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On the last day of runoff campaigns, main team members of losing presidential candidate Qutbuddin Helal endorsed frontrunner candidate Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday.

When Second Vice President of Qutbuddin Helal, Mohammad Ali Nabizada, announced his and the teams support for Dr. Abdullah, Helal later in the day announced his support for Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai.

“We, the ‘change and transformation team’ announce our support for Abdullah Abdullah,” Nabizada said. "About 99 percent of us agree with this decision."

While still not officially announcing his candidacy, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has used a gathering with executives from his ruling party’s local branches to publicly instruct them to begin campaigning for the upcoming presidential elections.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has arrived at the final point with regard to nominating its candidate for the presidency, Erdoğan said on June 11, delivering a speech at a meeting with AKP-member mayors from across the country.

Potential voters in the upcoming July 9 presidential election would likely choose a candidate linked to the parties of their regional leaders, a survey shows.

The survey, which was conducted by the United Data Center, shows that mayors and governors represent political parties strongholds and potential voters in certain areas would be more likely to back either presidential figures Prabowo Subianto or Joko “Jokowi” Widodo based on party preferences.

Jakarta. The calm and collected start by former Army general Prabowo Subianto turned into a high-pitched, hoarse speech toward the end of the first televised debate of this year’s presidential election campaign, after Jusuf Kalla, the running mate to Joko Widodo, pressed the issue of Prabowo’s role in the abduction of pro-democracy activists in 1998.

Prabowo confidently answered the debate’s first question; he got to go first by moderator Zainal Arifin Mochtar, a lecturer at Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and anti-corruption activist.

Some 750 youths under the age of 18 joined the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK) forces in one year, according to a fresh report by a police agency. 

The report said the PKK’s high school and youth organizations, the urban arm and educational support branch, also known as EDEV, were used in accelerating the process of recruiting youths and taking them to the mountains for training.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday proposed setting up a parliamentary committee to finalise recommendations on electoral reforms and submit its report within three months.

In a letter addressed to Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the prime minister said given the importance of the matter, the parliamentary committee may prepare comprehensive recommendations to ensure free, fair and transparent elections in the country.

On March 3, 2013, as a means of curbing illegal immigration, the Civil Status Authority implemented a ban on issuing identity cards to those unable to present legal documents proving their Yemeni nationality.

According to the ban, the provision of Yemeni identity cards for Muwaladeen (“mixed race”—in this case being the child of a Yemeni national and a foreign national) born in the Horn of Africa is to be stopped. However, Muwaladeen born in the Gulf, Europe, and Asia, provided their fathers were born in Yemen, can still be issued identity cards.