A federal judge Friday issued a second preliminary injunction blocking some provisions of the sweeping executive order on elections that President Donald Trump signed in March. Judge Denise Casper blocked provisions ordering the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to take steps to require documentary proof of citizenship from people registering to vote and requiring federal voter registration…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Early voting is underway in the primary election for two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission, the powerful panel of regulators with final say over the rates and energy plans of the state’s largest electric utility, Georgia Power — a subsidiary of one of the largest utilities in the country.
This year’s PSC election comes with added scrutiny because it’s been nearly five years since the last one, and in that time Georgia Power bills have increased repeatedly with the current commission’s approval. It’s also the only statewide race on Georgia’s ballot this year.
State utility commissioners across the country have a substantial impact on climate action because they oversee electric utilities and have final say over how those utilities generate energy — one of the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In states like Georgia where monopoly utilities dominate, the commissioners’ power is magnified.
Elections for the Georgia Public Service Commission have been canceled for the last two cycles because of a voting rights lawsuit challenging the way the elections are conducted, meaning three commissioners have continued to serve and vote on key issues without facing voters as originally scheduled. Two of those commissioners, Republicans Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson, are on the ballot this year.
Candidates for the commission have to live in designated districts. This election is for district two, covering a swath of East Georgia including Augusta and Savannah, and district three, covering the three metro Atlanta counties of Clayton, Dekalb and Fulton. But all Georgia voters elect the commissioners, meaning any registered voter in Georgia can vote for both seats on the ballot, regardless of where they live.
While the incumbents running to keep their seats have touted their work on reliable energy, the new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle and affordable power bills, their opponents have been sharply critical of repeated rate hikes and a commission they argue doesn’t listen to the concerns of Georgians.
The candidates below are on the ballot in the June 17 primary. The winners of that election and any runoffs will then compete in the general election on November 4.
Alicia Johnson is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination in district two, meaning she will face the winner of the Republican primary in November. With a background in advocacy, human services and healthcare, Johnson said her chief concern is high costs for Georgians living in poverty.
“Seniors, children, single moms and working families in our communities all across 159 counties in Georgia are having to make tough decisions like whether or not they buy prescriptions or pay their electricity bills,” she said, criticizing the repeated rate hikes and Georgia Power profits approved by the current commission.
Johnson said the commission should push the utility to invest more in clean energy, including what’s known as distributed energy – rooftop solar panels and community solar – as well as battery storage and microgrids to power new industries like data centers.
She also weighed in on a proposal before the commission to temporarily freeze base power rates, which she called “a strategic move because of the special election.”
“We’re already paying some of the highest energy bills in the country,” Johnson said. “And so I see this as too little too late. We needed this kind of protection before.”
District two incumbent Tim Echols is perhaps the most prominent current member of the commission, known for his radio show and public appearances across the state as well as his work at the PSC. Echols cited that as one reason voters should choose him.
“Folks have come to know me as that accessible commissioner, the commissioner doing all these educational events,” he said. “So if you want me to continue with my enthusiasm and all that I put into this job in creating this great environment that we have in Georgia that attracts so much business, that’s why you should keep me.”
He also cited his work to advance solar energy in Georgia and ensure the new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle were completed. The state has made enormous strides on utility-scale solar energy, ranking seventh in the nation, but lags behind on battery storage, something Echols wants to change. He also said the state needs more nuclear energy, to replace closing fossil fuel plants.
Echols also touted the proposed rate freeze, which he called a “win for consumers,” though the commission has not actually adopted it yet. But he had no doubt it would.
“It will pass,” Echols said. “I can guarantee you the five Republicans will freeze rates. That is going to happen.”
Republican challenger Lee Muns took aim at Echols’s high profile in an interview with WABE.
“Well-known is a double edged sword,” he said. “Well-known means that you get judged based upon what you’ve done. And when people look at those things, what I’m hearing from a lot of them is the quality of service that they have gotten from my opponent is not what they were looking for.”
With a background in power plant construction, Muns is a strong supporter of nuclear energy. But he’s also sharply critical of how the commission handled the new reactors at Plant Vogtle, a project that came in years behind schedule and far over its original budget. Commissioners should have done more to protect Georgia Power customers from those costs, he said.
“I’m all about schedules, I’m about cost controls, I’m all about quality, I am all about safety,” Muns said. “And I want to bring all that expertise to the table.”
Because nuclear energy takes time to build, Muns said he favors natural gas and solar energy in the short term and supports phasing out coal because of the environmental risks.
Former Environmental Protection Agency official Daniel Blackman has run for the commission before, losing a runoff for the district four seat in January 2021 — the last time a PSC race made it past the primary.
His switch to district three this time has prompted an eligibility challenge that’s played out in court even as early voting continues. At a hearing on Tuesday, a judge said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was correct to disqualify Blackman from the race. Blackman could still appeal, but as it stands now, votes for him won’t count.
While he said his chief concern is high energy bills, Blackman said he would also bring critical expertise from his years working for the EPA.
“I think uniquely what is missing at the commission is a very strong and keen understanding of the energy industry,” he said. “But I’ve actually had to negotiate these deals.”
Like other candidates, Blackman was critical of the proposed rate freeze, which he said he would like to see extended for a longer period of time. He also said that Georgia Power is currently at risk of “overcommitment” to fossil fuel resources like gas and coal and should focus instead on renewables, batteries and modernizing the grid. And he said he’d like to get the public involved in utility planning.
“I’d like to work on making sure that we do community town halls around the state of Georgia to bring more ratepayers into the conversation to determine how these rates impact them on a daily basis,” Blackman said.
As the founder of Georgia Center for Energy Solutions, Peter Hubbard has intervened in PSC proceedings since 2019 and said he’s now ready to bring that expertise to a seat on the commission. His focus, he said, is on lowering energy bills and pursuing different ways of meeting Georgia’s energy needs, including solar and batteries, programs that reduce demand, rooftop solar and sharing energy capacity with neighboring utilities.
“The current commissioners accept that face value, the plan that’s provided to them by Georgia Power Company,” Hubbard said. “I have criticisms of those plans.”
Hubbard said he’d prefer to be proactive as a commissioner, seeking out possible solutions and new programs, rather than reactive to the plans put forward by Georgia Power. He also said he’s frustrated by what he sees as a lack of response from the current commissioners to constituents’ concerns about affordability and climate change.
“I see a lack of accountability among the folks at the Public Service Commission towards those residential electricity ratepayers or customers, those hardworking Georgians,” Hubbard said. “I want them to allow them to have better representation.”
Former utility analyst Robert Jones said the commission is using outdated “rules and tools” in its oversight.
“The commission has, in my opinion, been overly generous and favorable toward Georgia Power,” he said.
The current model for planning and building power resources, which passes many costs on to the utility’s customers, is a holdover from a period of slower growth, Jones said. He thinks the utility should instead have to fund its growth on the capital marketplace like other businesses.
“What the commission has been doing is really using ratepayers and small businesses as what I call interest-free subprime lenders to the utility company that is a monopoly-oriented business, profit-oriented business that’s generating excessive profits,” he said. “That’s just out of whack with the market reality of what a competitor would face.”
Jones said he also has experience working with data centers, the main driver of the current increase in energy demand, as a former executive for Microsoft. And data centers, he said, want clean energy – which he called “inconsistent” with Georgia Power’s use of fossil fuels.
Former state lawmaker and Atlanta City Council member Keisha Sean Waites declined to be interviewed for this story but answered questions via email. She said her previous experience in state and local government sets her apart because she knows “how to navigate government, write policy, and deliver results.”
As a commissioner, Waites said she would push for renewable energy and stronger benchmarks for reducing Georgia Power’s reliance on coal and natural gas. She also supports a policy called performance-based regulation, which ties a utility’s profits to performance metrics so they “only profit when they meet the needs of their customers, not just when they build expensive infrastructure,” she wrote.
“Georgians deserve a fighter at the table, someone who understands the impact rising utility bills have on everyday families,” Waites wrote. “I’m running to…bring transparency, fairness, and accountability to an agency that touches every household in this state.”
