South Africa #13 >>20981086

The ANC party that freed South Africa from apartheid loses its 30-year majority in landmark election

With more than 99% of votes counted, the once-dominant African National Congress had received just over 40% in Wednesday’s election, after a massive drop in support.

June 1, 2024

By Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG — The African National Congress party lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result Saturday that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago.

With more than 99% of votes counted, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40% in Wednesday’s election, well short of the majority it had held since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela. The final results are still to be formally declared by the independent electoral commission that ran the election, but the ANC cannot pass 50%.

At the start of the election, the commission said it would formally declare the results by Sunday, but that could come earlier.

While opposition parties have hailed the result as a momentous breakthrough for a country struggling with deep poverty and inequality, the ANC remained the biggest party by some way. However, it will now likely need to look for a coalition partner or partners to remain in the government and reelect President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second and final term. Parliament elects the South African president after national elections.

“The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority and we have done that,” said main opposition leader John Steenhuisen.

The way forward promises to be complicated for Africa’s most advanced economy, and there’s no coalition on the table yet.

Steenhuisen’s Democratic Alliance party was on around 21% of the vote. The new MK Party of former President Jacob Zuma, who has turned against the ANC he once led, was third with just over 14% of the vote in the first election it has contested. The Economic Freedom Fighters was in fourth with just over 9%.

More than 50 parties contested the election, many of them with tiny shares of the vote, but the DA and MK appear to be the most obvious for the ANC to approach, given how far it is from a majority. Which coalition the ANC pursues is the urgent focus now, given Parliament needs to sit and elect a president within 14 days of the final election results being officially declared. A flurry of negotiations are set to take place and they will likely be complicated.

Steenhuisen has said his centrist party is open to discussions. The MK Party said one of their conditions for any agreement was that Ramaphosa is removed as ANC leader and president. That underlined the fierce political battle between Zuma, who resigned as South African president under a cloud of corruption allegations in 2018, and Ramaphosa, who replaced him.

“We are willing to negotiate with the ANC, but not the ANC of Cyril Ramaphosa,” MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela said.

MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters have called for parts of the economy to be nationalized. The Democratic Alliance is viewed as a business-friendly party and analysts say an ANC-DA coalition would be more welcomed by foreign investors, although there are questions over whether it is politically viable considering the DA has been the most critical opposition party for years.

An ANC-DA coalition “would be a marriage of two drunk people in Las Vegas. It will never work,” Gayton McKenzie, the leader of the smaller Patriotic Alliance party, told South African media.

The ANC has also been blamed — and now punished by voters — for a failure in basic government services that impacts millions and leaves many without water, electricity or proper housing.

Nearly 28 million South Africans were registered to vote and turnout is expected to be around 60%, according to figures from the independent electoral commission.

More:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-africas-ruling-anc-brink-losing-majority-landmark-election-resul-rcna155007

Hmmm, today is the day the elections for the EU start. Runs 6-9 June

Europe’s centre left struggles to hold back surge from right

Laura Gozzi,BBC News 05 June 2024

“The very soul of Europe is at risk,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned fellow European centre-left politicians who had gathered in Rome ahead of a difficult EU election campaign.

At stake was how to halt the seemingly unstoppable rise of right-wing and far-right parties in the European Parliament vote, which starts on Thursday in the Netherlands and continues across all 27 EU member states until Sunday.

Only four EU member states have centre-left or left-wing parties in government and recent performances at the ballot box have been poor. The omens for the coming days are not good.

The European left is in “bad health”, says Prof Marc Lazar of Sciences Po in Paris and Rome’s Luiss University, the result of a steady decline that began in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The EU’s centre left makes up the second largest group in the outgoing European Parliament. Known as the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), they are projected, at best, to cling on to their 139 seats in the 720-seat parliament.

It is Europe's parties on the right that have the wind in their sails, and any success the centre left achieves is likely be offset by losses elsewhere.

In only four countries are the Socialists and Democrats projected to come out on top - in Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania and Malta. Even then, Denmark’s Social Democrats under Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen are geared up for a big drop in support.

