On April 9, Nigerians head to the polls to vote in the presidential and gubernatorial elections. Since 1999, when the country returned to civilian rule, each election has been marred by violence, bribery, and allegations of fraud. Adding to the already daunting challenge is President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision to run for election, disregarding the unwritten power-sharing agreement between north and south. Jonathan assumed office last year when his predecessor, Umaru Yar’Adua, died while in office. This situation raised political tensions in Nigeria because the presidency is supposed to rotate between …
On October 31, 2010, Brazilian voters elected that country’s first female president: Dilma Rouseff. Ms. Rouseff of the leftist Workers’ Party defeated her Center-Right rival Jose Serra by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent of the votes cast. A former leftist guerilla turned technocrat, Ms. Rouseff was chief of staff to outgoing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Siva. This is her first elected post. Ms. Rouseff glided into presidential office on a crest of optimism generated by the policy successes and popularity of Lula, Brazil’s popular president. With …
As we head into Election Day tomorrow, we should note that there were two decisions last week in federal courts of appeal that directly impact on the right to a secure and fair election, one good and one bad. In Johnson v. Tennessee, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the right of the State of Tennessee to condition restoration of the voting rights of convicted felons on payment of restitution and child support obligations. The decision was two to one and it will probably …
Pennsylvania residents in this year’s gubernatorial race will be casting their votes for school choice regardless of their political affiliation. In Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, author Bill McGurn reports that both Democratic candidate Dan Onorato and his Republican opponent, state Attorney General Tom Corbett, are proponents of school choice. It is promising to see states opening more opportunity for the educational futures of children. For decades, the federal government has poured increasing amounts of money into public education under the guise of “reform,” yet test scores and achievement indicate no …
Despite insurgent threats to murder Iraqis who dared to vote in the parliamentary elections, yesterday’s Iraqi elections went as well as could be expected. There were dozens of bombs that exploded in Baghdad and other cities, killing at least 36 people, but many Iraqis shrugged off the violence and risked their lives to vote. The turnout was estimated to be about 62 percent of Iraq’s 19 million eligible voters, which is down from the estimated 76 percent turnout in the last parliamentary elections in December 2005. But a positive sign …
Poor Dubya. Not even the 43rd president’s exercise regimen — biking and running in addition to hitting the White House gym — is safe from No. 44’s criticism. Joe Curl wrote in The Washington Times the other day how President Obama and congressional liberals think the ol’ “blame Bush” refrain will keep working for them in the 2010 midterm elections. (Karl Rove, for one, doubts it. ”They have been doing that very intentionally in New Jersey and Virginia thus far,” the former president’s top strategist notes, “and both their candidates are behind.”) …
