Han’s dismissal comes less than two weeks after he assumed the acting presidency following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment by the Assembly on Dec. 14 for his botched martial law imposition. This marks the first time in Korean history that both the president and prime minister — the top two figures in the government hierarchy — have been simultaneously suspended from their duties.

The impeachment motion against Han, submitted by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) on Thursday, was approved in a plenary session with 192 of the 300-seat Assembly voting in favor.

While the vote was unanimous, it appeared to be railroaded by opposition lawmakers, as the broader opposition bloc holds all 192 seats, while the ruling People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the vote.

The PPP, which holds the remaining 108 seats, did not participate in the vote, protesting against the Assembly speaker’s decision regarding the quorum requirement of 151 votes. The rival parties had been at odds over the required voting threshold for the acting president’s impeachment.

Under the Constitution, the passage of an impeachment motion against the prime minister requires a majority of the 300-seat Assembly, or 151 votes. Impeaching a president, however, requires the approval of at least two-thirds of the total Assembly members, or 200 votes in favor.

The DPK argued that Han, who is technically serving as prime minister, falls under the majority-vote requirement, while the PPP contended that Han should be treated as a president.

Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik determined that Han’s impeachment requires 151 ballots.

“This is an impeachment motion against Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. In accordance with Article 65 Clause 2 of the Constitution, it will be approved by a majority of total members. While there are differing views on the quorum, the subject of this impeachment motion is the prime minister, who is temporarily exercising presidential power,” Woo said before the voting.

PPP members strongly protested, chanting slogans such as “the speaker should resign,” and “abuse of power.” They left the Chamber as the vote count began.

Following the passage of the impeachment motion, the Constitutional Court has 180 days to decide whether to uphold Han’s impeachment. In the meantime, Han’s duties will be suspended, and Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, who also serves as minister of economy and finance, will assume interim leadership.

“I respect the decision of the National Assembly, and in order to prevent further confusion and uncertainties, my duties will be suspended in accordance with relevant laws, while I will wait for the swift and wise decision of the Constitutional Court,” Han said in a statement, shortly after his impeachment motion was passed.

The DPK filed the impeachment motion, Thursday, shortly after Han delayed the appointment of three Constitutional Court justice nominees who had won parliamentary approval.

The opposition has been pushing for the quick appointment of justices to fill three vacancies on the nine-member Constitutional Court, as a full bench would increase the likelihood of endorsing Yoon’s impeachment.

The PPP has countered that Han, as acting president, does not have the authority to appoint justices until Yoon is formally impeached.

In a televised briefing on Thursday, Han stated that he would not approve the appointments until the ruling and opposition blocs reached an agreement on the matter.

The DPK also argued that the prime minister deserved impeachment for additional reasons, including his veto of special probe bills targeting the presidential couple, his alleged involvement in Yoon’s botched martial law imposition, and his attempt earlier this month to establish a power-sharing arrangement with then-PPP leader Han Dong-hoon. The party claimed that these actions lacked legal grounds.

DPK leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung described Han’s impeachment as part of the party’s efforts to dismantle what he referred to as “rebellion forces” linked to Yoon’s martial law fallout.

“We will mobilize all resources and fulfill our historical responsibility until Yoon Suk Yeol is removed from office, his loyalist forces are eradicated, and the rebellion is fully suppressed,” Lee said during a briefing, hours before the impeachment vote.

The PPP criticized the opposition’s move, calling the DPK “a serial impeachment offender.”

“This is already the 29th impeachment motion under the incumbent administration,” said PPP acting leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong, questioning whether other Cabinet members would also face impeachment.

The governing party filed a complaint to the Constitutional Court against the Assembly speaker shortly after the motion was passed, claiming that Han’s impeachment lacks legal basis.

“Despite the fact that the prime minister holds the role of acting president, his failure to apply the quorum threshold for the president is a major violation of the Constitution,” the party said in a statement.

Following Han’s impeachment, Choi, the deputy prime minister, will assume the role of acting president.

However, it remains uncertain whether Choi, a seasoned economist who also serves as finance minister, will cooperate with the opposition parties in appointing Constitutional Court justices. It is also unclear how active he will be in exercising power in this unprecedented situation, where leadership has passed to the No. 3 figure in the government hierarchy.

