Determined to see fair vote, Turks mobilize for May election

Determined to see fair vote, Turks mobilize for May election
Supporters of election candidates campaign near the Supreme Election Board in Ankara on Sunday. (AP)
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Updated 29 March 2023

Determined to see fair vote, Turks mobilize for May election

Determined to see fair vote, Turks mobilize for May election
  • Observers should be able to prevent any attempts to cast votes in the names of people who died in the earthquake but who had yet to be removed from the records

ISTANBUL: Sensing the best chance yet to end President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s two-decade rule in Turkiye, his opponents are mobilizing to make sure every ballot is counted in a May election and to guard against any tampering in what is expected to be a tight vote.

With the stakes so high, concerns about potential irregularities have been heightened by upheaval wrought by February’s devastating earthquakes in the southeast, where some 50,000 people were killed and millions made homeless.

Yigit, 26, a student from southern Turkiye, said he will watch the polling in his hometown of Antakya come election day on May 14, to make sure nobody tries to cast ballots in the name of his parents, who died in the disaster.

“I will wait at the ballot box to make sure that no one else is voting in their place,” Yigit said.

His parents have not been officially declared dead because their bodies were not found in the rubble. They still appear as eligible voters, said Yigit, who declined to give his full name.

The election marks the toughest political challenge yet for Erdogan, who was already facing criticism over an economy in crisis when the earthquake struck. While polls show him trailing opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the race remains tight and campaigning is just beginning.

An alliance of six opposition parties hoping to unseat the president is planning measures to safeguard a free and fair election, including recruiting professionals such as lawyers to monitor the voting, said Idris Sahin, deputy chair of DEVA Party.

DEVA officials are comparing voter lists from Dec. 31 with the updated registry in the earthquake zone, he said, including checking whether those who moved away are registered in their new residences and whether those who died have been removed.

Observers should be able to prevent any attempts to cast votes in the names of people who died in the earthquake but who had yet to be removed from the records, Sahin added.

“It is not clear whether some citizens are alive or dead in the earthquake zone. Our members need to be careful about these records,” he said, adding that this number could be between 3,000-5,000 at most.

Opposition parties have alleged electoral irregularities in the past, including criticism of measures taken by the High Electoral Board and Erdogan’s influence over the country’s newsrooms.

Turkiye ranked the 123rd among 167 countries in 2019 according to the Electoral Integrity Project, an academic study which compares elections worldwide.

However, there were no accusations of major rigging in the most recent, 2018 presidential election and the opposition candidate conceded. Erdogan’s AK Party has said it is committed to a free and fair election that respects the will of the people.

FASTFACT

With the stakes so high, concerns about potential irregularities have been heightened by upheaval wrought by February’s devastating earthquakes in the southeast, where some 50,000 people were killed and millions made homeless.

Turkish elections are typically monitored by hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the country of 85 million people.

Opposition parties and nongovernmental organizations say the exodus of more than 3 million people from the disaster zone poses extra concerns. The earthquake devastated 11 provinces that were home to 14 million people.

“We have a problem updating the electoral records correctly and ballot box security after such a disaster,” said Bekir Agirdir, a board member of pollster KONDA research.

“How many people are actually relocating? How many people will be properly registered on the voter lists?“

The YSK electoral board has said there are no obstacles to holding elections in the southeast, and has announced additional measures such as setting up ballot boxes for voters in temporary shelters and allowing those who moved away to easily change their registered address.

Vote and Beyond, an NGO focused on election security, will commission some 100,000 volunteers as monitors for its system to cross-check the records at each of the 200,000 ballot boxes.

Erdogan’s AK Party has also said it will commission observers.

Mehmet Rustu Tiryaki of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) said some 9 million voters are registered in the area affected by the earthquake. While some 300,000 to 500,000 of them were thought to have changed addresses, many of those who had left the disaster zone had not, added Tiryaki.

For Yigit, the earthquake and what he sees as the government’s slow response to the disaster weighs on him as he decides how to vote.

My parents “were not protected, and no help came. This time, I will also vote with this responsibility on my shoulders,” he said.