District three incumbent Fitz Johnson declined to be interviewed for this story. He was appointed to fill a vacancy on the commission in 2021, and the subsequent election for the remainder of his predecessor’s term was called off due to the voting rights lawsuit in 2022.
When he qualified for the race earlier this year, Johnson told WABE that the commission was “doing great work with the utilities across the state of Georgia” and called taking care of ratepayers his number one goal. He touted the new contract terms for large customers that the commission passed earlier this year as one example. Those terms are designed to protect ordinary residential and small business customers from the high costs of serving new data centers and other large power users, though some critics have questioned whether the provisions offer enough protection.
In addition to serving on the Georgia PSC, Johnson chairs a committee on natural gas planning for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
This story was originally published by Grist with the headline There’s only one statewide ballot this year in Georgia — and it’s important. on Jun 12, 2025.
This post was originally published on Grist.
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist
Reports in Papua New Guinea say the governments of Bougainville and PNG have agreed to table the 2019 independence referendum results in Parliament.
While discussions are ongoing, some degree of consensus has been reached during the talks, being held at Burnham Military Camp, just outside of Christchurch in New Zealand’s South Island.
The talks are not open to the media.
A massive 97.7 percent of Bougainvillians voted for independence in 2019.
Former Bougainville president John Momis told delegates in Burnham to “take the bull by the horn” and confront the independence issue without further delay.
Both governments have agreed to present three highly pivotal documents to the PNG National Parliament.
Apart from the referendum results, there will be the moderator’s report, and the parliamentary bipartisan committee’s findings.
The commitment was formally conveyed by PNG’s Minister of Bougainville Affairs, Manaseh Makiba.
Only sovereignty acceptable
Meanwhile, the ABG President, Ishmael Toroama, said Bougainville would not accept a governance model that did not grant sovereignty.
This comes amid talk of other options, such as self-government in free association.
To achieve membership of the United Nations sovereignty is needed.
Writing in the Post-Courier, journalist Gorethy Kenneth said the Bougainville national leaders, for the “first time have come out in aligning with the Bougainville team in New Zealand”.
She reported that Police Minister and Bougainville regional MP Peter Tsiamalili Jr said he was in a peculiar position but he represented the 97.7 percent who voted for independence and he would go with the wishes of his people.
The ICT Minister, and South Bougainville MP Timothy Masiu also said his one vote in Parliament would be for independence as far as his people were concerned.
The PNG government has spoken previously of fears that independence for Bougainville would encourage other provinces to seek autonomy.
Provinces, such as New Ireland, have made no secret of their dissatisfaction with Port Moresby and desire to control more of their own affairs.
But the Bougainville Minister of Independence Implementation, Ezekiel Massat, said Bougainville’s status was constitutionally “ring-fenced” and could not set a precedent for other provinces.
He said “under the Bougainville Peace Agreement, independence is a compulsory option”.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
Elections in Latin America are often controversial. While many countries in the Global North regularly shuffle between parties offering alternating versions of neoliberalism, voting in Central and South America often offers starker contrasts: An anti-imperialist candidate in the mold of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez might be up against a neoliberal such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. It could hardly be otherwise, in a region with the world’s biggest gap between the richest and poorest.
North American and European corporate media are conscious of this complexity, but rarely convey it to their readers, instead issuing reports that lack sufficient context or history.
The post When Media Tell Us Who ‘Won’ A Latin American Election, Ask Questions appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
Republicans in Texas are reportedly in talks with President Donald Trump’s political team over a plan to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries in an effort to gain seats (or mitigate losses) in the House of Representatives for the 2026 midterm elections. The political party of an incumbent president typically loses seats in the House in midterm races that occur after their own…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
AP (4/13/25) attributes Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s re-election to “voters weary of crime”—even though murders rose sharply under his administration.
Elections in Latin America are often controversial. While many countries in the Global North regularly shuffle between parties offering alternating versions of neoliberalism, voting in Central and South America often offers starker contrasts: An anti-imperialist candidate in the mold of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez might be up against a neoliberal such as Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. It could hardly be otherwise, in a region with the world’s biggest gap between the richest and poorest.
North American and European corporate media are conscious of this complexity, but rarely convey it to their readers, instead issuing reports that lack sufficient context or history. Washington’s influence on their messaging—as if the media had their own Monroe Doctrine—is never far below the surface, especially when it comes to reporting political turning points such as elections. Doubts about the results, or questions about outside influence, can be set aside if the outcome fits the consensus narrative, especially if it is endorsed by a White House spokesperson, or a surrogate body like the Organization of American States (OAS).
Ecuador provides an example. Its President Daniel Noboa, son of the country’s richest landowner, began his second term of office on May 25. He was declared victor by a huge margin in a run-off election on April 13, even though his opponent, leftist Luisa González, virtually tied with him in the first round in February.
According to the corporate media, Noboa’s victory was clear-cut, the reasons for it were obvious and there was little reason to question the outcome. The Washington Post (4/13/25) headlined “President Who Declared War on Ecuador’s Drug Gangs Is Reelected.” The Wall Street Journal (4/13/25) said “Ecuador Re-Elects Leader Fighting War on Gangs Smuggling Cocaine to US.” The New York Times (4/13/25) proclaimed that “Ecuador’s President Wins Re-Election in Nation Rocked by Drug Violence.” The headlines were so similar they might have been modeled on the agency story from the Associated Press (4/13/25): “Daniel Noboa Is Reelected Ecuador’s President by Voters Weary of Crime.”
Linking the election to the war on drugs added a useful North American perspective. And, of course, this could be strengthened by reminding readers that Noboa is an ally of Donald Trump, as the Post, Journal and Times duly did.
‘Increasingly authoritarian’
The New York Times (4/13/25) dismissed candidate Luisa González as someone “largely seen as the representative of the former president” Rafael Correa, who is condemned for his “authoritarian tendencies.”
Had González won instead, she would have become Ecuador’s first female president (aside from Rosalía Arteaga, who was president for two days in 1997). However, all three outlets felt it necessary to remind readers of her dangerous link to former President Rafael Correa, known for “antagonizing the United States,” as the Post put it. The Times patronizingly suggested she would be Correa’s “handpicked successor,” or even “the representative of the former president, a divisive figure in Ecuador” (emphasis added), who (the Post claimed) “grew increasingly authoritarian” before he left office in 2017.
This grossly inverts history. Arguably, Ecuador “grew increasingly authoritarian” after Correa’s presidency (FAIR.org, 8/17/20). His party, and three others, were banned in 2020. This decision was later reversed, but then both Correa and his vice president, Jorge Glas, were convicted of corruption, in what appeared to be obvious cases of “lawfare,” based on evidence from a source funded by the US National Endowment for Democracy.
Correa fled to Belgium, where he was granted asylum. Glas spent five years in prison and, seriously ill and facing new charges after Noboa first took office in late 2023, was granted asylum by Mexico. He never managed to leave Quito, because Noboa had him violently abducted from Mexico’s embassy and thrown into prison, in a clear breach of international law (London Review of Books, 4/9/24).
Five years of escalating violence
Correa had successfully reduced violence in Ecuador, making it one of Latin America’s safest countries. Progress was reversed under successive neoliberal governments, beginning with President Lenín Moreno. Victims have included several political figures, but the most egregious incident occurred only five months ago under Noboa’s presidency, when a group of soldiers captured, tortured and then murdered four children in Ecuador’s second city, Guayaquil (El Pais, 5/5/25).
Source: Primicias (5/21/25), based on Ecuadorian police data for the first four months of each year.
Violence continues to escalate, despite Noboa’s promises to tackle it. The first four months of 2025 saw a 58% increase in homicides, compared with the same period in 2024 (see chart), turning Ecuador into the most dangerous country in the Americas. Much violence is related to drug trafficking, with Ecuador now “an open funnel for cocaine exports and money laundering” under recent right-wing governments (London Review of Books, 4/30/25). Despite being part of the problem, Noboa maintained that only he could solve it, offering to adopt the hardline policies for which El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has become famous.
Ecuador’s contested ballot
After the media chorus of welcome for Noboa, it seems almost churlish to ask if he really won a clean election. Yet while Foreign Policy (4/17/25) said his win was “not surprising,” it certainly did surprise many commentators. It is instructive to review the evidence, starting with the first round of the elections and ending with the results of the final round.
