Explore Business Standard
Elections
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's gamble that her personal popularity would lead to big election gains for her struggling party paid off hugely. On Monday, she began the process of translating that new power, made manifest in a two-thirds supermajority gained in parliamentary elections the day before, into what she hopes will be sweeping conservative legislation that will shift Japanese security, immigration, economic and social policies. The first steps include reappointing her Cabinet and pushing forward on a delayed budget, and the votes next week that will re-elect her as prime minister. Takaichi, in an interview with public television network NHK following her victory, said her efforts will make Japan strong and prosperous. NHK, citing vote count results, said Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, alone secured 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing a 261-seat absolute majority in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan's two-chamber ...
Voters in Thailand went to the polls Sunday in an early general election seen as a three-way race among competing visions of progressive, populist and old-fashioned patronage politics. The battle for support from 53 million registered voters comes against a backdrop of slow economic growth and heightened nationalist sentiment. While more than 50 parties are contesting the polls, only three - the People's Party, Bhumjaithai, and Pheu Thai - have the nationwide organisation and popularity to gain a winning mandate. A simple majority of the 500 elected lawmakers selects the next prime minister. No outright winner expected Local polls consistently project that no single party will gain a majority, necessitating the formation of a coalition government. Although the progressive People's Party is seen as favoured to win a plurality, its reformist politics aren't shared by its leading rivals, which may freeze it out by joining forces to form a government. The People's Party, led by ...
Centre-left Socialist candidate Antonio Jose Seguro is heavily favoured to defeat hard-right populist Andre Ventura in Portugal's runoff presidential election on Sunday in a vote that will test the depth of support for Ventura's brash style of politics. Recent opinion polls say Seguro will collect twice as many votes as Ventura in the head-to-head between the two top candidates in last month's first round of voting, when none of the runners captured more than 50 per cent of the vote required for victory. But making it through to the runoff is already a milestone for Ventura and his Chega (Enough) party, which has quickly grown into a significant force in Portuguese politics during a wider European shift to the right. Seguro, a longstanding Socialist politician, has positioned himself as a moderate candidate who will cooperate with Portugal's centre-right minority government, repudiating Ventura's anti-establishment and anti-immigrant tirades. In Portugal, the president is largely a
Polls opened Sunday in parliamentary elections that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hopes will give her struggling party a big enough win to push through an ambitious conservative political agenda. Takaichi is hugely popular, but the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed Japan for most of the last seven decades, is not. She called Sunday's snap elections hoping to turn that around. She wants to make progress on a right-wing agenda that aims to boost Japan's economy and military capabilities as tensions grow with China. She also nurtures ties with her crucial US ally, and a sometimes unpredictable President Donald Trump. The ultraconservative Takaichi, who took office as Japan's first female leader in October, pledged to "work, work, work," and her style, which is seen as both playful and tough, has resonated with younger fans. The latest surveys indicated a landslide win in the lower house for the LDP. The opposition, despite the formation of a new centrist ...
Telangana CEO C Sudharsan Reddy has said that the SIR of electoral rolls in the state is expected to be announced during AprilMay this year. Addressing a meeting with representatives of recognised political parties on Thursday, he said Booth Level Agents (BLAs) should preferably be drawn from the local area of the polling station and work in close coordination with Booth Level Officers. The Chief Electoral Officer informed the parties that the SIR is currently underway in 12 states, and that the schedule for the remaining states, including Telangana, is expected to be announced during AprilMay 2026. Given the limited time available for the revision once notified, he said preparatory work had already commenced in the state, a release quoting him late on Thursday said. Political parties were urged to appoint at least one BLA for every polling station ahead of the forthcoming SIR of electoral rolls, with the Chief Electoral Officer stressing that strong booth-level coordination would
Myanmar will hold the first phase of a general election on Sunday, its first vote in five years and an exercise that critics say will neither restore the country's fragile democracy undone by a 2021 army takeover, nor end a devastating civil war triggered by the nation's harsh military rule. The military has framed the polls as a return to multi-party democracy, likely seeking to add a facade of legitimacy to its rule, which began after the army four years ago ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The takeover triggered widespread popular opposition that has grown into a civil war. The fighting has complicated holding the polls in many contested areas. Voting will be held in different parts of the country in three phases, with the second on Jan. 11 and the third on Jan. 25. Human rights and opposition groups say the vote will be neither free nor fair and that power is likely to remain in the hands of military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. Critics doubt a real ..
NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule said on Wednesday that her party won't forge an alliance with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP for the Pune civic polls until all the doubts and apprehensions of her party workers are addressed. Speaking to reporters in Pune, Sule said they are in touch with the NCP, and potential repercussions will also be deliberated upon if both NCP groups decide to join hands. About her party's city unit president Prashant Jagtap's disappointment over the possible tie-up with Ajit Pawar's NCP for the January 15 corporation elections in Pune, Sule said she spoke to him at length and understood his apprehensions. Sule said she assured Jagtap that no ideology or party policy would be compromised if we join hands with the NCP. Jagtap's concerns were valid. His questions are absolutely valid, she added. Referring to past political developments, Sule recalled that her NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar was forced out of the Congress after he raised the issue of Sonia Gandhi's
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said the BJP has set a record in local body polls with 48 per cent of councillors winning on the party symbol, and its candidates elected as presidents in 129 municipal councils. He attributed the Mahayuti alliance's success in the municipal council and nagar panchayat elections to the BJP organisation and development agenda of the government. Counting of votes for elections to the posts of president and members in 286 municipal councils and nagar panchayats held in two phases began in the morning. Fadnavis said the BJP has once again emerged as the single largest party. "48 per cent councillors have been elected on the BJP symbol, which is a record. The BJP has created another record with 3,300 councillors being elected from the party. "BJP candidates have been elected as presidents in 129 municipal councils. In 75 per cent of the local bodies, Mahayuti nominees have been elected as municipal presidents," he said. Fadnavis .
As many as 73.73 lakh voters were removed following the special intensive revision (SIR) drive in Gujarat, reducing the number of registered voters in draft electoral rolls to 4.34 crore from the earlier 5.08 crore, officials said. The draft electoral rolls were published by the Election Commission on Friday. The names of 73,73,327 voters were omitted after the SIR undertaken by the Election Commission to clean up voter lists, said state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Harit Shukla. Before the SIR, a total of 5,08,43,436 voters were registered in the state. After the publication of the draft electoral rolls, the number is 4,34,70,109, he said. The names of 73,73,327 voters were removed for various reasons. Of these, 18,07,278 voters are deceased, 9,69,662 voters were absent, 40,25,553 persons have migrated outside the state, while 3,81,470 voters were registered in two places. Besides, 1,89,364 voters were removed for other reasons, the release from CEO's office said. The SIR was .