Picture: AFP Bamako. Malians vote on Sunday in a run-off election and President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is favorite to beat Soumaila Cisse even though ethnic and militant violence has surged during his tenure, reported Reuters. Keita took 41 percent of the vote in last month’s first round against nearly 18 percent for Cisse, a former finance minister and the main opposition leader. The poll was marred by armed attacks and other security incidents that disrupted about a fifth of polling places and the threat of violence could again dampen turnout on Sunday. The chaotic first round was a reminder that militants, some linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, have regrouped since a French intervention in 2013 and are now expanding their influence across the desert north and into the fertile center. Civil society website Malilink recorded 932 attacks in the first half of 2018, almost double that for all of 2017 and triple 2015. Their activities in Mali and its Sahel neighbors … [Read more...] about Reuters: Mali to vote in run-off election with president Keita favorite to win
Election for president 2015
Turkey pro-Kurdish party says jailed ex-leader Demirtas to run for president
Turkey's main pro-Kurdish party on Wednesday said its charismatic former leader Selahattin Demirtas would be its candidate for president in polls next month, even though he is currently jailed and on trial in several legal cases. The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) had agreed Demirtas as its candidate and his campaign would be launched in simultaneous rallies in Istanbul and the majority Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Friday afternoon, the party said. Turkey is due to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24 after snap polls were called by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan one-and-a-half years ahead of schedule. Demirtas, 45, was a candidate against Erdogan in August 2014 presidential elections and led HDP into parliament for the first time in June 2015 polls. Dubbed the "Kurdish Obama" by admirers after the rhetorically-gifted former US president, Demirtas stood out in Turkish politics with impassioned speeches and a radiant charisma. But he was arrested in November … [Read more...] about Turkey pro-Kurdish party says jailed ex-leader Demirtas to run for president
Kanye West reaffirms vow to run for president in 2024
Kanye West's recent Twitter barrage has taken a turn towards the political over the last couple of days, with West expressing his appreciation of black conservative commentator Candace Owens and discussing his desire to 'challenge conventional black thought'. This concluded with him apparently renewing his promise to stage a presidential bid late last night, tweeting simply: "2024". The rapper also tweeted the year on 13 December, 2016, revising his initial claim that he would run for president in 2020 that he made at the 2015 MTV Awards. Read more Kanye West announces two new albums “Rappers are philosophers of our now, celebrities are the influencers of our now, just look at the president,” he explained in 2016. “[Trump] wasn’t in politics and won.” West met Trump not long after his election "to discuss multicultural issues” such as “bullying, supporting teachers, modernizing curriculums, and violence in Chicago." He added: “I … [Read more...] about Kanye West reaffirms vow to run for president in 2024
Kanye West tweets and deletes biggest hint yet that he’s running for President
Is Kanye West actually going to run for President? We've all seen the stories, and we all remember that weird meeting he had with Donald Trump when he was first elected to the Presidency. And now, the rapping husband of Kim Kardashian has tweeted his biggest hint yet that he's going to run for a place in the White House in 2024. However, it seems he changed his mind just minutes later as he quickly deleted the post. Dad-of-three Kanye shared a snap of five identical posters hanging up on a wall outside what looks to be a store or office building. The pink posters feature a black and white image of his face, with the slogan "Keep America Great" above him. And at the bottom, there's a hashtag that reads "#Kanye2024" Kanye shared the picture on Twitter alongside a thinking face emoji, but deleted it within a few minutes. The slogan is similar to Trump's, which was "Make America Great Again". It's not known if the posters were actually of Kanye's design, or if they were posted by a … [Read more...] about Kanye West tweets and deletes biggest hint yet that he’s running for President
Mexico lets independent ‘Bronco’ run for president
A Mexican court ruled Tuesday that controversial independent candidate Jaime "The Bronco" Rodriguez can run for president, even though electoral authorities found he failed to collect the required signatures. A tough-talking former rancher who does not shy away from controversy or cussing, Rodriguez will now be the fifth candidate on the ballot for the July 1 election, along with veteran leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the front-runner; conservative Ricardo Anaya; ruling-party candidate Jose Antonio Meade; and former first lady Margarita Zavala, a fellow independent. Mexico's electoral court ruled that the National Electoral Institute (INE) erred in not letting Rodriguez contest its March decision to exclude him from the ballot. The INE had found that more than half the two million signatures submitted in support of his candidacy were forged, photocopied or invalid due to other irregularities. But the court said the INE failed to "respect the guarantee of a hearing during the … [Read more...] about Mexico lets independent ‘Bronco’ run for president