Suu Kyi continues election-campaign trip

 

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi hit the campaign trail near her hometown of Yangon on Saturday, travelling to the constituency where she is standing for parliament for the first time.

 

The democracy icon has already made two campaign trips outside the city ahead of April s by-elections, but this is her first day taking to the streets of the rural township of Kawhmu, where she is contesting the vote.

 

Hundreds of cheering supporters lined the roads as her convoy left Yangon, waving flags of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party and photos of Suu Kyi and her father, Myanmar s independence hero Aung San.

 

The NLD cannot threaten the army-backed party s ruling majority even if it wins all of the 48 available seats, but the vote has important symbolic value as the first time Suu Kyi has been able to directly participate in a Myanmar election.

 

“I hope they will be free and fair. There have been a few hitches but I hope that these will be sorted out,” she told AFP on Friday.

 

A widely-expected win for Suu Kyi would lend strong legitimacy to the country s parliament, which first convened early last year and is dominated by former generals who kept her in detention for much of the past two decades.

 

The NLD won a landslide victory in an election in 1990, but the then-ruling junta never allowed the party to take power. Suu Kyi was a figurehead for the party s campaign despite being under house arrest at the time.

 

She was released from her latest stint in detention a few days after a much-criticised election in 2010, and the upcoming polls are being held to fill places vacated by those who have since become government ministers and deputy ministers.

 

Ahead of the campaign day, Suu Kyi insisted her party — which boycotted the 2010 election — was taking nothing for granted.

 

“We will work very hard to win all 48 seats. It s not a matter of expectations, it s a matter of hard work,” the Nobel Peace Prize winner said.

 

Controversy surrounding the 2010 vote means the by-elections will be heavily scrutinised.

 

But the new regime has impressed even sceptics with its reform process, which has included welcoming the NLD back into the political mainstream and signing ceasefire deals with ethnic minority rebels.

 

The release of hundreds of political prisoners has been particularly welcomed by Western powers — which imposed strict sanctions on Myanmar — leading the United States to begin restoring full diplomatic relations.

 

On Monday, Washington also announced a waiver to allow it to support assessments in the country by international financial institutions including the World Bank.

 

Despite Myanmar s progress, the brief detention of a leading dissident monk on Friday sparked concern among observers, coming less than a month after his release from a jail term imposed for his role in a 2007 anti-junta uprising.
 

Nothing hindering early polls: Elahi

 

He participated in the Walima party of ex-speaker Punjab Assembly Afzal Sahi’s son in Faizalabad. Later, while talking to the media, he said that general elections are possible early or as per their schedule.

 

He said that the Punjab government should do its work properly rather than talking of providing security to Mansoor Ijaz. Law and order situation is pitiable in Punjab while robberies and looting have become a routine.

In the context of the PIC wrong medicines scam, he said that Shahbaz Sharif has suspended many Health Secretaries; firstly he should suspend himself as a health minister.

Elahi said Shahbaz has monopolised over 22 ministries, adding that administration system throughout the province has spoiled.

 

He said that dengue inquiry report is yet under process; the PIC inquiry report would be lingered on with any result. He said that the issue of Senate polls is being discussed with the hope that it would bear good results.

LHC moved to halt Senate polls

The petitioner Feroz Shah Gilani said that the Supreme Court has declared that about 37 million fake voters have been registered, adding that the people who are sitting in assembly actually were elected by these fake and fabricated votes and now, these MPAs would elect Senate members once again.

 

The petitioner requested the court that the Senate polls should be barred till further orders.
 

Shilpa Shetty pregnant

Last week, it was Aamir and Kiran celebrating the arrival of the new member into their family. And this week, it’s the actress turned entrepreneur, Shilpa Shetty, who jumping with joy. Shilpa who is currently in her second trimester is expecting her first child with husband Raj Kundra.

Says Shilpa on twitter, “Tweetos,”YES”an addition 2 r family is r confirmation 2 all queries We seek blessings from all in this very beautiful phase of our lives.”

Says Raj, “Shilpa and I are happy to announce that we are expecting an addition to our family. We are ecstatic and wanted to share the great news with you given all the love and support you’ve showered on us. Seeking your good wishes and blessings in this beautiful phase of our lives.”

