Published
7 days agoBurkina Faso is a predominantly French-speaking country, and the capital city is Ouagadougou. According to the World Bank, the population is 18 million, and the currency is the West African franc. Mobile Casinos in Burkina Faso.
on
By
The TideShareTweetBurkina Faso’s incumbent president Roch Kabore has won the election with 57.87 per cent of votes, according to the election body Independent National Electoral Commission yesterday.
Having won more than 50 per cent of the total ballots cast, Kabore has secured enough votes to avoid a second round.
Some analysts had expected a closer contest last Sunday between Kabore, who was elected president of Burkina Faso in 2015, and his main rivals, who argued he had failed to contain jihadist and ethnic violence that forced one million people to flee their homes during his first term.
Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections were held in the shadow of violence, with a surge in attacks,
Once perceived as a stable West African nation, Burkina Faso’s fate is now closely tied with that of the wider Sahel region, where 5,000 French troops are deployed under Operation Barkhane, cooperating with a fledgling European Operation Takuba force.
The presidential election results read out by the election commission yesterday showed Kaboré taking 57.87 per cent of the vote while his two closest rivals, Zephirin Diabre and Eddie Komboigo, got 12.46 per cent and 15.48 per cent, respectively.
Kaboré’s opponents have raised concerns about the validity of the vote count.
But the electoral commission has dismissed those and an international observer mission gave the election a mostly clean bill of health.
Argentines Mourn Maradona
Don't MissGSA Officially Recognises Biden Victory As Trump Capitulates
Continue ReadingYou may like
Published
4 days agoon
November 30, 2020By
The TideWest African gold producer Ghana is preparing to elect a president on December 7, in a race dubbed the “battle of two giants.”
Incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) will face former president John Dramani Mahama, leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
It is the third time Akufo-Addo and Mahama will compete against each other for the highest office, with each previously having won one poll – Akufo-Addo in 2016 and Mahama in 2012.
Although 12 candidates are vying for the presidency, including two women, only Akufo-Addo and Mahama are said to have a chance of coming out victorious.
The electoral campaign has been dominated by Ghana’s economy, infrastructure development, education, corruption, and debt relief.
Akufo-Addo, 76, has been touting economic growth during his current four-year term in office as well as the streamlining of government services and implementation of free schooling for senior high school pupils.
Mahama, 62, has meanwhile stressed the many infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, schools and hospitals, he realised during his presidency, promising to invest more in this area if re-elected.
Political analysts of the University of Ghana in the capital, Accra, predict a slim win for Akufo-Addo in the December elections.
Polls have indicated voters prefer Akufo-Addo’s policy-driven approach to running the nation of 30 million people, the university’s head of the political science department, Kaakyire Frempong, told dpa.
A candidate needs to gain at least 50 per cent of votes to be elected in the first round.
Ghana’s roughly 17 million registered voters will also elect 275 legislators from 914 candidates on Dec. 7.
Akufo-Addo’s NPP is expected to once again gain the majority of seats in parliament.
Voting will take place at more than 33,000 polling stations between 7 am and 5 pm (0700 and 1700 GMT).
The electoral commission will announce results within 72 hours after the election.
Published
4 days agoon
November 30, 2020By
The TideThe widow of former Republican presidential candidate, Sen John McCain has been tipped to be Biden’s envoy in London once he takes over the White House in January, the Times of London reported last Saturday.
Cindy McCain, a lifelong Republican, switched sides to campaign for Biden against President Donald Trump this fall.
She is credited with helping nudge some Republicans away from Trump, especially in her home state of Arizona, where the McCain name is political gold.
Cindy McCain would be the first Republican named to a senior post by Biden, who has vowed to reach out across the aisle after Trump’s divisive partisanship.
Tony Gardner, President Barack Obama’s ambassador to the European Union, is also being considered for the prestigious gig, the paper said.
McCain’s husband famously sought to block Trump from taking over the GOP and cast the deciding vote to prevent the Republican Senate from ending the Affordable Care Act.
Trump made no secret of his hatred for McCain and once suggested he was not a real war hero because he got captured by North Vietnam.
He even went out of his way to stoke their feud after the GOP elder statesman died of brain cancer last year.
In one incident, Navy officials covered up the name “USS. John McCain” on a warship named after him to avoid offending Trump during a visit to Japan.
Published
4 days agoon
November 30, 2020By
The TideTurkey condemned last Saturday the “heinous assassination” of Iran’s top nuclear scientist and called for the perpetrators of the attack to be held accountable.
Turkey’s foreign ministry made this known in a statement.
The foreign ministry also urged “all sides to act with common sense and restraint” in the wake of Friday’s killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who Western and Israeli governments believe was the architect of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons programme.
Earlier, Iran’s supreme leader promised to retaliate for the killing, raising the threat of a new confrontation with the West and Israel in the remaining weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.