“Minimizing the chaos in state affairs is the most urgent task right now. The government will put all of its efforts into maintaining robust security, a stable economy, and law and order, so that the safety of the nation and people’s daily lives are not disrupted,” Choi said in a public address, following Han’s suspension of duty.

Before the parliamentary vote on Han’s impeachment, Choi had requested the DPK to reconsider its move, expressing concerns that ousting the acting president would deal a heavy blow to the nation’s economy.

“The absence of a control tower for state affairs will deal a severe blow to Korea’s credibility, security, the economy and continuity of governance, as already evident in the sharp weakening of the won against the dollar,” Choi said during a press briefing.

The post Opposition impeaches acting president for refusing to appoint Constitutional Court justices appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Georgia’s parliament has dropped plans for a “foreign agents” bill that triggered a major domestic political crisis and threatened to derail the nation’s bid for closer ties with Europe.

On Friday, the bill was voted down in the second reading after only one lawmaker – out of 36 who voted – backed the legislation that critics had compared with laws in Russia that authorities have used to silence Moscow’s opponents. The majority of the 112-member parliament abstained from voting.

Hundreds of anti-government protesters rallied outside the legislature during the vote.

Tens of thousands of Georgians had taken to the streets in the capital, Tbilisi, for three consecutive nights of protest against the initiative, saying the government was trying to take the country towards autocracy.

Politicians attend a plenary session of parliament where they vote on controversial ‘foreign agents’ bill in Tbilisi, Georgia [Parliament of Georgia/Handout via Reuters]

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith reporting from Tblisi said people were “very pleased” with the bill failing to pass in parliament.

“When asked if the government will keep its word, people are suspicious of the government. They view it as a pro-Russian government,” Smith added.

“But they are very pleased obviously that they got their way. They point to the power of the streets and how it managed to influence the government.”

Police used tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons to disperse the protesters, who had amassed outside parliament in the center of Tbilisi, detaining dozens in the process.

The bill would have required non-government organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register with Georgia’s Justice Ministry as a Foreign Agents.

The governing Georgian Dream party pulled its support for the bill on Thursday, a move that was welcomed by the European Union and the United States

Criticism

Opponents said the bill was reminiscent of a 2012 Russian law that the Kremlin has used extensively to crack down on civil society and independent media.

The plans, pushed by the governing party, bolstered domestic criticism of the government as being too close to Moscow, in contrast to Georgian public opinion, which is fiercely anti-Russian.

The government had defended the law as necessary to increase transparency in the funding of non-government organizations and unmask critics of the powerful Georgian Orthodox Church. It rejected comparisons with Russian legislation.

The Kremlin has said it had no involvement whatsoever in the Georgian bill and rejected suggestions that it was Russian-inspired. On Friday it accused the US of stoking anti-Russian sentiment among thousands of protesters who have taken to the streets in Georgia this week.

“We see where the president of Georgia is addressing her people from. She is not making an address from Georgia, she is making an address from America,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, accusing “someone’s visible hand” of stoking “anti-Russian” sentiment.

The proposals were widely criticized abroad, with EU officials calling them incompatible with Georgia’s ambition to join the bloc.

The governing party has insisted it remains committed to Georgia’s EU and NATO membership bid, enshrined in the constitution and supported, according to opinion polls, by 80 percent of the population.

Georgia applied for EU membership together with Ukraine and Moldova days after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Georgian Dream lawmakers said the bill was based on the US’s own Foreign Agents Registration Act, which primarily covers lobbyists working directly for foreign governments.

Washington has rejected the comparison.

The post Georgia’s parliament drops controversial ‘foreign agents’ bill appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Polling stations opened at 0500 GMT on Tuesday for the latest vote, with Israelis given until 2000 GMT to cast their ballot.

Polls have predicted a similar result: stalemate. But a powerful new player is threatening to shake things up. Itamar Ben-Gvir, a leading far-right politician, has surged in opinion polls recently and will be seeking a harder line against the Palestinians if he helps propel former leader Benjamin Netanyahu to victory.

With former allies and proteges refusing to sit under him while he is on trial, Netanyahu has been unable to form a viable majority government in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament. His opponents, an ideologically diverse constellation of parties, are equally hamstrung in cobbling together the 61 seats needed to rule.