Egypt, Israel pledge cooperation after border bloodshed

Updated 10 sec ago

Egypt, Israel pledge cooperation after border bloodshed

Egypt, Israel pledge cooperation after border bloodshed
CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to boost cooperation Tuesday after an Egyptian policeman shot dead three Israeli soldiers before being killed, officials said.
El-Sisi received a telephone call from Netanyahu about Saturday’s deadly violence on the normally calm border, the spokesman for the Egyptian president said.
During the conversation, the two leaders stressed “the importance of coordination between the two countries to clarify the circumstances,” he said.
Egypt has said the policeman crossed into Israel while chasing drug smugglers, leading to exchanges of fire with Israeli soldiers.
On Saturday, Netanyahu called the Egyptian shooter a “terrorist” although he has since mostly spoken of the shootings as an “incident.”
El-Sisi offered Netanyahu his “deep condolences,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said.
“The two leaders expressed their commitment to further strengthening peace and security cooperation, which is an essential value for both countries,” it added.
Israel’s border with Egypt has been largely quiet since Egypt became the first Arab country to make peace with Israel following the Camp David accords of 1978.
In recent years, there have been exchanges of fire between smugglers and Israeli soldiers stationed along the border.
Questions have been raised about why the Egyptian assailant — reported by Egyptian media to have been a 22-year-old conscript — crossed into Israel and opened fire.
Speaking at the opening of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said his government had sent a “clear message” to Egypt: “We expect that the joint investigation will be exhaustive and thorough.”
On Tuesday, his office said he had “thanked the Egyptian president for... his commitment to an exhaustive and joint investigation of the incident.”

Iran debates new penalties for veil violations

Iran debates new penalties for veil violations
Updated 06 June 2023

Iran debates new penalties for veil violations

Iran debates new penalties for veil violations
  • Women have been required to cover their hair after the Islamic revolution of 1979
  • But a growing number are defying the law and appearing bareheaded in the streets

TEHRAN: An Iranian draft law that would set new penalties for women not wearing a headscarf in public has sparked heated debate within the Islamic republic’s leadership as more women flout the country’s strict dress code.
Since the aftermath of the Islamic revolution of 1979, women have been required to cover their hair and neck in public places, with offenders facing fines or prison terms of up to two months.
But a growing number are defying the law and appearing bareheaded in the streets.
The trend accelerated during the nationwide protests sparked by the September death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman arrested for allegedly violating the law.
The protests rocked Iran, provoking a crackdown by authorities that claimed the lives of hundreds of people, including dozens of security personnel, and saw thousands more arrested.
Iran’s conservatives, who dominate the country’s parliament and leadership, have passionately defended the dress code and believe relaxing rules would begin a process leading to profound shifts in “social norms.”
But with many Iranians demanding change, in May the judiciary and the government proposed a “Support for the Culture of Hijab and Chastity” bill, to “protect society” and “strengthen family life.”
The text proposes increased fines for “any person removing their veil in public places or on the Internet” but withdraws the threat of a prison sentence.
“This bill reduces the removal of the hijab from a felony to a misdemeanour, similar to a traffic violation but with heavier fines,” sociologist Abbas Abdi said.
After Amini’s death and the subsequent protests, society “no longer accepts that we imprison a woman because she does not wear the veil,” he said.
Since the protests, authorities have imposed a series of measures to enforce Iran’s strict dress code, including the closure of businesses whose staff do not conform with the rules and installing cameras in public places to track down offenders.
In recent days, at least three officials have been sacked or arrested for failing to prevent unveiled women from entering historic sites.
Under the proposed law, the text of which has been published in government-affiliated media, offenders will first receive a warning text message from the police.
A second breach will incur fines of between five million and 60 million rials (around $10 to $120), a large sum for many Iranians. The law would also provide for other penalities, including the confiscation of a woman’s vehicle for up to 10 days.
Defending the bill, judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei stressed the need to avoid polarizing society, saying he understood the “concerns of believers” supportive of the dress code.
As the bill awaits examination by lawmakers, it faces accusations of not being tough enough from ultra-conservatives, an influential bloc in the current parliament.
Relaxing punishments for violations will see “the expansion of a repugnant phenomenon” by “removing legal barriers” for women not wearing a veil, the ultra-conservative newspaper Kayhan said.
Those supporting the law “do not know that the enemy” seeks to “destroy the family as an institution and ultimately, to attack the foundations of the Islamic system” by removing headscarves, the newspaper said.
Social networks and foreign media, particularly television channels broadcasting in Persian, are calling for “social disobedience,” according to some ultra-conservatives.
Within Iran’s leadership “there is no consensus on the hijab,” as some favor repression, while others “believe that other means must be tried,” the sociologist Abdi said.
“The bill satisfies neither the supporters of compulsory hijab nor, of course, the supporters of the freedom to cover up or not.”
A similar situation developed in the 1990s with a law prohibiting the use of satellite dishes, he said.
“It was only implemented for a while before it was dropped.”


Kuwaitis turn out to cast vote in parliamentary elections

Kuwaitis turn out to cast vote in parliamentary elections
Updated 06 June 2023

Kuwaitis turn out to cast vote in parliamentary elections

Kuwaitis turn out to cast vote in parliamentary elections

Polling stations opened across Kuwait on Tuesday where the country is electing its third parliament in three years. 

