The post Polls open in Türkiye for presidential, parliamentary elections appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Four candidates are competing for the presidential post.

Senior officials, including Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the heads of the three branches of government, cast their votes in the capital Tehran.

Talking to reporters after casting his vote, President Hassan Rouhani said Iran was among a few countries in the world whose elections attract international attention.

“People should be mindful that the whole world is today focused on the ballot boxes and the people’s queues to cast their world. God willing, we will act in a way that it will make our friends across the world happy and frustrate enemies,” Rouhani stated, according to the Press TV.

He added, “There are some countries in the world that their elections are a focus of attention in the world and they want to know who is the person who will be elected. One of these countries is the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has been so over the past 42 years and this is so today,” Rouhani added.

Political and health officials have stressed that sanitary protocols are being strictly observed in all polling stations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The post Polls underway in Iran’s presidential elections appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

With Japan’s male-dominated political world forming a large part of the reason why the country places a shocking 120th out of 156 countries in a gender gap ranking, many parties have or are considering setting numerical goals for female candidates.

In the Diet, women comprised just 9.9 percent of lawmakers in the powerful lower house or House of Representatives, and 22.9 percent in the House of Councillors as of June 2020 as Japan found itself ranking as low as 147th in the political field in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index for 2020.

Toshihiro Nikai (C), secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, 
speaks at a meeting with female lawmakers of the party on March 15, 2021, 
at the party headquarters in Tokyo. (Kyodo)

Taimei Yamaguchi, chair of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Election Strategy Committee, said recently that he felt “a strong sense of crisis” about the country’s standing in the gender gap index. “There is room to further promote women’s participation” in politics, also including in local assemblies, he said.

Since the LDP, currently holding some 60 percent of seats in the lower house, is likely to have many successful candidates, the level of increase in its female lawmakers will be a direct indication of its seriousness on the issue.

The party’s committee on women’s empowerment put forward some proposed goals in April ahead of the lower house election. These include requiring 15 percent of all the party’s candidates to be women and giving top slots to female hopefuls in at least three out of the 11 regional electoral blocks under the proportional representation system.

The LDP has previously prioritized female candidates in the proportional representation system. The 2005 lower house poll, placed 13 female candidates at the top of proportional representation lists, which resulted in eight of them winning seats, excluding those who ended up taking seats by winning in single-seat constituencies. That effort was overseen by the ruling party’s current No. 2, Secretary-General Toshihiro Nikai.

But the hurdles are high this time around.

Currently, most of the 289 single-seat constituencies have male incumbents, and among them, weaker candidates who are hoping to ensure they retain seats in the lower house via simultaneous inclusion in the proportional representation lists under the duplicate candidacy system are certain to oppose being ranked lower than female candidates.

Most of the attendees at a plenary session of the House of Representatives on 
April 6, 2021, in Tokyo are male lawmakers, with only 
a few female lawmakers. (Kyodo)

“We cannot produce results unless the LDP head or the secretary-general makes a bold decision,” an LDP source said.

Opposition parties, meanwhile, appear committed to change. The Democratic Party for the People has vowed in its policy platform to aim for women to comprise 35 percent of all candidates.

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan has mentioned the possibility of new legislation to resolve the gender gap issue. The party’s executive deputy leader Renho wrote on Twitter, “I want to form a society where it is a matter of course for a woman to strive toward being a politician.”

According to the Cabinet Office, the CDPJ has said it will first aim to have female lawmakers account for 30 percent of its total members before ultimately targeting 50 percent. The Japanese Communist Party has also set a goal of 50 percent of female lawmakers in its organization.

The LDP, its ruling coalition partner Komeito, and the Japan Innovation Party had not set numerical goals as of the end of March, the Cabinet Office said.

Meanwhile, with women often held back from entering politics by situations they face, questions must be raised about whether parties have sufficient support systems in place.

It is not rare, for instance, for women to give up running for a Diet seat due to opposition from family members while competing in elections in regional areas can bring its own special challenges with regard to campaigning and the need to attend frequent evening meetings that make them think twice about joining a race.

“Whether a party is serious (about increasing the number of female lawmakers) can be seen in its measures to foster female candidates and in its steps against harassment,” said journalist Renge Jibu.

“I hope voters will judge the parties by their attitude and not just by the numbers (of female candidates),” she said.

“We also need to persistently and sternly check whether the parties have achieved what they have promised so that their PR (to promote female lawmakers) will not end as just a one-off ‘carnival show’ for the election,” she said.

The post FOCUS: Japanese parties vie to boost No. of female lawmakers ahead of polls appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.

Generally, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is pulling ahead of President Donald Trump — including in key states Trump won in the previous election. One national poll even has him up by nine percent.

Still, in many battleground states where candidates continue to hold rallies and meet with key voters, such as Jill Biden visiting Michigan Tuesday and Vice President Mike Pence visiting Ohio Wednesday, it proves to be an overwhelmingly tight race.

Here’s what Tuesday’s polls show.

Biden up by one in Florida

A University of North Florida poll narrowly puts Biden up one percentage point over Trump, well within the margin of error.

Trump rose five percent from earlier this month in the same poll. A key base of his — senior voters — is showing up in smaller numbers than in 2016 exit polls. Biden, meanwhile, is struggling Hispanic voters, a key Democratic voting bloc in the previous election.

Biden up by one in North Carolina: WaPo and ABC News

A poll conducted by Washington Post/ABC News also effectively puts Trump and Biden in range of one another, with Biden only up by one percent.

A small majority of registered voters (51%) in the state disapprove of Trump’s presidency, but that number remains slightly lower than national ratings.

Biden up in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin; Trump up in Texas: CNN

CNN polling for 10 swing states has Biden up by a statistically significant amount in Pennsylvania (52 to 43 percent), Michigan and Wisconsin (both 51 to 43 percent) — all states Trump won in the 2016 election.

In Iowa, Georgia, Ohio and North Carolina, it’s a much closer race — with Biden either tied or up by a couple percentage points in polling. Texas remains Trump territory, leading Biden by four percentage points (49 to 45 percent).

Biden up 9% nationally: New York Times

A poll by the New York Times and Siena College finds Biden ahead of Trump, overall, with a margin of 9 points (50 to 41 percent).

With a surge of support from women, people of color, white people with college degrees — as well as white women and older voters, which leaned toward Trump in 2016 — these polls paint Biden in a comfortable position. Trump, however, still maintains a stronghold over white people without college degrees and men.

The poll also found a majority of Americans supported mask wearing (59%), a comprehensive stimulus package (72%), a $2 trillion renewable energy plan (66%) and even a public option for health insurance (66%). However, Americans remain doubtful of vaccines — as a third would likely or definitely not take a vaccine even with FDA approval — and court packing (58%).

The post New in the polls Tuesday: Race narrows in North Carolina, Florida; voters nationally favor Biden over Trump appeared first on News Agency nabakhabar.