List of All Articles with Tag 'elections'

Spain appears destined for painful political negotiations after Sunday's elections, when no single party won enough parliamentary seats to form a government. Prospects for coalition-building now remain uncertain.

Seven Republican presidential candidates have, as of Sunday, met the polling requirements to appear on the August debate stage following new polling from Fox Business in Iowa and South Carolina.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has given insight into the possible scope of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The Republican governor - who survived a Trump-backed attempt to oust him from office last year - told USA Today on Sunday that Mr Smith’s office had contacted him. However it is unclear what stage Mr Smith’s investigation has reached or whether Mr Kemp’s office had provided, or agreed to provide, evidence or testimony. “Our office has been contacted by Jack Smith’s office,” the governor’s spokesman said. Mr Kemp’s office declined to comment further when contacted byThe Independent. News of Mr Smith’s communications with Mr Kemp comes a week after his office reportedly delivered a target letter to Mr Trump’s legal team, a sign that charges are being prepared. The Department of Justice (DoJ) has indicated that the twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president is central to its investigation into the January 6 attack on the US Capitol and the broader effort by the Trump campaign to overturn the election. Mr Trump, who is running for re-election in 2024, announced the arrival of that letter on his Truth Social social media platform two days after he supposedly received it. “On Sunday night, while I was with my family...HORRIFYING NEWS for our country was given to me by my attorneys,” he wrote. “Deranged Jack Smith...sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.” The Independent reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the letter delivered to Mr Trump informed him that the DoJ is considering charging him with conspiracy to defraud the United States; obstruction of an official proceeding and deprivation of civil rights under colour of law. It set a deadline of midnight on Thursday for Mr Trump to report to the grand jury and declare whether he would testify or offer his own evidence during the pre-trial stage of the investigation. Sources have also told The Independent that an indictment could come anytime, now that deadline has passed. Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election were far from limited to Georgia. His campaign is known to have supported slates of false electors in other states where Mr Trump lost to Joe Biden including Arizona and Wisconsin. For weeks Mr Smith and the DoJ have been largely silent about the status of the Jan 6 investigation which has already led to the conviction of hundreds of rioters. If Mr Trump faces trial, it would almost certainly take place during the 2024 election cycle. A separate trial of the former president, involving the alleged illegal retention of classified materials and presidential records, is set to take place next spring. Read More Nervous Republicans turn to New Hampshire in hopes of stopping Trump The fight over Alabama's congressional redistricting now shifts back to federal court Capitol riot defendant gets probation after rare setback for prosecutors at Oath Keepers trial DeSantis defends Florida curriculum that suggests slaves benefited from forced labour Florida man pleads guilty over Jan 6 riot as state’s governor Ron DeSantis insists there was no insurrection Trump legal team tries again to block Georgia election interference grand jury probe

Spain could have its first far-right participation in government since the days of Franco after an election exit poll suggested a swing to the right. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez is trying to win a third consecutive national election but an exit poll predicted that a right-wing coalition may have enough votes to take power. The centre-right People’s Party was set to win 150 seats, while the anti-Muslim, anti-feminist Vox party had 31 seats, according to a GAD3 voter survey released after polls closed. Together this would give the parties enough for a majority in the 350-seat parliament. However a survey by Sigma Dos was less conclusive, predicting 145-150 seats for PP and 24-27 seats for Vox, which could mean the two parties would fall short at the lower range of its poll. The Socialists were set to win 112 seats, according to GAD3, and 113-118 seats according to Sigma Dos, while the far-left platform led by Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz had either 27 seats or 28-31 seats. GAD3 said its poll surveyed 10,000 people and closed on July 22. The Sigma Dos survey of 17,000 people closed on Sunday. If both the left-wing and right-wing bloc fail to meet the threshold for the number of seats required to govern, new elections may have to be called - as happened in 2019 and 2015. After casting his vote, Mr Sánchez said: “What happens today is going to be very important not just for us but also for Europe and I think that should also make us reflect.” The secretary general of the conservative People’s Party (PP), Cuca Gamarra, told Spanish TV after the vote that the PP was about to “recover the position of first political force in a general election”. The Interior Ministry said voter turnout at 6pm local time stood at 53 per cent, compared with 56 per cent at the same point in the the country’s last national election, in November 2019. The election was taking place at the height of summer, with millions of voters likely to be holidaying away from their regular polling places. However, postal voting requests soared before Sunday. With no party expected to garner an absolute majority, the choice is basically between another leftist coalition and a partnership of the right and the far right. Far-right party Vox proposes the expulsion of illegal migrants and a naval blockade to stop them arriving, and the closure of radical mosques, while supporting immigration meeting Spain‘s labour market needs and from nationalities sharing language or culture. It has also vowed to repeal progressive laws on transgender rights, abortion and animal rights, along with climate protections promoted by Sanchez. Mr Abascal has said Vox doesn’t have a position on Spain‘s former dictator Franco, who ruled until his death in 1975 after winning a bloody civil war in 1939. But Mr Abascal has also said that Mr Sanchez’s government was the worst in 80 years, a period that includes Franco’s regime. Agencies contributed to this report. Read More Greece fires - live: Jet2 and Tui scrap Rhodes flights as tourists fleeing island describe ‘hell on earth’ Spain votes in general election that could see it become latest EU country to veer to the right A beach tragedy highlights the EU’s migration crisis – and how Spain’s election could make things worse Spaniards vote in an election that could oust a leftist coalition and herald a return to the right Spanish general election tipped to put the far right back in office for the first time since Franco Spain conservatives entrust Feijóo, the boring guy who wins every election by a landslide

Spanish conservative leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo won the most seats in Sunday’s election and is on track to

Spaniards are voting Sunday in stifling summer heat, with the conservative opposition clear frontrunners but likely needing to

The recent trend of rolling bottles downstairs to see how long it will take one to break has been given a US political makeover, with even the Democrat party latching onto it on social media. The party’s Twitter account posted a version of the video comparing different bottles to Republican rivals. Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump got an orange one – a jar, in fact – which rolled loudly and defiantly down the stairs until it eventually smashed spectacularly. Democrats will hope for a similar result in real life. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Ron DeSantis got a small bottle of brown liquid, which quickly met a sticky end, while Mike Pence had a relatively sedate bottle, which fizzled out in a rather unspectacular fashion. Other candidates, somewhat realistically, smashed on the first step down. It comes after it emerged Trump, who is widely considered president Joe Biden’s greatest threat in the 2024 election, will face criminal trial next year for retaining national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago property and obstructing the justice department’s efforts to retrieve them. The May 2024 trial date set by the US district court judge Aileen Cannon took a middle ground between prosecutors’ request for a trial this year and Trump’s suggestion to delay proceedings until after next year’s election. Trump was charged last month with retaining national defence information, including US nuclear secrets and plans for US retaliation in the event of an attack. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Prime Minister Hun Sen's son is expected to take over within weeks of the vote.

Can the nice guy finish first?

In many election cycles, there’s a snappy shorthand used to describe the type of voters who may help decide the winner

Environmentalists are cautioning Britain’s main political parties not to water down their climate change promises

Spain went to the polls Sunday in an early general election in which the conservative Popular Party (PP) was tipped to beat Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists but likely...