“Once again, the evil hands of Global Arrogance and the Zionist mercenaries were stained with the blood of an Iranian son,” he said, using terms officials employ to refer to Israel.
Israeli cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said he did not know who carried out the killing.
“I have no clue who did it. It’s not that my lips are sealed because I’m being responsible, I simply really have no clue,” he told N12’s Meet the Press.
Israel’s Army Radio said some Israeli embassies had been put on high alert after the Iranian threats of retaliation, though there were no reports of concrete threats. The radio’s military affairs correspondent said the army was on a routine footing.
Netanyahu’s office has declined to comment on the killing of Fakhrizadeh and an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said the ministry did not comment on security regarding missions abroad.
The White House, Pentagon, US State Department and CIA have also declined to comment on the killing, as has Biden’s transition team. Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
“Whether Iran is tempted to take revenge or whether it restrains itself, it will make it difficult for Biden to return to the nuclear agreement,” Amos Yadlin, a former Israeli military intelligence chief and director of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, wrote on Twitter.
Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear work in return for the lifting of sanctions. Once Trump withdrew in 2018, US sanctions were ramped up, driving down Iran’s vital oil exports and crippling the economy. Tehran, meanwhile, sped up its nuclear work.
Germany, a party to the nuclear pact, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guitierres called for restraint from all sides.
Trending
Politics4 days agoEkiti PDP Blasts Fayemi Over Insecurity
Politics4 days agoBorno: PDP Blames Buhari For Massacre
Editorial4 days agoAs World Marks AIDS Day…
Politics4 days ago‘Legislators Should Enlighten Nigerians On Legislative Duties
Sports4 days ago‘Sports Ministry Needs N81m To Clear Weed At National Stadium’
Politics4 days agoHeed Calls For Restructuring, True Federalism, Wike Urges Buhari
Politics4 days agoNational Issues Require Bipartisan Approach – Lawmaker
Politics4 days agoBurkina Faso Online Casinos Gambling
YPP Mobilises Youths For Future Elections
People are voting in Burkina Faso’s presidential election, although polls are closed in parts of the north and east because of fears of jihadist violence.
President Roch Kabore is seeking a second five-year term, with 13 opposition candidates challenging him.
At least 400,000 would-be voters were unable to register because of the security situation.
Socogib Burkina Faso
Brutal attacks have forced more than than one million civilians from their homes in the past two years alone.
Campaigning was halted for 48 hours last week following a deadly ambush on soldiers in the north of the country.
Up to a fifth of the country is out of state control, estimates suggest, with rival jihadist groups battling for dominance and also attacks by other armed militias.
Most polling station opened at 06:00 GMT and are expected to close at 18:00.
In the northern town of Djibo polling stations opened 30 minutes late according to local sources, but everything is going well and there’s a heavy security presence, says the BBC Afrique correspondent Simon Gongo.
President Kabore cast his vote in a school in the capital Ouagadougo and urged people to take part.
“I call on all Burkinabe to vote, whatever their leaning. It’s about the democracy of Burkina Faso, it’s about development, it’s about peace,” he said.
The election is also being held amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Many businesses and schools were forced to close in parts of the country. In September, the UN warned that more than 500,000 Burkinabé children were acutely malnourished.
However, peace and security are priorities for many in this year’s elections, BBC Afrique’s Lalla Sy reports.
Who is taking part?
President Kaboré, who has governed Burkina Faso since 2015, is seeking a second term.
His main challengers are veteran opposition UPC leader Zéphirin Diabré, and Eddie Komboïgo, standing for the CPD party of ousted former President Blaise Compaoré.
Now living in exile, Mr Compaoré’s 27-year rule ended in 2014 after a wave of popular protests.
Mr Kaboré once served as Mr Compoaré’s prime minister, but gained popularity after opposing his bid to change the constitution and run for a third term. He left the ruling party and formed the MPP.
In all, 13 candidates are running – including the only woman in the race Yéli Monique Kam, former culture minister Tahirou Barry, Gilbert Noël Ouédraogo, Farama Ségui Ambroise among others.
AFP news agency reports that almost all the opposition candidates support the idea of holding talks with the jihadists, and quotes Mr Diabré as saying “military action on its own has never been able to defeat terrorism in any part of the world”.
But President Kaboré has ruled it out, as has former colonial power France which has troops stationed in the country and whose President Emmanuel Macron reportedly said: “We don’t talk with terrorists. We fight.”
How does the election work?
Under Burkina Faso’s electoral rules, the winning candidate requires a majority of votes to become president.
Nine presidential candidates and 22 opposition parties signed an agreement in August to rally behind any candidate who reaches the second round of the vote to boost their chances of unseating President Kaboré.
For the first time in Burkina Faso’s history, citizens living abroad will be eligible to vote, in accordance with demands from the populist uprising that ousted former President Compaoré. Ivory Coast is home to more than 1.7m potential voters.
Results are expected within days.