February’s first round could hardly have been closer, with Noboa gaining 44.17% of the votes, barely ahead of González with 44.00% (see table), a difference of only 16,746 votes. Turnout was 82%. The result suggested that opinion polls were exaggerating Noboa’s popularity, since for the preceding month they had given him a comfortable average lead.
A third candidate, representing the largest Indigenous party, garnered 5.25%, and was obliged to drop out ahead of the final top-two round two months later. This candidate would later support González, but smaller Indigenous parties would favor Noboa.
Source: Wikipedia.
The electoral campaign period saw a series of illegal moves on Noboa’s part. He refused to step down temporarily, as required constitutionally. Instead he suspended his vice-president, Verónica Abad, ignoring a court ruling that she should temporarily replace him and shut her office (Financial Times, 1/18/25). A right-wing rival was barred from standing, and Ecuadorians in Venezuela were denied the vote while their compatriots elsewhere were not.
Noboa’s massive social media campaign was allegedly financed from public funds (La Calle, 10/22/24); troll centers were established to attack his opponent (Pandemia Digital, 2/3/25). Bonuses costing over $500 million were paid to hundreds of thousands of poor Ecuadorians from public funds (Primicias, 3/28/25); CEPR’s Mark Weisbrot dubbed this “vote buying,” at an estimated $475 each. Noboa was photographed with Trump, Ecuador’s Washington embassy having paid at least $165,000 for the opportunity (People’s Dispatch, 4/6/25).
Like El Salvador’s Bukele, Noboa enhances his powers by declaring states of emergency. Prior to the poll on April 13, he declared one that covered the capital and several urban centers which González had won in the first round, intimidating voters and allowing unannounced searches (CBS News, 4/12/25). On election day, machine gun–bearing soldiers were posted at polling stations. Even so, two exit polls showed a close result, one indicating a win by González. During the count, images were posted of voting sheets published by the Noboa-manipulated electoral council that were invalid because they were unsigned.
‘Impossible’ result
The April 13 results were extraordinary, awarding Noboa victory by a full 11.25 percentage points. They gave Noboa 1.3 million more votes than he won in the first round, while González gained only 160,000. This happened despite the first-round tie, González’s endorsement by the leading Indigenous candidate, opinion polls slightly favoring her, two close exit polls and a much smaller difference (2 percentage points) between the two candidates’ parties in the simultaneous vote for the National Assembly.
Former President Rafael Correa wrote in his X account:
Ecuadorian people: You know that, unlike our adversaries, we have always accepted the opponent’s victory when it has been clean. This time it is NOT. Statistically, the result is IMPOSSIBLE.
González’s requests for recounts were twice rejected by the judicial bodies governing the election, in a series of decisions demonstrating bias in Noboa’s favor. Several leftist presidents, such as Colombia’s Gustavo Petro and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, endorsed González’s protests, and the latter refused to recognize Noboa’s presidency.
Truthout (5/2/25): “President Noboa carried out one of the dirtiest and unequal campaigns in memory—relying on fake news, vote buying and threats.”
A week after the poll, Denver University Professor Francisco Rodríguez published a statistical comparison of the result in Ecuador with 31 other recent Latin American run-off elections. He concluded that Ecuador’s was “not normal,” and “deviates sharply from regional experience.” He said he was not claiming fraud, but was calling for careful scrutiny.
Ecuadorian political sociologist Franklin Ramírez Gallegos went further in Truthout (5/2/25): “These were absolutely unequal, opaque, fraudulent elections,” he said. Within a few days of the election, there were reports of Noboa’s opponents being persecuted, and of a “blacklist” naming more than 100 people to be tracked down.
None of the US corporate media suggested the election was problem-free. But where, for example, they reported that González had claimed fraud, they qualified this by saying she did so “without presenting evidence” (Washington Post, 4/13/25). They also repeated Noboa’s phony counterclaims of irregularities (AP, 4/13/25). Reassurances by electoral observers from the OAS and US State Department were duly cited (Reuters, 4/14/25).
Framing Latin American elections
The New York Times (10/23/19) shows highly selective skepticism over Latin American electoral results.
The OAS has a 70-year history of bending to Washington’s whim when judging elections. Media reliance on its verdicts, despite—or really because of—its close alignment with US interests, speaks to the wider problem of media reporting of Latin American elections. Here are just three further examples—of many.
In 2019, the unsubstantiated findings by OAS observers of faults in the presidential election in Bolivia were swallowed wholesale by corporate media (FAIR.org, 11/18/19). The New York Times, citing the OAS’s “withering assessment” (10/23/19), quickly scorned the “highly fishy vote” (11/11/19) which extended the presidency of leftist Evo Morales. It turned out not to be fishy at all, but before the truth emerged, Morales had resigned, faced likely assassination and fled to Mexico. Morales’s forced resignation by Bolivia’s rightist-aligned military was called a “coup” by Argentina and Mexico.
The year before, when Bolsonaro won the election in Brazil while his principal opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was imprisoned (later to be released, post-election), the Times published 37 relevant articles, but not one examined the falsity of the charges. Reporting from Brazil, journalist Brian Mier (FAIR.org, 3/8/21) observed that this “helped normalize” Bolsonaro’s victory and “opened the door for a neofascist/military takeover of Brazil.”
In Honduras in 2013, after the neoliberal candidate Juan Orlando Hernández had “all the ducks lined up for a fraudulent election” (London Review of Books, 11/21/13), the Washington Post (11/26/13) produced a scurrilous editorial claiming that his victory had avoided a dictatorship. Instead, it created one: Hernández won two fraudulent elections, was extradited on drug charges after leaving office, and is now in a US prison.
After the dubious victory
Since the election, Noboa has been busy in pursuing the “blacklisted” political opponents who tried to stand in his way. A few days before his May 25 investiture, dubious charges were pressed against former presidential candidate Andrés Arauz. It was Arauz who published the images of invalid voting sheets on April 13—to no avail, as they were ignored not only by the electoral authorities, but by the observers from the OAS and European Union.
Noboa’s big if highly questionable victory will strengthen his hand in creating a permanent and violent security state. Blackwater’s founder Erik Prince was hired in April to help him in the task. Two new military bases, one of them in the Galápagos Islands, have been offered to the US, in defiance of a prohibition on foreign bases in Ecuador’s constitution—a prohibition that the National Assembly rescinded this month at Noboa’s request.
On April 30, the Defense and interior ministers were pictured in El Salvador, inspecting Bukele’s notorious CECOT prison (Infobae, 4/30/25). Presumably these are the first steps in delivering the promise, made in Noboa’s short and vacuous speech at the investiture last month, to “rescue” Ecuador.
This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
Samoa’s Parliament has been formally dissolved, and an early election is set to take place within three months.
After months of political instability and two motions of no confidence, Prime Minister Fiāme Naomi Mata’afa said she would call for the dissolution of Parliament if cabinet did not support her government’s budget.
MPs from both the opposition Human Rights Protection Party and Fiāme’s former FAST party joined forces to defeat the budget with the final vote coming in 34 against, 16 in support and 2 abstentions.
Fiāme went to the Head of State and advised him to dissolve Parliament, and her advice was accepted.
This all came from a period of political turmoil that kicked off shortly after New Year.
A split in the FAST Party in January saw Fiāme remove FAST Party chairman La’auli Leuatea Schmidt and several FAST ministers from her cabinet.
In turn, he ejected her from FAST, leaving her leading a minority government.
Minority government defeated
Earlier this year, over a two-week period, Fiāme and her minority government defeated two back-to-back leadership challenges.
On February 25, with La’auli’s help, she defeated a no-confidence vote moved by Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, 34 votes to 15.
Then on March 6, this time with Tuilaepa’s help, she defeated a challenge mounted by La’auli, 32 votes to 19.
Parliament now enters caretaker mode, until the election and the formation of a new government.
Samoa’s Electoral Commissioner said his office has filed an affidavit to the Supreme Court, seeking legal direction and extra time to complete the electoral roll ahead of an early election.