Hers is one of only four out of 27 member states with centre-left or left-wing parties at the helm. Spain, Germany, and Malta are the others.

Spain’s Socialists under Pedro Sánchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats are set to be leapfrogged by their conservative opponents - the Christian Democrats in Germany and the Popular Party (PP) in Spain.

Mr Scholz’s party has been steadily losing support since it won the 2021 federal elections and it is now in a battle for second place with the far-right AfD party.

Pedro Sánchez is in a better position because of a controversial amnesty deal he struck with pro-independence Catalan parties. But that has also opened him up to criticism from the PP and far-right Vox.

For some opposition parties on the left the situation could end up far worse, as they face being overtaken by the far right.

Pawel Zerka, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, says centre-left parties have shifted in recent years away from traditional socialist ideas towards more liberal policies, so they are now “too similar” to the centre right, who are “equally pro-European, with similar positions on economic policies and climate”.

Latest surveys suggest most Europeans consider poverty, public health, the economy and the EU's defence and security among their top concerns.

And while the S&D’s manifesto promises to address these very issues, Prof Marc Lazar says for many voters it is too late, because the left failed to protect them when they had the chance.

As the left moved to the centre on socio-economic battles, the right and far right grew in strength, says Pawel Zerka. Cordons aimed at keeping the more extreme parties at bay then cemented the perception that they, rather than the left, were the real opposition to the centre.

The left then started to champion issues like gender, LGBT rights or green policies: popular with urban young voters, less so with working-class families.

"In many European countries the centre left is now seen as the rich progressive elite of the cities," argues Mr Zerka.

Some parties on the left have taken note, combining progressive and conservative policies.

Denmark’s Social Democrats have taken a tough stance on migration, while Romania’s Social Democrats mix conservative values and Eurosceptic tendencies with centre-left economic policies.

Migration has shaped and defined the European political debate over the past decade and many “old left” voters have looked elsewhere for solutions.

France’s National Rally, under Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, has been more successful than most in attracting voters with its anti-migration platform. The RN is well ahead of any of its rivals in this election.

A French study carried out shortly after France's 2022 elections showed that 42% of working-class men and women cast their vote for Marine Le Pen. One RN mayor said the left “forgot its fundamental principles when it supported minorities rather than workers – while we defended them”.

More:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw4433yz73vo

>>20981182

Was an AP article, same AP that called Virginia for Potato when only 1% of vote was in

Reuters and Bloomberg play little games too, more subtle than ABC, CBS, and NBC.

CNN and MSNBC just hammer away, like they watch the Nielsen Ratings they way some watch an incoming tsunami, seeing it but not believing it

I've seen even MSN try some damage control like New York Times, desperate to hold just a shred of credibility

>>20981174

>Our work is done here

Not even close

>>20981239

> feel free to tell me what has to be done?

Digging, memeing, praying, and shitposting

Just as anons have done for the last six years

>>20981291

NOT close to done, but you can walk away any time

>>20981307

I know because there are not complete digs on our old friends CEMEX

More diggers needed on Anglo American, Glencore/Xtrata

Digs need started on Foremost Shipping and Cargill

Many more but those will do for a start

>>20981337

Please refer to >>20981329

>>20981468

What fresh?

Image server borked again, sure not the first time

>>20981480

Your muh joo shit is old

>>20981516

Only in your script

>>20981523

Ah yes, the part where you want to get in an argument to waste bread and bury previous goodies

SOSDD

So if the Dutch are giving some F-16s to Ukraine and were supposed to get replacements from the USA, where are these aircraft coming from?

Air National Guard units getting stripped and then replaced by stuff from Davis-Monthan or are the Ukes getting refurbed stuff outta the boneyard directly?

I haven't seen any announcements on the military sites about new F-16s being built

>>20981582

Migrants are rattled and unsure as deportations begin under new rule halting asylum

By VALERIE GONZALEZ and ELLIOT SPAGAT Updated 5:12 PM EDT, June 6, 2024

DULZURA, Calif. (AP) — Abigail Castillo was about to cross the U.S. border illegally when she heard President Joe Biden was halting asylum. She continued anyway, walking hours through the mountains east of San Diego with her toddler son, hoping it wasn’t too late.

