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Afghan refugees in Pakistan have spoken out to encourage their countrymen to vote in this year’s presidential runoff. Denied the right to participate themselves, the refugees also made appeals to the candidates for support in protecting their rights abroad and paving the way for repatriation. 

Although the July 9 presidential election features just two competing candidates, the General Elections Commission (KPU) is anticipating the possibility of a second round of voting as required by the current Presidential Election Law.

The KPU said on Thursday that in order to be declared the winner in the presidential election, a candidate must receive at least 50 percent-plus-one of the votes, while also garnering a minimum of 20 percent of the votes in more than 17 provinces.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said that essential election materials have been delivered to more than 300 districts across the country and by the end of Friday all materials will be delivered to all districts of Afghanistan, at a press conference in Kabul on Thursday.

Jakarta. The campaign season for Indonesia’s presidential election enters a new phase this week with the media and observers alike speculating on who may occupy key cabinet posts, whichever candidate wins the race.

The strikingly different campaign teams behind the two tickets vying for the presidency offer a glimpse of which supporting members are most likely to become cabinet officials for the 2014-2019 period, in line with previous elections that saw the winners recruit most of their ministers from the very teams responsible for their victory.

Jakarta. Indonesia’s two presidential candidates are outdoing each other with hardline policies to rein in foreign firms and control the resources sector, risking a lurch towards nationalism in Southeast Asia’s top economy, analysts say.

Frontrunner Joko Widodo and ex-general Prabowo Subianto have said they will favor domestic companies in the lucrative oil and gas industry and have pledged to stick with a controversial mineral ore export ban ahead of the July 9 polls.

La conférence de l’opposition, organisée hier après-midi à l’hôtel Mazafran de Zéralda, à l’ouest d’Alger, a réussi à faire asseoir côte à côte Saïd Sadi, l’ancien président du Rassemblement pour la culture et la démocratie (RCD), et maître Mokrane Aït Larbi, qui ont d’ailleurs longuement devisé avant le début des travaux. Il faut dire que la crème de la classe politique algérienne était là.