Tag: voting

More than 190 million Indonesian voters are heading to the polls for an election that will test the country's democracy. Read more: Indonesia election puts Islam on the ballot The all-important presidential vote is a remake of the 2014 contest, with incumbent Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, once again going up against former general Prabowo Subianto. Jokowi won the 2014 election with 53% of the votes, and ran his campaign by promoting Indonesia's social plurality, while promising to boost the economy and improve infrastructure. This time around, Subianto hopes to edge off Jokowi by running on a platform of law and order, combined with conservative Islamic values. Jokowi hopes Amin can help bring in more conservative, traditional, and rural voters. "Religious regulations are used as political tools, especially in local areas, to strengthen support among an incumbent leader's constituency prior to an election," Ray Rangkuti, from the Indonesian politics watchdog Lingkar Madani, told DW. However, the parliament is decisive in creating the field for presidential elections. Sixteen parties are competing in the 2019 parliamentary elections, but Indonesian voters are also somewhat forced into voting for establishment parties. And once in parliament, parities who want to put a candidate on the ballot must have at least 20% support in the current parliament, or alternatively have won at least 25% of the vote in the latest election. Jokowi's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) won 19% of the vote in 2014, the largest party in parliament, but still under the threshold to field a candidate without a coalition.

On almost every issue on the agenda, most Israelis think, one thing and vote, the opposite. 81% of the Jews in Israel support equality for all streams in Judaism and 60% of the Israelis support an easier conversion process. Some 50% of those who define themselves as religious support civil marriage while half of those defined as Orthodox support a core curriculum in all Orthodox learning institutions. But it seems that on primary issues, before we bring up the political controversy, surveys referred to here, do reflect public opinion reliably, since multiple surveys were done by multiple pollsters. Only 10% support annexation of the West Bank according to the Institute of Nations Security Studies (INSS). Even considering sampling errors, The conclusion must be that there is a large gap between the positions of the right-wing coalition, which is now and may continue to be in power, and the majority of the public. Tomorrow the Israeli public will vote. Some surveys, show that the attitudes of Israeli Arabs are much more moderate than those of the Arab political parties. It turns out that both Arabs and Jews treat their parties a bit like a soccer team. When Israelis, Arabs and Jews, vote according to their true positions, common interests will prevail.

Completely self-absorbed MPs have proven time and time again that they are not qualified to pull off something as complicated as Brexit. FromEveryAngle ‘Time to pass the ball to some other sucker’ How does Theresa May not just step down and walk away from this mess? Sort of feels like she’s tried enough and it’s time to pass the ball to some other sucker. Online and on the streets the voice of those who actually want to leave the EU is barely audible above that of those who want to remain. thatotherbloke ‘Politicians don’t have the will or courage to deal with this’ So after all this time spent negotiating and working out a Brexit agreement, the UK political establishment realises that it doesn’t like it and is unable to articulate alternatives it does like. There’s total paralysis in political decision making. The country, and parliament are split down the middle, the vote was too close and should never have been passed on such a small margin. May’s negotiated WA will be voted down again, there is no alternative, I think we know where this is heading and it isn’t revoking article 50. It is going to be a final end to this farce, or it will be the end for the EU as UK politicians will be arguing about this for another two years. JoeMcJoe ‘How long will it take for Britain to heal the division?’ It’s unbelievable how British MPs, especially the Conservatives, are unable to find a compromise and a way forward.

Aa Aa Running out of bad options? British MPs are trying to break the Brexit deadlock in a series of dramatic votes on Monday. The string of indicative votes, as they're known, comes after British lawmakers took control of the Brexit proceedings last week. MPs will have another chance to cast their ballots on the eight indicative votes — some of which are being voted on for a second time in the House of Commons — after being struck down last Wednesday. Political outsiders Presidential elections in Slovakia and Ukraine have thrust political newcomers into the spotlight. Both countries saw politicians with little prior political experience win important presidential votes. Zuzana Caputova won the runoff vote in Slovakia on Saturday, making her the country's first female president. In Ukraine, preliminary results indicated comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy defeated the incumbent, President Petro Poroshenko, in first-round votes on Sunday. The duo will face off in a runoff vote on April 21. Policing Facebook Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is calling for more government intervention when it comes to social media content.