That impasse has mired Israel in an unprecedented political crisis that has eroded Israelis’ faith in their democracy, its institutions and their political leaders.

“People are tired of instability, of the fact that the government is not delivering the goods,” said Yohanan Plesner, a former legislator who now heads the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.

Fragmented politics

Buoyed by his followers’ almost cult-like adoration, Netanyahu, 73, has rejected calls to step down by his opponents, who say someone on trial for fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes cannot govern. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, but embarrassing details from his ongoing trial repeatedly make front page news.

In Israel’s fragmented politics, no single party has ever won a parliamentary majority, and coalition-building is necessary to govern. Netanyahu’s most likely path to the premiership requires an alliance with extremist ultra-nationalists and religious ultra-Orthodox parties.

These parties would demand key portfolios in a Netanyahu government, and some have promised to enact reforms that could make Netanyahu’s legal woes disappear.

‘A destructive threat’

Ben-Gvir, who is leading the Jewish Power party under the ultranationalist Religious Zionism coalition wants to deport Arab legislators and is a former disciple of a racist rabbi who was assassinated in 1990, has promised to support legislation that would alter the legal code, weaken the judiciary and could help Netanyahu evade a conviction.

Promising a tougher line against Palestinians, Ben-Gvir announced this week that he would seek the Cabinet post overseeing the police force.

Critics have sounded the alarm over what they see is a destructive threat to Israel’s democracy.

“If Netanyahu is triumphant,” wrote columnist Sima Kadmon in the Yediot Ahronot daily, “these will be the final days of the state of Israel as we have known it for 75 years.”

Netanyahu’s Likud party has tried to tamp down worries, saying any changes to the legal code won’t apply to Netanyahu’s case and that the extremist elements of his potential coalition will be reined in.

Netanyahu, currently opposition leader, paints himself as the consummate statesman and only leader capable of steering the country through its myriad challenges. Polls say the race is too close to predict.

Netanyahu was ousted last year after 12 years in power by the diverse coalition forged by Yair Lapid, Netanyahu’s main challenger.

The centrist Lapid, a former author and broadcaster who became premier as part of a power-sharing agreement, has portrayed himself as an honest and scandal-free change from the polarising Netanyahu.

The post Israelis go to polls as political crisis grinds on appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, a Prime Minister for the Islamic Emirates, during a cabinet meeting called for the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA) and the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) office to investigate the growing numbers of beggars in the Afghan capital.

The probe came at a time local residents express concern over the growing poverty and unemployment rate across the country, saying only a few roads could be seen without beggars these days – an unprecedented review of the country’s overall economic situation.

“The cabinet of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in its 31st session ordered various agencies to address the problem of poverty and unemployment, especially the increase in begging in Kabul,” said Inamullah Samangani, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.

“They were asked to present a comprehensive plan and implement it as soon as possible,” said Inamullah Samangani,” he added.

While a majority of women in the working class are the breadwinners of their households, the ongoing situation has forced desperate families to stretch their hands for help on Kabul streets – a growing concern that puts the future of Afghanistan uncertain.

“I have seven children. My mother-in-law and father-in-law are living with me. We have no breadwinner and my sister-in-law also lives with us. She is disabled,” Sadia said, as TOLOnews quoted.

“We have nothing at home. When I collect money from begging, I buy a piece of bread for my family. My sisters are starving,” said a child who is begging on a Kabul street.

Meanwhile, analysts blame the sudden change and overall political crisis in Afghanistan since the takeover last August, saying the country is moving towards “absolute poverty”.

“Households’ economic situation is moving toward absolute poverty, and the level of poverty is increasing,” said Shakir Yaghoubi, an analyst, according to the local media.

What We Know About Afghanistan Economy Since the Takeover

The ongoing political crisis since the takeover last August has “hit hard” private sectors in Afghanistan, where businesses were halted and put to uncertainty, according to the latest survey conducted by the World Bank.

Due to a shortage in sales, private companies have laid off more than half of their employees on average, rising concern on the unemployment rate in the country.

“The majority of surveyed businesses reported a drastic decline in consumer demand for their products and services and have been forced to scale back operations, reduce investments, and lay off employees,” the report said.

According to the survey, small enterprises have been hit hardest with about 38 percent of them seizing operations, compared to 25 percent among medium and 35 percent among large businesses in the country.

