News

Around 100 partisan and independent parliamentary members met with Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal in the Shura Council’s lobby to discuss a suggestion of turning the Support Egypt parliamentary coalition into a political party.

Abdel Aal said that the idea, which was suggested by the president of the coalition Mohammed al-Sewedi, is doable.

Member of the coalition’s political bureau Tharwat Bekhet told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper that the idea needs great efforts and practical measures that will make the party strong and viable.

National Sovereignty Day celebrations were marked by political tension between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) on April 23, as the latter bids to find a strategy against the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) alliance in the upcoming snap election.

Parliament hopefuls, political parties and state figures running in the country’s upcoming general elections have “rallied capabilities and means” for their electoral campaigns, amid complaints some are reportedly “exploiting” the government's resources and “harnessing” some of the security and administrative services, al-Joumhouria daily reported Monday.

The past 48 hours have witnessed “heated” electioneering around different Lebanese regions, with signs of escalating “verbal rhetoric,” where more and more fights and disturbances were reported in the run-up to the May 6 ballot.

Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari called on the United Nations to play a role in ensuring the conduct of the electoral process without breaches or obstacles.

"We believe that the elections are a way to move from one situation to the next, and I stress the importance of the strong participation of Iraqis in the elections, and the United Nations should play a role in ensuring that the electoral process is conducted without any obstacles or obstacles " Jaafari said during a meeting with Ján Kubiš, the UN representative in Iraq.

Fifteen main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmakers quit their party on April 22 and joined İYİ (Good) Party in a bid to secure the latter’s participation in the upcoming early presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24.

“Upon the instruction of our party’s leader, 15 of our friends joined İYİ Party as a precautionary measure to prevent problems occurring right at the beginning of the election period,” CHP spokesman leader Bülent Tezcan announced at a press conference in parliament alongside the lawmakers who resigned.

Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said arrangements have been completed to kick off the dialogue with the political forces.

NCP political secretary Omer Basan said his party would meet with all political forces except the unregistered parties and the armed movements that have not yet been transformed into political parties.

He pointed out that the meetings with the political forces would focus on the outcome of the national dialogue particularly the issues of the constitution, elections commission and the law of the political parties’ council.

Given only two months to prepare for the early presidential and parliamentary elections, Turkey’s political parties are scrambling to piece together strategies ahead of the vote.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is set to announce its election manifesto in the coming week ahead of a large party congress in Istanbul, while the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is still working to come up with an election strategy for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections and to find a candidate for the June 24 vote.

 Mohamed Ould Mouloud, Président en exerce du Front National pour la Démocratie et l’Unité (FNDU) qui regroupe plusieurs partis d’opposition mauritaniens a prédit « des élections de confrontation, si le pouvoir persiste dans sa voie unilatérale ». 

Al-Masry Al-Youm’s former editor-in-chief, Moahmed El Sayed Saleh, was ordered to be released on LE 10,000 ($568) bail pending investigations into the newspaper’s election-related headlines.