A hearing on this is set to be held on Wednesday.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
On June 3, South Korea will conclude a snap election prompted by the impeachment of former president Yoon Seok-yeol on insurrection charges for a failed coup. The strong frontrunner in the race is Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party pro-peace candidate. While Lee’s election could open the window for peace talks, progressives must learn from the last peace process that began in 2018.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Far-right candidate Karol Nawrocki emerged Monday as the narrow winner of Poland’s presidential election, a contest in which the Trump administration in the U.S. and Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orbán, weighed in on the side of their ideological compatriot. Nawrocki’s victory over Rafał Trzaskowski, the Warsaw mayor who was representing the party of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Last year, a Survation poll showed the number one quality people wanted in politicians was “listening to people.” A close second was “keeping their promises.” Followed by “delivering value for money.” Way, way down the list was having “a working class background.” So Keir Starmer’s advisors seem to have been wasting their time with the incessant, “his Dad was a toolmaker” line. And if they’d said “factory worker,” he’d have avoided all the “that makes you a tool” jibes.
It also explains why all the “but Boris Johnson is a toff” or “Farage is a millionaire city trader” attacks just bounced off. For whatever reason, very few Brits care about your background.
A 2020 article in the Journal of Research in Personality concluded that people want politicians who are like themselves, only more assertive. So politicians who seem to share the same values, but are braver, more confident, and more eloquent.
It also explains Johnson’s sudden defenestration. People’s self-image is not always accurate. They may like to think of themselves as a happy-go-lucky cheeky-chappy, but few will admit to being a liar. Breaking lockdown rules and covering it up wasn’t funny. Once trust is gone, it’s gone.
Now that Reform UK are in power, they’ll face a similar problem. Shouting from the sidelines is easy. Fixing things is hard. Nobody’s self-image is, “I’m all talk and no trousers.” If they stop identifying with you, they’ll stop voting for you. And unlike the Labour Party or the Tories, Reform have no lifelong voter base.
They’re off to a bad start. One Reform Durham councillor has resigned, because they can’t work for the council and be a councillor. Genius. Some have suggested that Reform should foot the bill for the by-election, since they’re responsible for the waste of public money. Their first big action was to not attend diversity or climate change training sessions. Despite there being, in fact, no such sessions. Heroes.
Their latest act of fixing broken Britain was to order the Rainbow flag taken down before the Bishop Auckland Pride event. I mean, seriously? Roads, potholes, parks, council houses, libraries, sports centres? Nope, have a pop at the LGBTQ+ community. The irony is they’ve banged on about ‘snowflakes’ for years, but get triggered by a flag.
I keep seeing comments on social media saying Reform voters have been duped. I’m not sure that’s always true.
I’ve spoken to quite a few Reform voters recently. The vibe is entirely “stick it to the establishment.” At least half of them have been quite critical of Reform, but just lost faith in Labour or the Tories. “I don’t agree with them on immigration,” one lad told me. “If we stopped immigration the NHS would collapse.” That doesn’t fit the stereotype.
It’s just as true that Labour voters were duped by Keir Starmer. Winter fuel allowance cut. WASPI women betrayed. Disabled people’s independence payments stripped. Foreign aid slashed. NHS workers sacked. Performative deportations. And the “Island of strangers” speech. Not what people were sold.
Labour voters had as much warning as Reform voters. Starmer ditched all of his ten pledges. Over a year ago I said there was a £20 billion hole in the budget. It was widely reported. And praising Thatcher was a pretty big clue.
So instead of all the posturing, shall we try actually listening to people?
We did this in Newcastle the other Sunday, with 240 people coming along to help us develop Majority’s 2026 election manifesto.
Just below “value for money,” people want to see politicians “working cross party.” We’re doing that too. The North Tyneside Longbenton and Benton by-election will be a joint campaign by Majority, the Green Party, and North Tyneside Community Independents. Majority is the new movement I was elected to lead. Anyone can join, even if a member of another party. The only requirement is agreeing to our values of social, economic and environmental justice, and high standards in public life. No grifters here, thank you very much.
Working as North Tyneside Together, people will have a chance to vote for a genuinely progressive candidate who listens. And avoid vote splitting. Our candidates take no whip, meaning they serve the people, not the party HQ.
I’d like to see it as a model for our 2026 citywide election campaign. As Humphrey Bogart said, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Featured image via the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
With his veto earlier this month of legislation to study reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat, signaled two things: first, he intends to seek his party’s nomination for the White House in 2028; and secondly, he plans to redeploy the discredited strategy of appealing to white voters by distancing his campaign from African Americans.
If recent history is any guide, that dog won’t hunt for Moore, the nation’s lone African American governor, any more than it did for Kamala Harris in her presidential campaign last year or Hilary Clinton in 2016. Both Harris and Clinton cut their teeth as politicians with policies that the African American working class widely regarded as deeply racist; both lost to Donald Trump.
The post Following Kamala’s Script, Maryland Governor Vetoes Reparations Bill appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
Alison Bodine is an anti-imperialist activist and solidarity organizer based in Canada who is active with the Venezuela Solidarity Network and the Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice. She has visited Venezuela regularly since 2018 as part of international observation missions. Bodine is the author of Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Venezuela, a book that analyzes the Bolivarian Process and the challenges it faces.
In this conversation with Venezuelanalysis, Bodine discusses her experience as an international observer during Venezuela’s most recent parliamentary and regional elections held on May 25.
The post Venezuela’s Participatory Democracy And The Struggle Against Imperialism appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk
French national politicians have been in New Caledonia as the territory’s future remains undecided.
Leaders from both right-wing Les Républicains (LR) and Rassemblement National (RN), — vice-president François-Xavier Bellamy and Marine Le Pen respectively — have been in the French Pacific territory this week.
They expressed their views about New Caledonia’s political, economic and social status one year after riots broke out in May 2024.
Since then, latest attempts to hold political talks between all stakeholders and France have been met with fluctuating responses, but the latest round of discussions earlier this month ended in a stalemate.
This was because hardline pro-France parties regarded the project of “sovereignty with France” offered by French Overseas Minister Manuel Valls was not acceptable. They consider that three self-determination referendums held in 2018, 2020 and 2021 rejected independence.
However, the last referendum, in December 2021, was largely boycotted by the pro-independence movement and its followers due to indigenous Kanak cultural concerns around the covid-19 pandemic.
The pro-France camp is accusing Valls of siding with the pro-independence FLNKS bloc and other more moderate parties such as PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party) and UPM (Union Progressiste en Mélanésie), who want independence from France.
Transferring key powers
Valls is considering transferring key French powers to New Caledonia, introducing a double French/New Caledonian citizenship, and an international standing.
The pro-France camp is adamant that this ignores the three no referendum votes.
Speaking to a crowd of several hundred supporters in Nouméa on Tuesday evening, Bellamy said he now favoured going ahead with modifying conditions of eligibility for voters at local provincial elections.
The same attempts to change the locked local electoral roll — which is restricted to people residing in New Caledonia from before November 1998 — was widely perceived as the main cause for the May 2024 riots, which left 14 dead.
Bellamy said giving in to violence that erupted last year was out of the question because it was “an attempt to topple a democratic process”.
Les Républicains, to which the Rassemblement-LR local party is affiliated, is one of the major parties in the French Parliament.
Its newly-elected president Bruno Retailleau is the Minister for Home Affairs in French President Emmanuel Macron’s coalition government.
Nouméa Accord ‘now over’
Bellamy told a crowd of supporters in Nouméa that in his view the decolonisation process prescribed by the 1998 Nouméa Accord “is now over”.
“New Caledonians have democratically decided, three times, that they belong to France. And this should be respected,” he told a crowd during a political rally.
In Nouméa, Bellamy said if the three referendum results were ignored as part of a future political agreement, then LR could go as far as pulling out of the French government.
Marine Le Pen, this week also expressed her views on New Caledonia’s situation, saying instead of focusing on the territory’s institutional future, the priority should be placed on its economy, which is still reeling from the devastation caused during the 2024 riots.
The efforts included diversifying the economy.