“I heard that they were going to do it or were about to do it,” Castillo, 35, said Wednesday as she and her son were escorted to a Border Patrol van with about two dozen others from Brazil, Ecuador and her village in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, which she said she left because it was gripped by violence.

They had missed the deadline, and were now subject to the new deportation rule.

Her sense of uncertainty prevailed among many migrants after Biden invoked presidential powers to stop asylum processing when arrests for illegal crossings top 2,500 in a day. The measure took effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Wednesday because that threshold was met.

Two senior Homeland Security Department officials confirmed the first deportations under the new rule took place Wednesday, though they did not say how many were deported. The officials briefed reporters on condition their names not be used in keeping with regulations.

Sergio Franco, who clutched his baby girl after a nearly two-month journey from Ecuador with his family, walking through the perilous Darien jungle on the border between Colombia and Panama, said he was confident that he would prevail in his plea to find a safe haven in the United States.

“If we have evidence, there shouldn’t be a problem,” he said as he got into the van with Castillo and the others.

As the group was driven away, several migrants from India walked up to the same dusty area near a gun club in the town of Dulzura, one of several that have popped up over the last year in the remote rural outskirts of San Diego for migrants to surrender to Border Patrol agents. There was no water or restrooms and little shade.

Asylum remains suspended until average daily arrests fall below 1,500 for a week straight. The last month that crossings were that low for that long was in July 2020, during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Migrants who express fear for their safety if they are deported will be screened by U.S. asylum officers but under a higher standard than what’s currently in place. If they pass, they can remain to pursue other forms of humanitarian protection, including those laid out in the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

There are serious questions about whether the new measure can stop large-scale migrant entries. Mexico has agreed to take back migrants who are not Mexican, but only limited numbers and nationalities. And the Biden administration doesn’t have the money and diplomatic support it needs to deport migrants long distances, including to Ecuador and India.

In Matamoros, Mexico, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, Esmeralda Castro of El Salvador worried the asylum halt will drive more people to compete for the 1,450 slots awarded daily to enter legally through U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s heavily oversubscribed online app, known as CBP One. Castro, 40, said she has tried for nine months for an appointment using the app.

“Imagine what’s going to happen with what they’ve done. The system is going to collapse again,” said Castro, speaking at a migrant camp near the banks of the Rio Grande where she has been living with about 10 others. The app has become so overwhelmed at times that users got error messages and experienced other technical failures.

Jesus Gomez of Medellin, Colombia, said Border Patrol agents told him he was one of the last people to be released to seek asylum and that he should tell friends and family back home that they will be deported if they attempt to enter illegally. He said he didn’t know if it was true.

More:

https://apnews.com/article/migrants-biden-deportation-asylum-border-mexico-47ce1480fc34814e9e622fb99b2ed7e7

>>20981628

> recent mentions of our team’s advanced AI?

Only recent mentions of AI recall is the fedbois

Biden to meet Zelenskiy in France with $225 million in military aid

By Jeff Mason June 7, 20241:06 AM EDTUpdated 16 min ago

PARIS, June 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Paris on Friday with a package of $225 million in weapons on the sidelines of D-Day anniversary events.

It will be their first face-to-face talks since Zelenskiy visited Washington in December, when the two wrestled with Republican opposition to more Ukraine aid. They will meet again next week at a G7 summit in Italy, as rich nations discuss using Russian assets frozen after the Ukraine invasion to provide $50 billion for Ukraine.

Zelenskiy told Reuters last month that Western countries are taking too long to make decisions about aid.

Biden in remarks in Normandy, France, on Thursday drew a link between the World War Two battle against tyranny and Ukraine's war with Russia, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "dictator."

The $225 million in new weaponry includes artillery rounds and air defense interceptors, among other items, sources said. Ukraine has struggled to defend the Kharkiv region after an offensive launched by Moscow on May 10 has overrun some villages.

Biden last week shifted his position and decided Ukraine could launch U.S.-supplied weapons at military targets inside Russia that are supporting the Kharkiv offensive.

The United States is trying to catch up with Ukraine's weaponry needs, deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said in Washington Thursday.