There was a “great turnout” by senior citzens who were casting their vote for the 2023 National Assembly, state news agency KUNA reported. 

Kuna went on to report that Kuwaitis were hoping the election would bring political stability with cooperation between the legislative and executive authorities. 

The general election was called by the Kuwaiti Emir, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah last month.


Iran unveils Fattah, its first hypersonic ballistic missile

Iran unveils Fattah, its first hypersonic ballistic missile
Updated 06 June 2023

Iran unveils Fattah, its first hypersonic ballistic missile

Iran unveils Fattah, its first hypersonic ballistic missile
  • Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound and on a complex trajectory

DUBAI: Iran claimed on Tuesday that it had created a hypersonic missile capable of traveling at 15 times the speed of sound, adding a new weapon to its arsenal as tensions remain high with the United States over Tehran’s nuclear program.

The new missile — called Fattah, or “Conqueror” in Farsi — was unveiled in a tightly choreographed segment on Iranian state television, which apparently sought to show that Tehran’s hard-line government can still deploy arms against its enemies across much of the Middle East.

“Today we feel that the deterrent power has been formed,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said at the event. “This power is an anchor of lasting security and peace for the regional countries.”

Gen. Amir Ali Hajjizadeh, the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace program, unveiled what appeared to be a model of the missile. Hajjizadeh claimed the missile had a range of up to 1,400 kilometers.

That’s about mid-range for Iran’s expansive ballistic missile arsenal, which the Guard has built up over the years as Western sanctions largely prevent it from accessing advanced weaponry.

“There exists no system that can rival or counter this missile,” Hajjizadeh claimed.

That claim, however, depends on how maneuverable the missile is. Ballistic missiles fly on a trajectory in which anti-missile systems like the Patriot can anticipate their path and intercept them. Tuesday’s event showed what appeared to be a moveable nozzle for the Fattah, which could allow it to change trajectories in flight. The more irregular the missile’s flight path, the more difficult it becomes to intercept.

Iranian officials also did not release any footage of a successful launch of the Fattah.

Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability. Iran described the Fattah as being able to reach Mach 15 — which is 15 times the speed of sound.

China is believed to be pursuing the weapons, as is America. Russia claims to already be fielding the weapons and has said it used them on the battlefield in Ukraine. However, speed and maneuverability isn’t a guarantee the missile will successfully strike a target. Ukraine’s air force in May said it shot down a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile with a Patriot battery.


New report offers sustainability advice for Arab governments

New report offers sustainability advice for Arab governments
Updated 06 June 2023

New report offers sustainability advice for Arab governments

New report offers sustainability advice for Arab governments
  • ‘Sustainability and Government Action: Arab Government Situation’ was compiled by the Arab League’s Arab Administrative Development Organization and the UAE
  • It includes numerous recommendations, including the need to develop smart cities, encourage green financing, and capitalize on the resources of the private sector

DUBAI: A new report on sustainability, based on interviews with 1,800 Arab government officials, offers numerous recommendations to authorities in the region, including the need to develop smart cities, encourage green financing, fully capitalize on the resources of the private sector, and raise awareness of issues associated with sustainability.

Titled “Sustainability and Government Action: Arab Government Situation,” the report was compiled by the Arab League’s Arab Administrative Development Organization and the UAE, which holds the presidency of the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference, COP28. It was unveiled during the “Forum of Sustainability and Government Action” in Cairo, the Emirates News Agency reported on Monday.

Sultan Al-Jaber, the president-designate of COP28, told the forum that governments have a critical role to play in mitigating the effects of climate change by developing effective strategies than can help meet global climate goals in partnership with regional and international organizations.

“The report supports our focus during COP28 on enhancing the efforts to achieve a significant shift in climate action,” Al-Jaber said. The UAE will host COP28 in Dubai from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.

Ohood Al-Roumi, the Emirati minister of state for government development and the future, delivered a keynote speech to the forum in Cairo during which she emphasized the importance of developing policies and laws that help promote a sustainable green transformation, and the public-private partnerships needed to help achieve climate neutrality.

She said the newly published report will help Arab governments in their efforts to improve sustainability and combat climate change, along with related social and economic issues. The minister also emphasized the potential avenues for boosting long-term economic growth highlighted by the report, such as the development of proactive climate policies and initiatives, and the need for resilience in adapting to green regulations.

Al-Roumi said the report reflects the Emirati government’s climate action efforts and its commitment to long-term solutions to environmental concerns, in keeping with the UAE’s Year of Sustainability and its preparations for hosting COP28.

Nasser Al-Hatlan Al-Qahtani, the director-general of the Arab Administrative Development Organization, said the publication of the report also provides an opportunity to assess how ready Arab governments are to address climate change challenges and capitalize on opportunities in the green economy.