We give our best wishes to Shilpa and Raj.

I Will Be President Until 2019: Hugo Chavez

Breaking News The President of Venezuelan Hugo Chavez said that he would be the President of the country for another eight years and he sees himself as the winner of presidential election 2012.

“I will be elected in December 2012. It is written.” While addressing to a public gathering in the capital Caracas on the 53 National Democracy Day Chavez hinted that the next term in office would be his last in
Venezuela.“I will be your servant until 2019 and then, good-bye.” Said Chavez
.
The President proudly noted that he and his supporters have repeatedly defeated opposition candidates at the polls for more than a decade. The 56-year-old Chavez, who has been in power since 1999, said that I love my country and the nation and I want to present all my services for the country and nation.

Before the speech of President, the opponents of government held a demonstration in eastern Caracas, they criticized the last month’s decision by the National Assembly of Venezuela to grant Chavez the power to pass laws by decree for 18 months.

Chavez attempted to introduce socialist reforms to the country, and emphasized the introduction of participatory democracy and further civil rights for the women and indigenous groups.

Irish government faces election backlash after fiscal pain

DUBLIN: Ireland’s government will face the first real backlash from a vicious set of austerity measures when voters head to the polls in the northwestern county of Donegal on Thursday.

Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s four-year plan for tackling the worst budget deficit in Europe has failed to impress investors or calm fears that Ireland’s woes will tip other euro zone nations into crisis.

The 15 billion euros ($20 billion) in spending cuts and tax increases unveiled on Wednesday will form the basis for an IMF/EU rescue package worth about 85 billion euros.

But the measures, including cuts to the minimum wage and thousands of job losses, are likely to seal defeat for Cowen’s Fianna Fail party in the poll for a vacant parliamentary seat in Donegal and result in Cowen’s majority shrinking to just two.

Ruling Fianna Fail held the seat in Donegal South West

PPP Punjab chapter demands LB polls to be held

Pakistan Peoples Party Punjab chapter has demanded that the local body elections should be held in the province, News Trends reported on Saturday.
Talking to media men in Faisalabad senior provincial minister Punjab Raja Riaz Ahmed said that the Chief Minister of the province should announce a date for the polls. He further said that PPP would participate in the polls in letter and spirit and would hold local body conventions very soon. He also ruled any possibility of seat adjustment with PML-N. Raja Riaz said that the workers of PPP are not being attended by the government and even the PML-N MPAs are dissatisfied over the situation.

Barack Obama Trip to India

WASHINGTON, Barack Obama Trip to India: A day after his party suffered a huge setback at the polls in the US midterm congressional elections, US President Barack Obama spoke about his upcoming visit to India.

He told the Press Trust of India wire service that issues such as India’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and its desire for the US to relax export controls on dual-use technologies are “very difficult and complicated.”

The president’s comments about the UNSC will throw a bit of cold water on speculation that the president was planning to use the trip to announce U.S. backing for India’s permanent presence on the panel and may be discouraging to the foreign policy establishment in New Delhi.

Obama said he supports “India’s rise as a global power” and called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “one of the most extraordinary leaders I have met.

The president said he expected to make big-ticket announcements in India, but the PTI report didn’t include any specifics. Commercial deals in sectors such as aviation and transportation are likely.

The two nations’ stalled civil nuclear energy partnership will be a hot topic. Obama said the U.S. has concerns about India’s recently passed nuclear liability law and the governments of the two countries are working together to resolve them.

India is hopeful the U.S. will relax its export restrictions on several high-tech products with both peaceful and military uses, but Mr. Obama’s comments indicated there are complex negotiations underway on that.

“Our teams continue to work hard to reach an agreement that strengthens the international non-proliferation system while treating India in a manner that is consistent with our strategic partnership.

Republicans Win the House in US Polls

Resurgent Republicans won control of the House and cut deeply into the Democrats’ majority in the Senate in momentous midterm elections shadowed by recession, ushering in a new era of divided government certain to complicate the final two years of President Barack Obama’s term.

