http://www.electionguide.org/ Election Guide - News en-us http://www.electionguide.org/news.php#5341 Proposed legislation in Tongo will require public servants to resign before registering as candidates. The proposal, which parliament will vote on next month, comes before parliamentary elections on November 25. In previous elections, public servants could take a leave, campaign for the elections, and resign if elected. http://www.electionguide.org/news.php#5340 Members of Denmark's governing coalition on Tuesday called for election observers to be sent to neighboring Sweden for the country’s September 19 parliamentary poll. The Danish politicians claimed observers were necessary after two Swedish stations refused to broadcast election advertisements from the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats party. The stations rejected the ads, which are critical of Muslim immigration, stating that they violate laws barring hate based on race and religion. Muslim immigration has been a contentious issue in Danish politics over the past decade. Now some conservative Danish lawmakers are claiming censorship, and believe the incident threatens the fairness of the Swedish election. Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke RASMUSSEN, however, stated that it was not his role to interfere in Swedish polls. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008300066.html THE Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) party, one of the five political parties that form the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC), has opted out of the coalition over what it called irreconcilable reasons. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008270705.html News that Malawi's November local government elections are to be postponed yet again has hit female candidates hard - and mostly in their pockets. And it could mean that the country will have less female candidates to vote for when they finally go to the polls. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008270470.html Striking health workers have continued their work stoppage despite accusations that it endangers patients' lives. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008270335.html The secretary-general of the ruling Frelimo Party, Filipe Paunde, on Wednesday said nobody should doubt the assurances given by President Armando Guebuza that he will not run for a third term in 2014. http://www.electionguide.org/news.php#5335 New Zealand’s Electoral Enrollment Centre released the final voter registration numbers on Wednesday, which show that over 91 percent of eligible voters are enrolled for upcoming local body elections. Local polls in New Zealand, which elect local government officials and district health board members, are held every three years. All voters in local elections cast their ballot by mail. http://www.electionguide.org/news.php#5334 Parliamentary elections in Australia on Saturday have left the country with a hung lower house for the first time in forty years. Both the ruling Labor Party of Prime Minister Julia GILLARD, and the opposition Liberal/National Party alliance failed to capture the 76 seats needed for an outright majority. Patrick DUNLEAVY, a professor of political science at the London School of Economics, has noted that the election results mean that every major Westminster model country in the world now has a hung parliament. This includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and India. Although Australians will not know final election results for another week, GILLARD, and Liberal Party leader Tony ABBOTT are attempting to win negotiations with independent lawmakers to form a government. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008200894.html The next General Election will be conducted by a trim but powerful commission which will also set constituency boundaries, according to proposed new laws. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008200709.html A ROW is brewing within the inclusive government over the timing of the next elections and the level of Sadc's involvement in any such polls as regional leaders increasingly view fresh free and fair polls as the way out of Zimbabwe's decade-long political stalemate. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008190879.html Former World Council of Churches general secretary, the Rev. Samuel Kobia, says a planned January 2011 referendum for Southern Sudan must go ahead in order to prevent the region itself declaring independence. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008180485.html After months of rumours and intense speculations, President Goodluck Jonathan will formally declare his interest in the 2011 presidential race early next month, THISDAY has learnt. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008180333.html US President Barack Obama has commended Tanzania following the successful holding of the referendum that will pave way for the formation of a government of national unity in Zanzibar. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008180012.html The National Assembly has issued a 20-day ultimatum to President Goodluck Jonathan to assent to the 2010 New Electoral Bill it passed three weeks ago, even as it has set machinery in motion to override the president's assent should he fail to meet the ultimatum. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008170430.html SOUTH East geo-political zone, yesterday, unanimously adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as the presidential candidate for 2011 at the South-East Political Summit attended by prominent Igbo leaders and leaders of various groups from the five states in the zone. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008170008.html Press freedom in Zimbabwe is still ranked as the lowest in the Southern African region, in a strong indictment of the lack of progress under the unity government. http://allafrica.com/stories/201008161495.html The decision on whether MPs who opposed the new Constitution will be involved in bringing it into force has been left to individual parties. http://www.electionguide.org/news.php#5330 Tuvaluan voters will be able to cast ballots from anywhere in the country during the September parliamentary election, a government official announced on Monday. Parliamentarians in Tuvalu represent multi-member constituencies, but voters will be able to vote for their district’s representatives regardless of which polling station they are at. Tuvaluans living abroad, however, will be unable to cast overseas ballots. On September 16, approximately five thousand voters will be eligible to elect the entire 15-member parliament. http://www.electionguide.org/news.php#5329 Prime Minister Jim MARURAI of the Cook Islands announced last week that parliamentary elections will be held on November 17. MARURAI will dissolve parliament on September 24, only two days before the current four-year term of government will expire. The Prime Minister has faced pressure to call early elections since December of 2009, when his ruling Democratic party split. Opposition MPs planned to cast a vote of no confidence in January, but MARURAI responded by not calling Parliament into session until July. http://www.electionguide.org/news.php#5321 Tuvalu’s parliament is set to be dissolved on Friday in preparation for the nation’s September elections. Senior government officials have resigned from their positions to campaign for the parliament’s 15 seats. Prime Minister Apisai IELEMIA will lead a caretaker government for a month while candidates campaign.