http://www.electionguide.org/ Election Guide - News en-us http://www.electionguide.org/news_item.php?id=4933 Hopes for free and fair elections in Myanmar faded on Wednesday as the military government banned many opposition figures from standing for office. The new Political Parties Registration Law bars candidacy by any convicted citizen, including more than 2,000 political prisoners. They include several members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and its leader AUNG SAN Suu Kyi, who has spent nearly three-fourths of the last two decades under house arrest. Some NLD memebers say a regulation permitting them to reopen offices is meaningless without AUNG SAN'S participation. Myanmar, also known as Burma, last held democratic elections in 1990. A military government that assumed power in 1988 refused to accept their results. http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2010/03/08/nb-03 NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat kicked off his presidential campaign Saturday (March 6th) in the northern part of the divi... http://www.electionguide.org/news_item.php?id=4934 Meeting with Haitian President Rene PREVAL on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary CLINTON urged the earthquake-stricken island nation to reschedule its legislative elections as soon as possible. Legislative polls were due on February 28, and Presidential elections are due in November. PREVAL, whose term expires in February 2011, says he will not stay in office beyond that date. Decision-makers are concerned that delayed elections could leave Haiti with a provisional government lacking a constitutional mandate. http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_europe/~3/0iHaVIP6zbg/index.html Iceland's voters overwhelmingly reject a deal to pay billions of dollars it owes to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the Foreign Ministry says. http://allafrica.com/stories/201003031020.html Togo's election campaign culminated in a major show of strength at rallies in the capital, Lomé, ahead of the presidential poll on Thursday. http://allafrica.com/stories/201003030848.html THE military takeover, February 18, of neighbouring Republic of Niger at a time when coup d'états were thought to be no longer fashionable, is, indeed, West Africa's latest democracy deficit and must be condemned in all its ramifications. http://allafrica.com/stories/201003030541.html The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears to have finally dumped Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, with its resolve yesterday, that the north will be allowed to complete its tenure of eight years. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/8543973.stm What is at stake in the country's presidential poll http://allafrica.com/stories/201003030179.html Mr. Stephen Ayensu Ntim, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who lost the national chairmanship race narrowly to Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, has expressed regret over certain developments that occurred during the party's national conference held in Kumasi on Saturday. http://allafrica.com/stories/201003030164.html A DECISION on the challenge to Namibia's presidential and National Assembly elections three months ago will be given in the High Court in Windhoek tomorrow afternoon. http://www.electionguide.org/news_item.php?id=4927 Opposition politicians this week accused Ethiopia's ruling party of orchestrating violent acts against its candidates. Spokespeople for Medrek, an alliance of opposition parties, said that government mercenaries on Tuesday stabbed one candidate to death and that members of the army beat another to the point of hospitalization. GEBRU Asrat, leader of one of Medrek's member parties, said that both events were part of a wider escalation of government repression in advance of legislative elections on May 23. A government spokesman on Wednesday denied government involvement. Medrek last week said the ruling party was instigating its supporters to harass opposition candidates. Government representatives similarly denied the charge. http://allafrica.com/stories/201003020904.html This week's presidential election is a "crucial opportunity" for Togo to continue efforts to consolidate democracy, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, appealing for the poll to be unscarred by violence. http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=72dd3735bdb68a4938a9642b47f80cf3 The coalition of Western-leaning political factions in Ukraine's Parliament disintegrated, in what could be the first stage in an effort to unseat the prime minister. http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=044a1fc7d18cd831277e7606e5445fa8 Aregawi Gebre-Yohannes was killed early Tuesday in what opposition leaders said was part of a widening campaign of repression ahead of May elections. http://allafrica.com/stories/201003020793.html Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke will face a vote on a motion of no confidence that some 200 Somali lawmakers are planning to table against him in the parliament. http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=c3dec247d56c8981231369e3c0b876b5 The practice of candidates giving the public everything from chickens to cash is widespread and mostly welcomed. http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=f4bc8f301d7f4209f850c124a353f174 There was "a high prevalence" of ballot box stuffing and other problems in Parliamentary elections over the weekend, the main Western observer mission to the election said. http://www.electionguide.org/news_item.php?id=4928 Colombia's Constitutional Court on Friday overturned a law that might have allowed President Alvaro URIBE to seek a third term. The law, which the Court struck down 7-2, would have authorized URIBE to call a referendum on whether to amend the country's constitutional term limits provisions. The Court based its decision on irregularities related to the passage of the law, which included violations of legislative procedural rules and political finance regulations. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/africa/8534392.stm Nigeria's president returns from lengthy medical treatment abroad but his deputy is to stay in charge of state affairs. http://www.electionguide.org/news_item.php?id=4914 Representatives of the Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) on Wednesday announced April 18 as a possible date for that first-round Presidential and Parliamentary elections. If necessary, second-round voting would be on May 23. According to the CEI, these dates are contingent on revision of the voter list, an adequate budget, and, by law, a Presidential decree formalizing the timetable.