"If there were two things that we could provide an infinite number of to the Ukrainians to try to turn the tide in this war, it would be artillery munitions and air defense interceptors," but the U.S. lacked supply, Finer told a forum by the Center for a New American Security.

Outside the physical battlefield, the Russia-Ukraine war is "also a competition that takes place in our factories, the factories in Europe, the factories in Ukraine,” he said.

Reaching consensus on the frozen assets has been complicated, Daleep Singh, deputy national security adviser for international economics, told the same group.

"We're waist-deep in the sausage-making of trying to strike a deal," said Singh, who said he was heading back to Italy on Friday to continue the negotiations.

https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-meet-zelenskiy-france-with-225-million-military-aid-2024-06-07/

Dutch voters kick off EU election, nationalist parties seen gaining

By Bart Biesemans and Lewis Macdonald June 6, 202412:29 PM EDTUpdated 13 hours ago

THE HAGUE, June 6 (Reuters) - Dutch voters cast their ballots on Thursday at the start of a four-day election for the European Parliament that is likely to see a rightward shift in the continent's balance of power.

The election will shape how the European Union, a bloc of 450 million citizens, confronts external challenges, including a more aggressive Russia, increased industrial competition from China and the United States, climate change and immigration.

The vote in the Netherlands - where a nationalist party won a 2023 national election - also encapsulates the main internal political challenge facing the 27-nation EU: the rising popularity of nationalist and populist parties that want to dismantle the EU from within.

"I am concerned about these extreme right movements because they are populist movements," said Sebastiaan Bink, 57, a renewable energy worker who voted in The Hague.

"In the Netherlands we have a party which is very distrustful of the EU and some of these right-wing politicians are trying to sabotage the European collaboration, and that would be very harmful. It doesn't make any sense to me."

After Thursday's Dutch ballot, voting will take place on Friday in Ireland and the Czech Republic, in Malta, Slovakia and Latvia on Saturday, and then in the rest of the EU on Sunday.

Opinion polls suggest the Dutch anti-immigration Freedom Party (PVV) of Geert Wilders, which won last year's national election, will make gains and win eight seats in the European Parliament, tying with the Labour/GreenLeft combination.

Wilders failed to secure a seat in the previous European election in 2019 and although the polls show Europe's centre-right is likely to win the most seats in the new EU legislature, nationalist and populist parties are expected to make gains.

Wilders, known for his outspoken views on immigration and Islam, said on Thursday a good result for the nationalist parties should encourage them to unite in their bid to change EU regulations and repatriate more powers to national legislatures.

Their influence in the new EU parliament is nevertheless likely to be blunted by internal divisions.

Polls show pro-European parties on the centre-right and centre-left, liberals and Greens will have a smaller majority than in the outgoing parliament, complicating efforts to push through new EU laws or increase European integration.

COARSE ATMOSPHERE

Across much of Europe the political atmosphere is shifting, coarsened by the divisions and rhetoric of populist policies. Verbal and physical attacks on politicians in Germany have more than doubled since 2019.

The 720-seat parliament co-decides with the EU's 27 national governments on laws that govern the bloc's single market, its 1-trillion-euro ($1.09 trillion) long-term budget, fiscal rules and laws to prevent climate change.

Exit polls are expected soon after 1800 GMT on Sunday followed by first projections of the results after 2100 GMT.

Surveys of voter intentions show the centre-right is likely to win the largest share of seats, putting their candidate to head the European Commission, incumbent Ursula von der Leyen of Germany, in pole position to be appointed for a second term.

European Greens, facing a backlash from hard-pressed households, farmers and industry over costly EU policies limiting CO2 emissions, look set to be among the big losers.

The new parliament will decide on the EU's next seven-year budget, which must be in place from 2028, with Ukraine, Moldova and countries of the Western Balkans all seeking membership.

If those countries are to accede, EU governments and the parliament will need to agree on internal changes to how the bloc operates, including its agriculture subsidies and funds to even up living standards across the EU.

The rule of unanimity in voting may also need changing to meet the requirements of a larger bloc.

Please notice the Reuters spin, "populism bad, M'kay"