The prime minister had suggested she would “engage constructively” with the indicative votes process, set up by a cross-party group of MPs led by the former Conservative minister Sir Oliver Letwin. But Downing Street sources confirmed that the government would whip Conservative MPs to oppose the business motion kicking off Monday’s votes. The deeply divided cabinet, which May’s own chief whip, Julian Smith, described in a BBC interview on Monday as the “worst example of ill-discipline in cabinet in British political history”, will be instructed not to vote. “I’ll leave it to historians to make their judgments on history,” he said. The prime minister’s spokesman said “soft Brexit” was “not terminology the prime minister has ever used”, but underlined her continued objections to Britain remaining part of a customs union. Would the UK be better off in or out of a customs union? Many Brexiters on the Conservative benches, including within the cabinet, are vehemently opposed to accepting a customs union. I’ve said that before. But we are approaching the point where the stakes are now so very high, and so transcend party politics and what this country is about, and the fundamental British value that political power rests on consent, that I think these things are coming on to the table.” Downing Street suggested it would be for the cabinet at its weekly meeting to decide how to proceed, if, as expected, MPs supported a softer deal on Monday. But government sources suggested May could still aim to bring her deal to parliament for a fourth time on Wednesday – when Letwin and his colleagues plan to set aside another day of parliamentary business, potentially to pass legislation implementing the outcome of Monday’s votes.

Jeremy Corbyn will whip Labour MPs to support a Brexit referendum in the indicative votes – but could face a wave of resignations from frontbenchers determined not to back it. One shadow minister warned Labour would face “a very significant rebellion” if it tried to force MPs to back the motion, and another said: “If we whip for it, we won’t have a shadow cabinet by the end of the day.” The motion, tabled by Dame Margaret Beckett, suggests parliament should not ratify any Brexit deal “unless and until” it has been approved in a “confirmatory public vote”. Gardiner also suggested Labour was concerned that the motion could suggest the party would allow Theresa May’s deal to pass if it led to a referendum. “To put that up as the only alternative in a public vote and say we will let it go through looks as though you believe that, at the end of it, remain would be the result. “Our policy is clearly that we would support a public vote to stop no deal or to stop a bad deal, but not that we would allow a bad deal as long as the public had the opportunity to reject Brexit altogether.” He said Labour could not be portrayed as a party that wanted remain at any price. “The Labour party is not a remain party now. Beckett said she had been led to believe Labour would support plans for a confirmatory referendum; and the Guardian understands scores of MPs met in parliament later, to demand that the party whip for it. Read more McDonnell said Gardiner’s comments were “exactly in line with party policy” and that the decision would be made on whether to whip the Beckett motion after the Speaker, John Bercow, has selected the motions for debate. Asked whether he agreed with Gardiner that Labour was not a remain party, he said: “We had to accept in our manifesto respect for the referendum result. On the floor of the House of Commons there could be a coalition around that.” Corbyn’s spokesman later confirmed the party would whip for Beckett’s “confirmatory public vote” option – as well as the one put forward by Gareth Snell and Ken Clarke, calling for a customs union, and the one setting out Labour’s own Brexit policy.

MPs will be asked to consider a range of alternative Brexit options after parliament seized control of the Commons agenda to force a series of “indicative votes”. The plan includes a comprehensive customs union with a UK say on future trade deals; close alignment with the single market; matching new EU rights and protections; participation in EU agencies and funding programmes; and agreement on future security arrangements, including access to the European arrest warrant. The motion proposes UK membership of the European Free Trade Association (Efta) and European Economic Area (EEA). Customs union This plan requires a commitment to negotiate a “permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union with the EU” in any Brexit deal. Malthouse compromise plan A A cross-party proposal calls for Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement to be implemented with the controversial “backstop” for the Irish border replaced by alternative arrangements. It has been signed by 28 MPs, including the SNP’s Angus Brendan MacNeil and the Tory MP Ken Clarke. The motion was also signed by Conservative MPs including former minister Nicky Morgan and head of the Brexit Delivery Group, Simon Hart. Consent of devolved institutions Backed by SNP MPs including Ian Blackford, Kirsty Blackman and Stephen Gethins, this motion requires an agreement that the UK will not leave without a deal, and that no action for leaving the EU will be taken without a consent motion passed in both the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly. How did your MP vote on the indicative votes amendment? Contingent reciprocal arrangements A similar group of Tory MPs have backed a proposal calling for the government to “at least reciprocate the arrangements put in place by the EU and or its member states to manage the period following the UK’s departure from the EU”, in case the UK is unable to implement a withdrawal agreement.