The finding shows Afghan domestic inputs have become more expensive and yet difficult to obtain due to supplier closure and supply chain disruptions, which all lead to price inflation since the beginning of political uncertainty.

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, rolling back the foremost achievements of the post-2001 reconstruction efforts on the overall growth of the country.

The post Poverty Forces Desperate Families on Kabul Streets appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Speaking in a video published by his office, Saied also rejected calls for talks over the crisis, saying “there is no dialogue except with the honest” and that no dialogue was possible with “cancer cells”.

The biggest party in parliament, the moderate Islamist Ennahda, which has been the most vocal opponent of Saied’s moves, had called for dialogue in a statement earlier on Thursday.

Some 11 days after his intervention, Saied has not named a new prime minister, announced any steps to end the emergency, or declared his longer-term intentions.

The powerful labor union, as well as both the United States and France, have called on him to quickly appoint a new government. The union is preparing a roadmap to end the crisis that it says it will present to Saied.

US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez and ranking member Jim Risch said on Thursday they were deeply concerned by the situation.

“President Saied must recommit to the democratic principles that underpin US-Tunisia relations, and the military must observe its role in a constitutional democracy,” they said in a joint statement.

Ousted Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi appeared in public for the first time on Thursday since he was dismissed. He was shown in pictures published by the anti-corruption watchdog that it said was taken on Thursday at its office.

The post Tunisian president rejects talks over political crisis appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Rached Ghannouchi, who is a parliament speaker, had previously led the opposition to President Kais Saied’s invocation of emergency powers to freeze parliament and sack the prime minister, moves he repeatedly labeled a coup.

However, in a statement Ennahda posted on Facebook on Wednesday he softened his language, saying instead that Saied’s intervention should be an opportunity for reform.

After years of mounting public anger at the main political parties including Ennahda over economic stagnation, corruption and political paralysis, Saied’s sudden announcement on July 25 appeared highly popular.

Within Ennahda, Ghannouchi’s response to it has drawn growing concern and some senior figures, as well as youth members, have pushed for their veteran leader to step down.

The party’s highest body, the Choura Council, was holding a meeting on Wednesday evening that had been postponed at short notice on Saturday because of internal disputes.

Although Saied has faced no other significant opposition to his moves, which were aided by the army as it surrounded the parliament and government buildings, his delay in announcing a new premier or a roadmap for the crisis has prompted jitters.

The powerful labor union, as well as Western allies France and the United States, have called on him to quickly announce a new government.

The post Tunisia’s Ennahda softens stance on political crisis appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Demonstrators forced their way into the building in Yerevan on Monday to demand Pashinyan quits, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Social media footage, which Al Jazeera is attempting to verify, showed a few protesters in the building, one with a megaphone, as police watched on.

Monday’s drama comes after thousands participated in rival demonstrations in Yerevan on Thursday; anti-government crowds had called for the premier to resign, while Pashinyan managed to rally many supporters behind him on the streets.

The street protests followed what Pashinyan described as an attempted coup after the army also called for his resignation.

Anger is boiling as critics lament Pashinyan’s management of the bloody six-week conflict with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which killed thousands on both sides and saw swathes of territory ceded to Azerbaijan.

It was ended in November when both sides signed a Russian-brokered peace deal.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, even by Armenia, but has been dominated by ethnic Armenians since the early 1990s.

In response to the military’s demand, Pashinyan dismissed Onik Gasparyan, chief of the army’s General Staff, on Thursday.

Armenian President Armen Sarkissian on Saturday refused to formally approve Gasparyan’s sacking. Sarkissian said the move was unconstitutional and that the army should be kept out of politics.

Pashinyan retorted, saying on Facebook that the president’s decision “doesn’t contribute to the solution of the current situation at all”.

On Saturday, about 15,000 people rallied again in Yerevan seeking Pashinyan’s resignation.

The demonstrations against the 45-year-old had gone dormant for a spell in the depth of Armenia’s winter.

Further rival rallies were expected in Yerevan on Monday.

Pashinyan, who came to power spearheading peaceful protests in 2018, has urged his supporters to gather in the capital’s Republic Square.

The opposition has called its own rally in another area of the city.

The post Armenia: Protesters storm gov’t building amid political crisis appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.