Dec 15, 2011
By Tarek Amara | Reuters
Source:Yahoo News Maktoob
TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's new president on Wednesday asked for a six-month political truce and a moratorium on strikes and protests, warning that otherwise the country would be committing "collective suicide."
Tunisia electrified the Arab world when it overthrew its autocratic leader in January, but since then the caretaker authorities have been buffeted by social unrest, political turmoil and rows over the role of Islam in the political system.
"I appeal to all the Tunisian people to give us a political and social truce, just for six months," Moncef Marzouki, a former political prisoner installed as president this week, said in a interview on state television.
"A political truce including all the political parties ... (and) a social truce by immediately stopping all sit-ins and strikes," said Marzouki. "If we continue like this, it will be a collective suicide."
"If things aren't working out within six months, I will submit my resignation," said Marzouki.
In Tunisia's first ever democratic election in October, voters handed victory to the moderate Islamist Ennahda party. Its nominee, Hamadi Jbeli, will be prime minister, the most powerful post.
Other top positions will be shared out among Ennahda's two junior coalition partners, Marzouki's Congress for the Republic and the left-wing Ettakatol party.
The new leaders will hold power for a year while a new constitution is drawn up and fresh elections are prepared.
A cabinet line-up is expected to be announced in the coming days. Three sources within the coalition said the finance ministry would go to Khayam Turki, a businessman who was put forward by Ettakatol.
IMPATIENT FOR CHANGE
Since its revolution, Western leaders have hailed the former French colony as a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, but the new authorities are struggling to appease Tunisians who are impatient for change.
There have been hundreds of protests in the past few months, most of them over poor living standards and high unemployment. Some have turned into riots, forcing security forces to fire into the air and impose curfews.
There has also been mounting tension between hardline Islamists, who want to ban the sale of alcohol and the mixing of the sexes in public places, and secularists who believe their liberal way of life is under threat.
Turki, the man tipped to become finance minister, was educated in Tunisia and France and studied at business school, his friend Jamel Touri told Reuters.
And though Ettakatol is known for its socialist foundations, Touri, who is also an official in the party, said the 40-year-old diplomat's son was an economic liberal.
"He is for economic openness and he is in favor of economic reforms to promote openness," Touri said.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Ben Harding)
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Jordan PM promises election law this year
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Jordan's prime minister promised Sunday to introduce laws some time this year that would give Jordanians a greater say in politics, but angry opposition leaders said the pace of reform is too slow.
A growing protest movement in Jordan is seeking far-reaching political reforms that would restrict the authority of Jordan's King Abdullah II. Currently, the king can dissolve the Cabinet and parliament by decree.
In a speech to parliament Sunday, Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit, appointed by the king earlier this month, said he is serious about reforms. "I'm not opting for a temporary containment policy, but real reform is a gradual process," he said.
The prime minister said he needs time for a public dialogue about new legislation.
However, Islamist opposition leader Zaki Bani Ersheid said al-Bakhit's speech was "pathetic, disappointing and frustrating."
"Reform isn't gradual and won't take a year. It must be immediate and I mean within one month at the latest," said Bani Ersheid of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan's largest opposition group.
"We're not willing to take promises anymore," he said. "It's not only laws that must be amended, but there must also be constitutional changes that would allow for the prime minister and the Cabinet to be elected."
Al-Bakhit told lawmakers that his priority was to change a controversial election law, which the Brotherhood and other critics claim favors conservative tribal loyalists of the king.
The ultimate goal is to have future governments formed from a parliamentary majority, al-Bakhit added.
Jordanian protesters demanded that the prime minister be chosen through elections, not by the king.
Al-Bakhit said the other laws to change this year include bolstering the country's 34 political parties and legislation that would widen press freedoms.
He also promised a decentralization law that would grant far greater autonomy to distant towns and to amend the municipal elections law, which the Brotherhood says has reduced votes in its favor.
Al-Bakhit also pledged to fight corruption and favoritism.
For eight consecutive Fridays, Jordanians have held street demonstrations to demand political change, lower food prices and the dissolution of a parliament they say was chosen on the foundation of a flawed electoral law.
So far, the protests have been largely peaceful and the crowds are much smaller than in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
In one concession, the Cabinet last week revoked a legal provision requiring protesters to seek police permission before holding public rallies.
Source:www.google.com/hostednews
The Associated Press
A growing protest movement in Jordan is seeking far-reaching political reforms that would restrict the authority of Jordan's King Abdullah II. Currently, the king can dissolve the Cabinet and parliament by decree.