A Paris court convicted Le Pen and two dozen (RN) party members of embezzling European Union funds last month, and imposed a sentence that will prevent her from standing in France’s 2027 presidential election unless she can get the ruling overturned within 18 months.
The high-profile visits to New Caledonia from mainland French leaders come within two years of France’s scheduled presidential elections.
And it looks like New Caledonia could become a significant issue in the pre-poll debates and campaign.
LFI (La France Insoumise), a major party in the French Parliament, and its caucus leader Mathilde Panot also visited New Caledonia from May 9-17, this time mainly focusing on supporting the pro-independence camp’s views.
Macron invites all parties for fresh talks in Paris
On Tuesday, May 27, the French President’s office issued a brief statement indicating that it had decided to convene “all stakeholders” for fresh talks in Paris in mid-June.
The talks would aim at “clarifying” New Caledonia’s economic, political and institutional situation with a view to reaching “a shared agreement”.
Depending on New Caledonia’s often opposing political camps, Macron’s announcement is perceived either as a dismissal of Valls’ approach or a mere continuation of the overseas minister’s efforts, but at a higher level.
New Caledonia’s pro-France parties are adamant that Macron’s proposal is entirely new and that it signifies Valls’ approach has been disavowed at the highest level.
Valls himself wrote to New Caledonia’s political stakeholders last weekend, insisting on the need to pursue talks through a so-called “follow-up committee”.
It is not clear whether the “follow-up committee” format is what Macron has in mind.
But at the weekend, Valls made statements on several French national media outlets, stressing that he was still the one in charge of New Caledonia’s case.
“The one who is taking care of New Caledonia’s case, at the request of French Prime Minister François Bayrou, that’s me and no one else,” Valls told French national news channel LCI on May 25.
“I’m not being disavowed by anyone.”
Local parties still willing to talk
Most parties have since reacted swiftly to Macron’s call, saying they were ready to take part in further discussions.
Rassemblement-LR leader Virginie Ruffenach said this was “necessary to clarify the French state’s position”.
She said the clarification was needed, since Valls, during his last visit, “offered an independence solution that goes way beyond what the pro-independence camp was even asking”.
Local pro-France figure and New Caledonia’s elected MP at the French National Assembly, Nicolas Metzdorf, met Macron in Paris last Friday.
He said at the time that an “initiative” from the French president was to be expected.
Pro-independence bloc FLNKS said Valls’ proposal was now “the foundation stone”.
Spokesman Dominique Fochi said the invitation was scheduled to be discussed at a special FLNKS convention this weekend.
Valls’ ‘independence-association’ solution worries other French territories
Because of the signals it sends, New Caledonia’s proposed political future plans are also causing concern in other French overseas territories, including their elected MPs in Paris.
In the French Senate on Wednesday, French Polynesia’s MP Lana Tetuanui, who is pro-France, asked during question time for French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot to explain what France was doing in the Pacific region in the face of growing influence from major powers such as China.
She told the minister she still had doubts, “unless of course France is considering sinking its own aircraft carrier ships named New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna”.
French president Emmanuel Macron has been on a southeast Asian tour this week to Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore, where he will be the keynote speaker of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue.
He delivers his speech today to mark the opening of the 22nd edition of the Dialogue, Asia’s premier defence summit.
The event brings together defence ministers, military leaders and senior defence officials, as well as business leaders and security experts, from across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and beyond to discuss critical security and geopolitical challenges.
More specifically on the Pacific region, Macron also said one of France’s future challenges included speeding up efforts to “build a new strategy in New Caledonia and French Polynesia”.
As part of Macron’s Indo-Pacific doctrine, developed since 2017, France earlier this year deployed significant forces in the region, including its naval and air strike group and its only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle.
The multinational exercise, called Clémenceau 25, involved joint exercises with allied forces from Australia, Japan and the United States.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
By Grace Tinetali-Fiavaai, RNZ Pacific journalist
Its official. Samoa’s Parliament will be dissolved next week and the country will have an early return to the polls.
The confirmation comes after a dramatic day in Parliament on Tuesday, which saw the government’s budget voted down at its first reading.
In a live address today, Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa confirmed the dissolution of Parliament.
“Upon the adjournment of Parliament yesterday, I met with the Head of State and tendered my advice to dissolve Parliament,” she said.
Fiame said that advice was accepted, and the Head of State has confirmed that the official dissolution of Parliament will take place on Tuesday, June 3.
According to Samoa’s constitution, an election must be held within three months of parliament being dissolved.
Fiame reassured the public that constitutional arrangements are in place to ensure the elections are held lawfully and smoothly.
Caretaker mode
In the meantime, she said the government would operate in caretaker mode with oversight on public expenditure.
“There are constitutional provisions governing the use of public funds by a caretaker government,” she said.
“Priority will be given to ensuring that the machinery of government continues to function.”
She also took a moment to thank the public for their prayers and support during this time.
Despite the political instability, Fiame said Samoa’s 63rd Independence Day celebrations would proceed as planned.
The official programme begins with a Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, June 1, at 6pm at Muliwai Cathedral.
This will be followed by a flag-raising ceremony on Monday, June 2, in front of the Government Building at Eleele Fou.
The dissolution of Parliament brings to an end months of political instability which began in January.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa has advised Samoa’s head of state that it is necessary to dissolve Parliament so the country can move to an election.
This follows the bill for the budget not getting enough support for a first reading on yesterday, and Fiame announcing she would therefore seek an early election.
Tuimaleali’ifano Va’aleto’a Sualauvi II has accepted Fiame’s advice and a formal notice will be duly gazetted to confirm the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly.
Parliament will go into caretaker mode, and the Cabinet will have the general direction and control of the existing government until the first session of the Legislative Assembly following dissolution.
Fiame, who has led a minority government since being ousted from her former FAST party in January, finally conceded defeat on the floor of Parliament yesterday morning after her government’s 2025 Budget was voted down.
MPs from both the opposition Human Rights Protection Party and Fiame’s former FAST party joined forces to defeat the budget with the final vote coming in 34 against, 16 in support and two abstentions.
Defeated motions
Tuesday was the Samoan Parliament’s first sitting since back-to-back no-confidence motions were moved — unsuccessfully — against prime minister Fiame.
In January, Fiame removed her FAST Party chairman La’auli Leuatea Schmidt and several FAST ministers from her Cabinet.
In turn, La’auli ejected her from the FAST Party, leaving her leading a minority government.
Her former party had been pushing for an early election, including via legal action.
The election is set to be held within three months.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
On Monday, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) congratulated Venezuela for successfully holding regional and parliamentary elections.
Earlier, on Sunday night, the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) had won 23 out of 24 governorships.
The Bolivarian Revolution also secured 40 out of 50 seats in the National Assembly. Among the new legislators will be current ALBA Secretary Jorge Arreaza.
“The ALBA member states applaud and congratulate the people and government of the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for the resounding success of the legislative and regional elections held this Sunday, May 25, 2025.
The post ALBA-TCP Congratulates Venezuela On Successful Elections appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
Last week, North Carolina Democrats scored a victory when Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin, who’d lost a tight race for the state’s Supreme Court, finally conceded defeat after a six-month legal battle to throw out ballots that he contended were illegitimate. But that same morning, the party suffered a setback that may be more consequential: losing control of the state board that sets…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Oklahoma’s rolling out a new curriculum, a $33 million curriculum, where high school students are going to be required to learn from their social studies teacher that the 2020 election may have been stolen from Donald Trump and this is the brainchild of Ryan Walters, the superintendent of all schools in the state of Oklahoma. […]
The post Right Wing Superindendent Forces Debunked Election Lies In Oklahoma Schools appeared first on The Ring of Fire Network.
This post was originally published on The Ring of Fire.
Pittsburgh residents will not get to vote on whether to divest from genocide in the May 20 primary election after legal challenges ultimately killed a local ballot effort. The grassroots campaign Not On Our Dime withdrew its petition for the ballot question a second time last month despite spending months campaigning and collecting over 21,300 signatures to add the referendum to May’s ballot.
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk
Fresh, stringent security measures have been imposed in New Caledonia following aborted political talks last week and ahead of the first anniversary of the deadly riots that broke out on 13 May 2024, which resulted in 14 deaths and 2.2 billion euros (NZ$4.2 billion) in damages.
