Moroni, Comoros: Comorans voted Sunday in the first round of a parliamentary election with victory for President Azali Assoumani’s supporters all but certain after opposition parties boycotted the contest.
Most voting stations in the Indian Ocean archipelago’s capital Moroni opened late because of bad weather, an AFP reporter said. Opposition parties said they would not contest the 24 seats in the Comoros national assembly after failing to obtain guarantees of a "transparent, free and democratic" election.
Azali secured a second consecutive term in March 2019, but critics alleged vote rigging and witnesses said ballot boxes were stuffed, the latest scandal in a country blighted by instability and coups. Azali, who has denied the allegations, had urged the opposition to drop the boycott threat in the run-up to the vote, saying in November that "my most ardent wish is that they come to participate in these elections because we have a lot to do".
Among the opposition’s demands in the former French colony, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been that its diaspora of roughly 300,000 should be allowed to take part, a demand Azali’s camp said would be impossible to meet.
Harvey Weinstein. — AFP FileNEW YORK: Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction for sexual assault and rape was...
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan on Sept. 13, 2016. — Slate website WASHINGTON: U.S. Supreme Court justices, wading back...
A representational image of inmates behind jail bars. — Unsplash/FileMOSCOW: A Russian court on Wednesday ordered...
Sudanese soldiers guard the surrounding area of the UNMIS compound in El-Fasher, the administrative capital of North...
US quietly shipped ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. — Report news agencyWASHINGTON: The United States in recent weeks...
US President Joe Biden during his address in California. — AFP FileWASHINGTON: President Joe Biden signed a...