In a speech to parliament Sunday, Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit, appointed by the king earlier this month, said he is serious about reforms. "I'm not opting for a temporary containment policy, but real reform is a gradual process," he said.
The prime minister said he needs time for a public dialogue about new legislation.
However, Islamist opposition leader Zaki Bani Ersheid said al-Bakhit's speech was "pathetic, disappointing and frustrating."
"Reform isn't gradual and won't take a year. It must be immediate and I mean within one month at the latest," said Bani Ersheid of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan's largest opposition group.
"We're not willing to take promises anymore," he said. "It's not only laws that must be amended, but there must also be constitutional changes that would allow for the prime minister and the Cabinet to be elected."
Al-Bakhit told lawmakers that his priority was to change a controversial election law, which the Brotherhood and other critics claim favors conservative tribal loyalists of the king.
The ultimate goal is to have future governments formed from a parliamentary majority, al-Bakhit added.
Jordanian protesters demanded that the prime minister be chosen through elections, not by the king.
Al-Bakhit said the other laws to change this year include bolstering the country's 34 political parties and legislation that would widen press freedoms.
He also promised a decentralization law that would grant far greater autonomy to distant towns and to amend the municipal elections law, which the Brotherhood says has reduced votes in its favor.
Al-Bakhit also pledged to fight corruption and favoritism.
For eight consecutive Fridays, Jordanians have held street demonstrations to demand political change, lower food prices and the dissolution of a parliament they say was chosen on the foundation of a flawed electoral law.
So far, the protests have been largely peaceful and the crowds are much smaller than in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.
In one concession, the Cabinet last week revoked a legal provision requiring protesters to seek police permission before holding public rallies.
Source:www.google.com/hostednews
The Associated Press
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Habib: Egyptian Regime Blocks MB Attempts to Field Women in Municipal Elections
Tuesday, March 11,2008 15:49
by Mohamed Ismail IkhwanWeb
Egyptian regime thwarts all attempts to field female candidates in the Municipal elections scheduled to be held next month, said MB deputy chairman Muhamad Habib.
The obstacles that the Muslim Brotherhood potential candidates face while submitting nomination papers aren’t restricted to men. Women also face such hurdles from the Egyptian regime that releases hollow promises of a bigger space for women political action while in practice it denies both men and women the chance to stand elections ", Habib said in statements to Ikhwanweb. He added that the Muslim Brotherhood was planning to allow a wider female participation in these elections but the regime’s inflexibility did not allow this .
Habib pointed out that the group did not set a quota for the women’s election participation under its banner. It only left this issue to local administrative offices governoratewide to define this according to capacity.
It is worth mentioning that the Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria is the only MB office that announced plans for fielding more than ten women in the coming Municipal elections. This was announced in a press conference held by the MB in Alexandria last week. However, Osama Gado, the head of the MB administrative, told Ikhwanweb that no one of the potential female candidates, whom they announced, has managed to submit nomination papers so far, mainly due to the violations committed by government bodies against all potential candidates from both sexes. Some MB potential female candidates received even subpoenas to meet security leaders to threaten them so as to force them to abandon their nomination plans.
by Mohamed Ismail IkhwanWeb
Egyptian regime thwarts all attempts to field female candidates in the Municipal elections scheduled to be held next month, said MB deputy chairman Muhamad Habib.
The obstacles that the Muslim Brotherhood potential candidates face while submitting nomination papers aren’t restricted to men. Women also face such hurdles from the Egyptian regime that releases hollow promises of a bigger space for women political action while in practice it denies both men and women the chance to stand elections ", Habib said in statements to Ikhwanweb. He added that the Muslim Brotherhood was planning to allow a wider female participation in these elections but the regime’s inflexibility did not allow this .
Habib pointed out that the group did not set a quota for the women’s election participation under its banner. It only left this issue to local administrative offices governoratewide to define this according to capacity.
It is worth mentioning that the Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria is the only MB office that announced plans for fielding more than ten women in the coming Municipal elections. This was announced in a press conference held by the MB in Alexandria last week. However, Osama Gado, the head of the MB administrative, told Ikhwanweb that no one of the potential female candidates, whom they announced, has managed to submit nomination papers so far, mainly due to the violations committed by government bodies against all potential candidates from both sexes. Some MB potential female candidates received even subpoenas to meet security leaders to threaten them so as to force them to abandon their nomination plans.
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