On Sunday, the French High Commission in Nouméa announced that from Monday, May 12, to Friday, May 15, all public marches and demonstrations will be banned in the Greater Nouméa Area.
Restrictions have also been imposed on the sale of firearms, ammunition, and takeaway alcoholic drinks.
The measures aim to “ensure public security”.
In the wake of the May 2024 civil unrest, a state of emergency and a curfew had been imposed and had since been gradually lifted.
The decision also comes as “confrontations” between law enforcement agencies and violent groups took place mid-last week, especially in the township of Dumbéa — on the outskirts of Nouméa — where there were attempts to erect fresh roadblocks, High Commissioner Jacques Billant said.
The clashes, including incidents of arson, stone-throwing and vehicles being set on fire, are reported to have involved a group of about 50 individuals and occurred near Médipôle, New Caledonia’s main hospital, and a shopping mall.
Clashes also occurred in other parts of New Caledonia, including outside the capital Nouméa.
It adds another reason for the measures is the “anniversary date of the beginning of the 2024 riots”.
Law and order stepped up
French authorities have also announced that in view of the first anniversary of the start of the riots tomorrow, law and order reinforcements have been significantly increased in New Caledonia until further notice.
This includes a total of 2600 officers from the Gendarmerie, police, as well as reinforcements from special elite SWAT squads and units equipped with 16 Centaur armoured vehicles.
Drones are also included.
The aim is to enforce a “zero tolerance” policy against “urban violence” through a permanent deployment “night and day”, with a priority to stop any attempt to blockade roads, especially in Greater Nouméa, to preserve freedom of movement.
One particularly sensitive focus would be placed on the township of Saint-Louis in Mont-Dore often described as a pro-independence stronghold which was a hot spot and the scene of violent and deadly clashes at the height of the 2024 riots.
“We’ll be present wherever and whenever required. We are much stronger than we were in 2024,” High Commissioner Billant told local media during a joint inspection with French gendarmes commander General Nicolas Matthéos and Nouméa Public Prosecutor Yves Dupas.
Dupas said that over the past few months the bulk of criminal acts was regarded as “delinquency” — nothing that could be likened to a coordinated preparation for fresh public unrest similar to last year’s.
Billant said that, depending on how the situation evolves in the next few days, he could also rely on additional “potential reinforcements” from mainland France if needed.
New Zealand ANZAC war memorial set alight
A New Zealand ANZAC war memorial in the small rural town of Boulouparis (west coast of the main island of Grande Terre) was found vandalised last Friday evening.
The monument, inaugurated just one year ago at last year’s ANZAC Day to commemorate the sacrifice of New Zealand soldiers during world wars in the 20th century, was set alight by unidentified people, police said.
Tyres were used to keep the fire burning.
An investigation into the circumstances of the incident is underway, the Nouméa Public Prosecutor’s office said, invoking charges of wilful damage.
Australia, New Zealand travel warnings
In the neighbouring Pacific, two of New Caledonia’s main tourism source markets, Australia and New Zealand, are maintaining a high level or increased caution advisory.
The main identified cause is an “ongoing risk of civil unrest”.
In its latest travel advisory, the Australian brief says “demonstrations and protests may increase in the days leading up to and on days of national or commemorative significance, including the anniversary of the start of civil unrest on May 13.
“Avoid demonstrations and public gatherings. Demonstrations and protests may turn violent at short notice.”
Inconclusive talks
Last Thursday, May 8, French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls, who had managed to gather all political parties around the same table for negotiations on New Caledonia’s political future, finally left the French Pacific territory. He admitted no agreement could be found at this stage.
In the final stage of the talks, the “conclave” on May 5-7, he had put on the table a project for New Caledonia’s accession to a “sovereignty with France”, a kind of independence in association with France.
This option was not opposed by pro-independence groups, including the FLNKS (Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front).
But the pro-France movement, in support of New Caledonia remaining a part of France, said it could not approve this.
The main pillar of their argument remained that after three self-determination referendums held between 2018 and 2021, a majority of voters had rejected independence (even though the last referendum, in December 2021, was massively boycotted by the pro-independence camp because of the covid-19 pandemic).
The anti-independence block had repeatedly stated that they would not accept any suggestion that New Caledonia could endorse a status bringing it closer to independence.
New Caledonia’s pro-France MP at the French National Assembly, Nicolas Metzdorf, told local media at this stage, his camp was de facto in opposition to Valls, “but not with the pro-independence camp”.
Metzdorf said a number of issues could very well be settled by talking to the pro-independence camp.
Electoral roll issue sensitive
This included the very sensitive issue of New Caledonia’s electoral roll, and conditions of eligibility at the next provincial elections.
Mesures administratives
À l’approche de la date d’anniversaire du début des émeutes de 2024, le Haut-commissaire, en lien avec les élus et responsables du monde économique, annonce les mesures suivante du 12 au 15 mai 2025 :
Interdiction de vente d’alcool à emporter… pic.twitter.com/LzoFuiqgRj
— Haut-commissariat en Nouvelle-Calédonie
(@HC98800) May 10, 2025
Direct contacts with Macron
Both Metzdorf and Backès also said during interviews with local media that in the midst of their “conclave” negotiations, they had had contacts as high as French President Emmanuel Macron, asking him whether he was aware of the “sovereignty with France” plan and if he endorsed it.
Another pro-France leader, Virginie Ruffenach (Le Rassemblement-Les Républicains), also confirmed she had similar exchanges, through her party Les Républicains, with French Minister of Home Affairs Bruno Retailleau, from the same right-wing party.
As Minister of Home Affairs, Retailleau would have to be involved later in the New Caledonian issue.
Divided reactions
Since minister Valls’s departure, reactions were still flowing at the weekend from across New Caledonia’s political chessboard.
“We have to admit frankly that no agreement was struck”, Valls said last week during a media conference.
“Maybe the minds were not mature yet.”
But he said France would now appoint a “follow up committee” to keep working on the “positive points” already identified between all parties.
During numerous press conferences and interviews, anti-independence leaders have consistently maintained that the draft compromise put to them by Minister Valls during the latest round of negotiations last week, was not acceptable.
They said this was because it contained several elements of “independence-association”, including the transfer of key powers from Paris to Nouméa, a project of “dual citizenship” and possibly a seat at the United Nations.
“In proposing this solution, minister [Valls] was biased and blocked the negotiations. So he has prevented the advent of an agreement”, pro-France Les Loyalistes and Southern Province President leader Sonia Backès told public broadcaster NC la 1ère on Sunday.
“For us, an independence association was out of the question because the majority of [New] Caledonians voted three time against independence,” she said.
More provincial power plan
Instead, the Le Rassemblement-LR and Les Loyalistes bloc were advocating a project that would provide more powers to each of the three provinces, including in terms of tax revenue collection.
The project, often described as a de facto partition, however, was not retained in the latest phases of the negotiations, because it contravened France’s constitutional principle of a united and indivisible nation.
“But no agreement does not mean chaos”, Backès said.
On the contrary, she believes that by not agreeing to the French minister’s deal plan, her camp had “averted disaster for New Caledonia”.
“Tomorrow, there will be another minister . . . and another project”, she said, implicitly betting on Valls’s departure.
On the pro-independence front, a moderate “UNI” (National Union For Independence) said a in a statement even though negotiations did not eventuate into a comprehensive agreement, the French State’s commitment and method had allowed to offer “clear and transparent terms of negotiations on New Caledonia’s institutional and political future”.
The main FLNKS group, mainly consisting of pro-independence Union Calédonienne (UC) party, also said that even though no agreement could be found as a result of the latest round of talks, the whole project could be regarded as “advances” and “one more step . . . not a failure” in New Caledonia’s decolonisation, as specified in the 1998 Nouméa Accord, FLNKS chief negotiator and UC party president Emmanuel Tjibaou said.
Deplored the empty outcome
Other parties involved in the talks, including Eveil Océanien and Calédonie Ensemble, have deplored the empty outcome of talks last week.
They called it a “collective failure” and stressed that above all, reaching a consensual solution was the only way forward, and that the forthcoming elections and the preceding campaign could bear the risk of further radicalisation and potential violence.
