support him than current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a Chanel 2 poll broadcast Saturday.
The poll conducted by Dr. Mina Tzemach and Mano Geva pitted Netanyahu against various candidates for prime minister, and only Gantz surpassed him, with 44 percent choosing him rather than 32% for Netanyahu.
Clashes between political rivals slowed polling in several of the 12 districts in the second phase of local government elections.
Polls on Thursday were held in Sargodha, Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Attock, Jhelum, Mianwali, Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Sheikhupura and Khanewal.
Mirroring the results of the first phase of the local government elections in Punjab, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) appeared to have captured more hearts and seats than independents and their nearest political rivals in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf put together in the second phase of the polls.
Unofficial results in 12 districts put PML-N in the lead with 382 seats, while independent candidates chalked up 262 seats, and PTI trailing behind with 112 seats.
While women came out in large numbers to participate in the second phase of the local bodies elections held on Thursday, there were reports of women being stopped from exercising their right to franchise in many districts of Punjab. A scuffle broke out at a polling station in ward-III of Chenab Nagar, Chiniot when one contestant tried to stop a troop of women, who had been brought in by the rival candidate, from casting their vote. Polling had to be suspended due to the scuffle, but resumed after a 30 minute interlude.
TOBA TEK SINGH: The women in Chak 295-JB (Devidaspur) maintained their resolve not to cast vote in any case.
Villagers said that since Pakistan came into being the women of this area were never allowed to cast their votes in any elections.
They said in today’s local body elections their men, like the previous elections, also did not allow their women to go to polling stations.
Fuente: http://www.dawn.com/news/1220906/women-stick-to-no-vote-resolve
MULTAN: Of the over 1,400 women voters of Mauza Mohripur in Khanewal district, only one woman turned up at the polling station on Thursday to cast her vote in local government’s second phase elections.
Fauzia Talib refused to follow decades old tradition that bars women from going to the polling station.
“I’m breaking the tradition for the betterment and empowerment of the women of my area,” she asserted on Thursday.
ATTOCK: Women and young people turned out to vote in surprising numbers as the second phase of the local government elections was held in Attock district on Thursday.
By the end of polling, however, mixed trends were visible as the PML-N led the field with potential victories on nine seats. Unofficial results gave five seats to independent candidates, three to the Major Tahir Sadiq group and one seat to PTI.
ISLAMABAD: Criticising the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for its last minute decision to postpone polling in 76 local councils in Sindh, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah said on Thursday that the move had again exposed inefficiency of the ECP.
Talking to reporters at his Parliament House chamber, he reiterated his demand for resignation of ECP members and, for the first time, also criticised the chief election commissioner, saying that he was also not playing his due role.
