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The presidential race heated up this week as runoff candidates Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah Abdullah exchanged blows over damaging rumors being spread about each of them. Ashraf Ghani went so far as to challenge Abdullah to a religious debate under the suspicion that his rival had fed questions about his religious devotion.

Dans le cadre de sa démarche politique, le Président du Parti  Citoyen pour le Renouveau, Ousmane Ben Fana Traoré a tenu le dimanche 18 mai 2014, au siège de son parti, un point de presse pour édifier l’opinion nationale sur l’option politique qu’ils se sont engagés à défendre ainsi que les perspectives envisagées pour le développement du Mali. C’est à cette occasion qu’il a annoncé l’implantation très prochainement d’une antenne à Bamako de la Fondation allemande Friedrich Naumann.

According to Mohammad Shoaib Dar, the PCB announced the result of the election for the West Zone Cricket Association president in defiance of court orders. Dar was the losing candidate as the board declared Rai Zulfiqar head of the zone after the voting.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will evaluate Mahfud MD’s position as one of its advisory council members, following his appointment as the election campaign team head of candidate pair Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa.

Komnas HAM commissioner Natalius Pigai said Mahfud’s new role could taint the commission’s position as an independent institution that was not affiliated to any political entity.

Results of the expatriate vote showed Former Defense Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi winning with a huge margin of 94.5% over 5.5% for his Nasserist opponent Hamdeen Sabahy, the Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) announced in a press conference on Wednesday.

Total valid votes were 318,033, of which 296,628 went to Al-Sisi and 17,207 to Sabahy. Meanwhile, 41,98 of the voters casted invalid votes.

A rift within the Golkar Party between those supporting presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and running mate Jusuf Kalla, former Golkar chairman, and those toeing the party line and backing Prabowo Subianto is hurting the party, a Golkar senior member has said.

Golkar advisory council head Akbar Tandjung said the party’s fractured state was similar to what had happened in the 2004 presidential election when the party’s support was split into two factions, namely supporters of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla and Wiranto-Salahudin Wahid.

Faithful members of the country’s largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), known as Nahdliyin, should remain neutral in the upcoming presidential election, a senior NU official has said.

NU executive board (PBNU) member Slamet Effendi Yusuf said any NU members who wished to express support for presidential candidate pairs Joko “Jokowi” Widodo-Jusuf Kalla or Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa should do so on an individual basis and not on behalf of the organization.

Speaker Nabih Berri Wednesday said he was ready to call for a parliamentary session to elect a new president just as soon as quorum was met.

The speaker’s remarks came during a legislative session to discuss a letter President Michel Sleiman sent to the legislative branch, in which he urged lawmakers to avoid a vacuum in the country’s top Christian post by electing a new president on time.

Le président de l'instance indépendante supérieure pour les élections Chafik Sarsar a démenti, ce mercredi 21 mai 2014, l'information selon laquelle l'ISIE aurait reçu de l'argent d'une partie étrangère. 

Il a expliqué que seul l'Etat a la prérogative de gérer les aides financières de l'étranger. 

Notons que Chafik Sarsar est intervenu sur les ondes de Mosaïque FM en réponse aux déclarations de Hamma Hammami concernant cette affaire.