In the economic and business sector, the conclave’s inconclusive outcome has brought more anxiety and uncertainty.
“What businesses need, now, is political stability, confidence. But without a political agreement that many of us were hoping for, the confidence and visibility is not there, there’s no investment”, New Caledonia’s MEDEF-NC (Business Leaders Union) vice-president Bertrand Courte told NC La Première.
As a result of the May 2024 riots, more than 600 businesses, mainly in Nouméa, were destroyed, causing the loss of more than 10,000 jobs.
Over the past 12 months, New Caledonia GDP (gross domestic product) has shrunk by an estimated 10 to 15 percent, according to the latest figures produced by New Caledonia statistical institute ISEE.
What next? Crucial provincial elections
As no agreement was found, the next course of action for New Caledonia was to hold provincial elections no later than 30 November 2025, under the existing system, which still restricts the list of persons eligible to vote at those local elections.
The makeup of the electoral roll for local polls was the very issue that triggered the May 2024 riots, as the French Parliament, at the time, had endorsed a Constitutional amendment to push through opening the list.
At the time, the pro-independence camp argued the changes to eligibility conditions would eventually “dilute” their votes and make indigenous Kanaks a minority in their own country.
The Constitutional bill was abandoned after the May 2024 rots.
The sensitive issue remains part of the comprehensive pact that Valls had been working on for the past four months.
The provincial elections are crucial in that they also determine the proportional makeup of New Caledonia’s Congress and its government and president.
The provincial elections, initially scheduled to take place in May 2024, and later in December 2024, and finally no later than 30 November 2025, were already postponed twice.
Even if the provincial elections are held later this year (under the current “frozen” rules), the anti-independence camp has already announced it would contest its result.
According to the anti-independence camp, the current restrictions on New Caledonia’s electoral roll contradict democratic principles and have to be “unfrozen” and opened up to any citizen residing for more than 10 uninterrupted years.
The present electoral roll is “frozen”, which means it only allows citizens who have have been livingin New Caledonia before November 1998 to cast their vote at local elections.
The case could be brought to the French Constitutional Council, or even higher, to a European or international level, said pro-France politicians.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
Asia Pacific Report
The Aotearoa Philippines Solidarity national assembly has condemned the National Party-led Coalition government in New Zealand over signing a “deplorable” visiting forces agreement with the Philippine government
“Given the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ appalling human rights record and continuing attacks on activists in the Philippines, it is deplorable for the New Zealand government to even consider forging such an agreement,” the APS said in a statement today.
Activists from Filipino communities and concerned New Zealanders gathered in Auckland yesterday to discuss the current human rights crisis in the Philippines and resolved to organise solidarity actions in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The visiting forces agreement (VFA), signed in Manila last month, allows closer military relations between the two countries, including granting allowing each other’s militaries to enter the country to participate in joint exercises.
“By entering into a VFA with the Philippines, the coalition government is being complicit in crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the AFP and the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against the Filipino people,” the statement said.
Having such an agreement in place with the Philippine military tarnished New Zealand’s global reputation of respecting human rights and having an independent foreign policy.
“The APS reiterates its call to the New Zealand government to junk the VFA with the Philippines and to end all ties with the Philippine military,” the statement said.
Mid-term general election tomorrow
“Assembly participants also discussed the mid-term general election campaign in the Philippines “and the violence borne out of it”.
“Elections are typically a bloody affair in the country, but the vote set to occur on Monday [May 12] is especially volatile given the high stakes,” the statement said.
“The country’s two dominant political factions, the Marcos and Duterte camps, are vying for control of the country’s political arena and there is no telling how far they would go to obtain power.”
The statement said there were reports of campaigners going missing, being extrajudicially killed and also being detained without due process.
“We expect electoral fraud and violence will again be committed by the biggest political dynasties especially against the progressive candidates representing the most marginalised sectors.
“The Philippine government must do everything it can to avoid further bloodshed and violent skirmishes that aim to preserve power for the competing political dynasties.”
The statement said that the APS called for the immediate and unconditional freedom for Bayan Muna campaigner Pauline Joy Panjawan.
“Her abduction, torture and continuing detention on trumped up charges speak volumes about the reality of the ongoing human rights crisis in the Philippines.
With yesterday’sassembly, the APS renewed its commitment to raise awareness over the human rights crisis in the Philippines and to do everything it could to raise solidarity with the Filipino people struggling to “achieve a truly just and democratic society”.
This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
Leafleting for Majority, I stopped a bloke in Newcastle city centre.
Late thirties, Geordie accent, carrying a plastic bag with his shopping in, he said:
Oh, I’ll definitely be voting in the next council election.
I asked:
Who are you thinking of voting for?
“Re Form,” he pronounced, as two separate words.
You get a lot of that these days. Loads of media commentators and Westminster bubble people expound their theories why. Few of them actually go and find out for themselves.
I asked him if he thought Reform will fix anything after the local elections. Yes, partly as a leading question, but I was genuinely interested to hear his thoughts.
“Well, erm, aye,” then a short pause, “Farage is the man isn’t he?”
I followed up with:
What do you think needs fixing?
“Homelessness.” No hesitation this time. He continued:
Like, you see people sleeping in shop doorways. And begging, and if people give them money it goes on drugs.
I asked him his name: Ryan.
Then, I told Ryan a story.
A few years ago I visited HMP Northumberland and spoke to some of the inmates there. When I was mayor we funded courses so inmates could get skilled up and get an interview and have a job arranged all before they were released. So they came out with an income and with a life plan. I asked some of the lads what they thought would be an improvement. And they told me something I never thought I would ever hear a prisoner say.
They said:
The sentences are too short. You get lads with 3 month sentences, they serve like 5 weeks, and the drugs are barely out of their system and they’re released. But wherever they were staying has gone when they get out. And who’s nice to them? The drug dealers. So they go straight back on it.
I’m not sure longer sentences are the answer, but they were right about the problem. I explained the ‘Housing First’ policy. Giving people somewhere to live that they know can’t be taken off them. Where if they miss an appointment with a job coach they still have their home. With that foundation, they start to feel in control of their lives. They start to turn their lives around.
Ryan was nodding along:
Aye, and they can get proper rehab and stuff, and they’ll turn up because they have somewhere to live. You know I struggled when I came out of prison.
I had no idea – I’d never met him before. For privacy I’ll skip over the details of Ryan’s youth he shared with me. But it struck a chord with him. The fact that I’d listened to people with his life experience. Not just listened, but heard them, and learned from them too. In return, he listened to me.
We spoke about the Newcastle Assembly where the people will develop their own manifesto. That we’ll be running in next May’s local elections for a progressive coalition to take control of Newcastle city council. Would Ryan vote for us?
Well I was just saying Re Form because there was no one else. Labour just lie.
He paused for a moment. Then, he said:
You know, if I was prime minister, I could fix this country in six months.
I was impressed. Even I’m not that confident, and I’ve ran an arm of government. I asked him what he would do. Ryan said:
You’ve got all people, like working, but they haven’t got any money, and they’re struggling to pay their bills and buy food and that. The government could support them with a bit money. And you wouldn’t have as much crime. You wouldn’t have people sleeping in doorways. And things like tourism would improve. Who’s going to come and visit here if there’s people sleeping rough?
One working-class lad with a tough history spoke more economic sense in one five minute conversation than Rachel Reeves has since she was elected, despite her Nobel Prize in economics, or whatever her CV says these days. Ryan got anti-austerity politics because he lived it. And not one word about immigration passed his lips.
I spoke to Alison. She also had a broad Geordie accent, and works two jobs, one as a cleaner, one as bar staff. She’s helping her daughter get through university, who’s training as a nurse.
Referring to Reform’s local elections landslide in County Durham last week, she asked me:
What do you think of them getting in in Durham, then?
I asked her if she thought they’d fix anything. Alison replied:
Nah. They’re just all talk like the rest of them. They won’t fix nowt. They’re going on about people working from home now. But who can you vote for? Labour have gone back on everything they’ve said. Everything.