House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner, voice breaking with emotion, declared shortly before midnight Tuesday that the results were “a repudiation of Washington, a repudiation of big government and a repudiation of politicians who refuse to listen to the people.”

Obama monitored returns at the White House, then telephoned Boehner with congratulations in a call that underscored the power shift.

On a night of triumph, Republicans fell short in their effort to gain control of the Senate and take full command of Congress, although they picked up at least six seats. They failed in an attempt to defeat Majority Harry Reid in Nevada, winner in an especially costly and brutal race in a year filled with them.

Boehner and his Republicans needed to gain 40 seats for a House majority, and they got them. They led for 11 more.

The victories came in bunches — five Democratic-held seats each in Pennsylvania and Ohio and three in Florida and Virginia.

Among the House Democrats who tasted defeat was Rep. Tom Perriello, a first-termer for whom Obama campaigned just before the election.

Obama was at the White House as the returns mounted, a news conference on his Wednesday schedule.

In Senate races, tea party favorites Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rubio in Florida coasted to easy Senate victories, overcoming months of withering Democratic attacks on their conservative views. But Christine O’Donnell lost badly in Delaware, for a seat that Republican strategists once calculated would be theirs with ease.

Democrats conceded nothing while they still had a chance. “Let’s go out there and continue to fight,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi exhorted supporters in remarks before television cameras while the polls were still open in much of the country.

But not long after she spoke, Democratic incumbents in both houses began falling, and her own four-year tenure as the first female speaker in history seemed near an end.

With unemployment at 9.6 percent nationally, interviews with voters revealed an extraordinarily sour electorate, stressed financially and poorly disposed toward the president, the political parties and the federal government.

Sen.-elect Paul, appearing Tuesday night before supporters in Bowling Green, Ky., declared, “We’ve come to take our government back.”

About four in 10 voters said they were worse off financially than two years ago, according to preliminary exit poll results and pre-election surveys. More than one in three said their votes were an expression of opposition to Obama. More than half expressed negative views about both political parties. Roughly 40 percent of voters considered themselves supporters of the conservative tea party movement. Less than half said they wanted the government to do more to solve problems.

The preliminary findings were based on Election Day and pre-election interviews with more than 9,000 voters.

All 435 seats in the House were on the ballot, plus 37 in the Senate. An additional 37 governors’ races gave Republicans ample opportunity for further gains halfway through Obama’s term, although Andrew Cuomo was elected in New York for the office his father once held.

Republicans were certain of at least six Senate pickups, including the seat in Illinois that Obama resigned to become president. Rep. Mark Kirk won there, defeating Alexi Giannoulias.

Democratic Sens. Russell Feingold in Wisconsin and Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas were turned out of office. In addition, Republicans scored big in races for Democratic seats without incumbents on the ballot. Former Rep. Pat Toomey won a close race in Pennsylvania, North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven won easily there, and former Sen. Dan Coats breezed in a comeback attempt for the Indiana seat he voluntarily gave up a dozen years ago.

“Republicans will continue to stand up for the American people and for the priorities they voted for today, and we are hopeful that the administration and Democrat leaders will change course,” Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said in a written statement.

Democrats averted deeper losses when Gov. Joe Manchin won in West Virginia — after pointedly distancing himself from Obama — for the unexpired portion of the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd’s term, and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was victorious in Connecticut, dispatching Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Sen. Barbara Boxer was elected to a fourth term in California, overcoming a challenge from Carly Fiorina.

The GOP gubernatorial gains came after a campaign in which their party organization spent more than $100 million, nearly double what Democrats had.

Among the incumbents who fell were Ted Strickland in Ohio, defeated by former Rep. John Kasich, and Chet Culver in Iowa, loser to former Gov. Terry Branstad.

In California, former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. was elected to the office he held for two terms more than a quarter-century ago.

In a footnote to the brutal politics of the campaign, Republican-turned- independent Lincoln Chafee was elected governor of Rhode Island. Obama campaigned in the state in the campaign’s final week. But he declined to endorse the Democratic candidate, Frank Caprio, out of what the White House said was respect for Chafee, who had endorsed the president in his own presidential race two years ago.

