Campaigning in the Maldives’ fourth multi-party parliamentary elections has entered the final stretch. Voting will take place on April 21. The fracturing of the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) and the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), and the fraying of old loyalties, have thrown traditional voter allegiances into question, injecting unpredictability into the contest. In … Read more
China has made it clear who it wants to win Solomon Islands’ upcoming election, and there is little surprise it is the pro-Beijing candidate Manasseh Sogavare. The increase in Chinese investment in Solomon Islands is the political ticket Sogavare and his coalition members need to win back power after the April 17 poll. Sogavare’s Democratic … Read more
On August 5, 2019, the Narendra Modi government revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which had guaranteed autonomy to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The state was bifurcated into two federally-governed union territories (UTs): Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), and Ladakh. The upcoming elections to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian … Read more
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Monday that he will step down on May 15 after two decades at the helm, and hand power to his deputy Lawrence Wong. Lee, 72, will formally advise the city-state’s president to appoint Wong, who is currently deputy prime minister and finance minister, to succeed him, his office … Read more
On April 2, Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov signed a bill on foreign funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) into law. NGOs that receive funding from abroad will be registered as “foreign representatives,” and they will be subject to costly reporting and auditing requirements. In the many months it took for this piece of legislation to pass … Read more
Messages by two influential Taliban leaders in Afghanistan this week showed tensions between hardliners and more moderate elements who want to scrap harsher policies and attract more outside support, experts said Thursday. The messages for Eid al-Fitr marking the end of Ramadan were delivered by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, who defended the imposition of Islamic … Read more
In an unprecedented show of assertiveness, the Indian National Congress, India’s main opposition party, released its election manifesto ‘Nyay Patra’ (justice document) in New Delhi on April 5 followed by a massive launch in the Congress-ruled southern state of Telangana, the next day. Addressing the public rally, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi raised burning issues like … Read more
Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada reportedly emerged on Wednesday for a rare public address marking the end of Ramadan in which he pushed back on international criticism. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Akhundzada delivered the speech at the largest mosque in Kandahar to a crowd of thousands. Most attendees at the Eid al-Fitr service, however, were unable … Read more
The leadup to the election saw President Yoon Suk-yeol embroiled in a series of damaging incidents. His party paid the price.
The Democratic Party (DP) won a landslide victory again on Wednesday, signaling South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s lame-duck status for his remaining three years in office. Out of 300 seats in the National Assembly, the DP won 175 seats, while the ruling People Power Party (PPP) won 108. Adding other seats won by opposition parties … Read more