She told me about her daughter, and how expensive her accommodation is. My son’s at uni too, and it’s eye watering. I told her about the assembly, about having a manifesto where the people get to take part in setting policy. Would she vote for us?
I will pet, I will.
Once you get out of the social media bubble, people just want things to work. We chose the name Majority because the majority of people agree with our politics. Making sure everyone has a secure home. Public utilities run for the good of the public. A wealth tax on the very rich. Every poll shows between 70% and 80% of people want these things to happen.
It’s also about integrity. We can’t slam the Tories for VIP WhatsApp lanes and Labour for freebies unless we’re better. The most effective line in my mayoral campaign was, “In five years I claimed £0 expenses”.
Integrity means being honest. We stick firm to our values of anti-racism, anti-ableism and LGBTQ+ inclusion. Honesty gets you respect. It wasn’t Labour’s stance on immigration that lost them these local elections. It was their stance on truth.
Featured image via the Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
Nigel Farage’s party is on the rise. In the local elections, Reform took 31% of contested seats to Labour’s 14%. In fact, Keir Starmer managed to lose 65% of the up for grabs seats that Labour held, the most of any new prime minister. Of course, this would be a resigning matter if Jeremy Corbyn were still leader of Labour, but we hear barely a peep over Starmer’s historic losses.
Reform’s local election success is already putting a lot at risk. Deputy leader and multi-millionaire landlord Richard Tice said Reform-led councils will block renewable energy infrastructure:
We will attack, we will hinder, we will delay, we will obstruct, we will put every hurdle in your way. It’s going to cost you a fortune, and you’re not going to win. So give up and go away.
Yet analysis shows that in Greater Lincolnshire renewable industries contribute £980m to the economy and provide 12,209 jobs.
While renewable projects are subject to national oversight, Reform can delay or block smaller projects. Alex Wilson, a Reform member of the London Assembly, has said renewables are “absolute lunacy” and are “sacrificing our economy”. He continued:
It’s making our bills more expensive. We have the highest electricity costs in the Western world, that’s had a huge impact on industry, it’s why the automotive industry is on the floor, it’s why the chemicals industry is suffering. The impact of net zero on energy prices, on industry, on people’s bills, is absolutely catastrophic. It’s a big part of the contribution to the results we had on Thursday’s elections, ten councils we now control and another four that we’re the largest party in them.
The idea renewables are more expensive than fossil fuels is the real source of lunacy. Government contracts for offshore wind energy have been under 5p per kilowatt hour. That’s less than a quarter of typical household electricity bills that consumers are facing. A renewable energy transition would not only address spiralling climate disaster, it would greatly bring down our energy bills.
But it’s no wonder Reform are taking such a stance. DeSmog research shows Farage’s party has accepted £2.3 million from fossil fuel interests, big polluters and climate deniers since 2019.
Wilson also said:
What we are against is giving up vast swathes of prime agricultural land for these huge solar farms. We want to make better use of our own natural resources to continue to provide the cheap and reliable and secure energy supplies going forwards, so oil, gas, going to keep using those.
Gas is not cheap. On top of that, Common Wealth notes we have spent £12.5 billion through bill payments to fossil fuel firms for them maintaining their ‘capacity’ in the last ten years. In other words, we rent gas companies for their existence for literal billions – just for them being ‘available’ to sort out supply issues.
Starmer, meanwhile, isn’t taking the opportunity to deliver a publicly owned Green New Deal. And he opposed landmark legislation that would make the UK’s targets to tackle the climate crisis emergency legally binding. He’s also investing almost three times more in carbon capture schemes that don’t work than he is in actually funding renewable energy.
Still, it’s better than Reform who are accelerating rapidly in the completely wrong direction.
At the same time, Green Zack Polanski is standing to be Green party leader. He wants to challenge Farage on a platform of ‘eco-populism’. All the best to him: it could be the only way out of the political hellscape.
Featured image via the Canary
By James Wright
This post was originally published on Canary.
Less than one year ago, the people of County Durham returned six out of six MPs for Labour. Northumberland voted Labour in four out of four. On Thursday, Northumberland Labour dropped from 21 seats in 2021, to just eight. In Durham, from 53 seats to just four. Four. Yes, there are fewer seats with the boundary changes, but this is beyond defeat. It is obliteration. And Reform has taken control.
How can a party collapse so quickly?
Well, it didn’t. Durham voted Brexit. People at bus stops weren’t discussing the intricacies of the European Central Bank. They were bemoaning the price of buses. Boarded up shops. No school places nearby. Youths on noisy motorbikes intimidating pedestrians.
One resident of a former pit village told me:
We haven’t even got a supermarket here.
The Brexit vote was a howl of pain.
In 2019, the land of the Durham Miners’ Gala returned three Tory MPs. This year, just one of 24 Tory councillors survives from the 2021 local elections. The people gave them a chance. They failed to deliver. So the people voted them out.
In July last year, the people gave Labour a chance. Boy, were they betrayed quickly. Winter fuel allowance. Impoverishing disabled people. Still no buses. Still the shops are boarded up while the prices keep going up.
Reform has 65 of 98 seats on Durham County Council. Its vote is a coalition of two angry groups. Those who are angry at life. At immigrants. Trans people. Vaccines. Tofu. Recycling. Green energy. To them I say, haters gonna hate.
And a much larger group who are angry with supermarket prices. At working long hours and still slipping into debt. At paying in all your life, then having your Winter Fuel Allowance taken away.
To them I say, you’re right to be angry. But Nigel Farage is not on your side. He’s part of the same snake-oil selling establishment who has been selling you out for a long, long time. Helping the rich get richer, while delivering a reality of ill health and insecure work.
What happens now that Reform has taken back control? Will they fix Durham? Or just blame someone else? Voters don’t like that. They expect you to fix something. They know you can’t fix everything everywhere, all at once. But if your park is still covered in glass after four years, they will hold you to account.
What Brexit broke was not the tradition of voting Labour. It broke the tradition of voting by tradition. Will Reform even hold together? Its four MPs have managed to start suing each other. Will they be falling out before the leaves fall off the trees?
Newcastle has all-out council elections in 2026. Labour has already lost overall control through resignations. It has a £40m debt liability for the Crowne Plaza hotel. It has cost us £7m through the failed profit-making parks trust, implemented by now North East Mayor Kim McGuinness. Child poverty is up. The new Metros are not in service. No one seems to be in charge, or capable of delivering anything. The Gateshead flyover is still closed. And no one takes responsibility.
Instead, all we get are slavish repetition of national talking points:
Everything is fine, and it’s all the Tories’ fault.
We need people who will stand up for our region. Who are not terrified of telling the truth for fear of being politically executed by party apparatchiks. We need a credible alternative.
Exactly one year ago, I polled 25,000 votes in Newcastle compared to Labour’s 26,000 votes. There is a desire for better politics and higher standards. I want to see a coalition that will actually represent the people, not the parties. I want independents involved, and Greens if they are up for it. For the people leaving Labour – and there are many – to be part of it. To use citizens’ assemblies to set policy priorities.
We need politicians who will put local people first, and who are not beholden to party HQs or toeing the party line. Our first assembly is on Sunday 18 May in the Discovery Museum. You can book on the Majority website. Get yourself along.
Featured image via the Canary
Over the past weekend, several candidates in suburban Texas school districts who opposed book bans won their elections, defeating conservative officials who had supported and implemented such policies in recent years. Book bans in the Lone Star State have largely targeted titles with LGBTQ themes, Black or Brown characters, or authors of the same backgrounds. In the 2022-23 academic year…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
Dresden, May 6 — Friedrich Merz barely managed to assume power Tuesday as the Federal Republic’s 10th chancellor, having fallen six votes short of the number he needed when the first Bundestag ballots were counted in a morning vote.
Berlin was reeling for most of the day as it faced a political impasse unprecedented in postwar German history. A second ballot, held hurriedly later in the afternoon, got Merz over the line by a margin of nine votes. While Bundestag members vote secretly, the numbers indicate that some members of his new coalition betrayed him. Among the German analysts with whom I spoke today, the interesting question now is how long Merz will manage to remain as chancellor.
The post Germany In Crisis Part 4: Wanderers And Seekers appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