A Republican takeover of the House would usher in a new era of divided government after two years in which Obama and fellow Democrats pushed through an economic stimulus bill, a landmark health care measure and legislation to rein in Wall Street after the near collapse of the economy in 2008.

Republicans opposed all three of the measures, accusing the president of supporting an ever-expanding role for the government with ever-rising spending.

Paul’s triumph in Kentucky completed an improbable rise for an eye surgeon making his first race. He drew opposition from the Republican Party establishment when he first launched his bid, then struggled to adjust to a statewide race with Attorney General Jack Conway.

Rubio, also running with tea party support, was gaining about 50 percent of the vote in a three-way race in Florida, months after he forced Gov. Charlie Crist to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent. Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek was running third.

But a third tea party-backed candidate, O’Donnell, who went from a virtual unknown to primary winner to fodder for late-night comedians in the span of a few months, lost overwhelmingly to Democrat Chris Coons in Delaware. Republicans had counted on taking the seat from the Democrats early this year, but that was before O’Donnell defeated veteran Rep. Mike Castle in a September primary. Democrat John Carney easily won the seat that was Castle’s for nearly two decades.

Not all the Republican newcomers were party crashers.

In New Hampshire, Republican Kelly Ayotte won a Senate seat, defeating Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes. Former Bush administration official Rob Portman won a seat in Ohio, and Rep. Jerry Moran won in Kansas and Rep. Roy Blunt in Missouri.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont was re-elected to his seventh term and Barbara Mikulski her fifth. New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand also won, as did Sen. Ron Wyden in Oregon and Boxer in California In Hawaii, Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye was elected for a ninth time to the seat he has held since 1962.

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who won a second term in South Carolina, has been working to establish a nationwide standing among conservatives. He was instrumental in supporting tea party challengers in several primaries this spring and summer at a time the GOP establishment was backing other candidates.

In Alabama, Sen. Richard Shelby was re-elected easily, as were Republican Sens. Tom Coburn in Oklahoma, Richard Burr in North Carolina, John Thune in South Dakota, Johnny Isakson in Georgia and Mike Crapo in Idaho.

The president gave a series of radio interviews pleading with Democratic supporters not to sit on the sidelines. “I know things are still tough out there, but we finally have job growth again,” he said in one. “It is all at risk if people don’t turn out and vote today.”

While Obama’s name was not on the ballot, his record and policies were. After nearly two years in power, he and congressional Democrats were saddled politically with the residue of the worst recession since the 1930s.

“I will honestly say that I voted for him two years ago,” said Sally McCabe, 56, of Plymouth, Minn., stopping to cast her ballot on her way to work. “And I want my vote back.”

In Cleveland, Tim Crews, 42, said he measures Obama’s performance by the number of paying miles he drives in his delivery van. His miles have tripled to 9,000 a month. Crews said of the economy: “It’s moving. I know, because I’m moving it.” He voted accordingly.

With so many contested races, and a Supreme Court ruling removing restrictions on political activity by corporations and unions, the price tag for the elections ran to the billions.

Much of the money paid for television advertisements that attacked candidates without letup, the sort of commercials that voters say they disdain but that polls find are effective.

Americans to vote in mid-term elections today

Voters in the United States go to the polls today for the Congressional mid-term elections.
President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party is expected to lose its majority in the House of Representatives and is struggling to keep control of the Senate. There are over 500 individual contests taking place today ranging from all 435 seats in the House of Representatives to dozens of State Governors.The key battles will be over a series of constituencies in swing-states across the country. With the economy in the doldrums and unemployment stagnant at almost 10% of the working population, all the opinion polls point to a drubbing for the Democrats.President Obama has been criss-crossing the country in a last-ditch attempt to rally his supporters, but the polls show Democrats trailing badly.Most pundits are predicting the Democrats will lose the House of Representatives, some say even the Senate could go Republican, with many of those new politicians elected specifically to oppose President Obama’s policies on the economy, energy policy and regulation.If the predictions come true, it will be a difficult couple of years ahead with the White House and Congress at loggerheads on a vast range of key issues.

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