Tag: Legislatures and Parliaments

In Fighting the Far Right, Is Germany Undermining Its Democracy?

For Germany — a country that knows something about how extremists can hijack a government — the surging popularity of the far right has forced an awkward question. How far should a democracy go in restricting a party that many believe is bent on undermining it? It is a quandary that politicians and legal experts […]

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A Dutch Quandary Offers a Glimpse of a Deepening Problem for Europe

Just months ago, Geert Wilders was an anathema to most Dutch political parties. A disruptive and divisive force on the far right for two decades, Mr. Wilders has said he wants to end immigration from Muslim countries, tax head scarves and ban the Quran. He has called Moroccan immigrants “scum.” His Party for Freedom has […]

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Portugal’s Election: What to Know

When António Costa, a prime minister well liked by European leaders, handily won his third term as prime minister in 2022, many Portuguese prepared for a lasting, stable government given his Socialist Party’s strong majority in Parliament. But by late last year, Mr. Costa had resigned, his government embroiled in a corruption investigation involving lithium […]

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Macron and Scholz Spar Over Policy on Ukraine and Russia

It was a private dinner in a Parisian garden on the Boulevard St. Germain, meant to cement the important personal relationship between the leaders of France and Germany. After the meal on July 4, 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said “Merci beaucoup” in a Twitter post praising “close exchanges.” But on the way out, President Emmanuel […]

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In Parliamentary Vote, Iranians Vented Their Rage With the Ruling Elite

Iranians have delivered a stinging rebuke to Iran’s ruling conservatives, an analysis of parliamentary election results shows, with millions of Iranians having boycotted the vote and a far-right faction making striking gains. Many well-known conservative lawmakers, including the current speaker of Parliament, Gen. Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, saw their vote […]

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Pakistan’s New Leader, Shehbaz Sharif, Installed

Pakistan’s newly elected Parliament approved Shehbaz Sharif as prime minister on Sunday, ushering in his second term in that role and capping weeks of upheaval — as well as setting into motion a government facing economic and political challenges that are likely to leave the country in turmoil for years to come. His selection also […]

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The U.K. Labour Party’s Worst Enemy Might Be Itself

These days, the only thing that can stop the Labour Party, it seems, is the Labour Party. For more than a year, the leader of Britain’s main opposition party, Keir Starmer, has sat on a double-digit lead in the polls over the Conservative Party. But a pair of embarrassing suspensions of Labour parliamentary candidates for […]

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Imran Khan’s Opponents Reach Deal to Shut His Allies Out of Government

Pakistan’s two main political dynasties reached an agreement late on Tuesday to form a coalition government, ensuring that candidates aligned with former Prime Minister Imran Khan will not take power despite having won the most seats in last week’s election. Leaders of the party favored by the country’s powerful military, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or […]

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Pakistan Election: Everything You Need to Know

Pakistan heads to the polls on Thursday for an election that analysts say will be among the least credible in the country’s 76-year history, one that comes at a particularly turbulent moment for the nation. For nearly half of Pakistan’s existence, the military has ruled directly. Even under civilian governments, military leaders have wielded enormous […]

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King Charles Has Cancer. Here’s What to Know.

On Monday night, Buckingham Palace made a sudden announcement that King Charles III had been diagnosed with cancer, less than 18 months after beginning his reign. He is receiving outpatient treatment in London. The British monarch’s diagnosis prompted an outpouring of sympathy from leaders around the world, with President Biden saying that he was praying […]

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Many Israelis Want Netanyahu Out. But There Is No Simple Path to Do It.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is on his last legs, it is widely believed, and will be forced to relinquish his post once the war against Hamas in Gaza ends. He is historically unpopular in the opinion polls and blamed for the governmental and security failures that led to the Oct. 7 attack by […]

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In Northern Ireland, a Knotty Brexit Problem Is on the Brink of Being Solved

Almost two years of political gridlock. Decision-making paralyzed. Rising tension in a place where peace remains fragile even after the end of decades of sectarian strife. There are few places where the impact of Britain’s exit from the European Union been felt more sharply than in Northern Ireland. But on Wednesday there were rising hopes […]

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French Lawmakers Vote to Enshrine Abortion Rights in Constitution

French lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill to enshrine abortion rights in France’s Constitution, the first step in a complex legislative process that began in direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The bill, proposed by President Emmanuel Macron and his government, was passed by the National Assembly, […]

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Protesters Storm Israel’s Parliament as Anger Over Gaza Hostages Grows

Supporters and relatives of hostages captured in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks burst into a meeting at Israel’s Parliament on Monday to demand that lawmakers take greater action to secure the captives’ release from Gaza. The protest reflected the growing frustration of hostage families who have become increasingly concerned about the fate of their family […]

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Ecuador Plunges Into Crisis Amid Prison Riots, Kidnappings

Ecuador descended into chaos this week as a powerful gang leader disappeared from jail, uprisings broke out in several prisons, and guards were kidnapped and threatened by inmates in what has quickly escalated into a major crisis for the South American country. The unrest continued on Tuesday afternoon, when masked men stormed a television station […]

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Gabriel Attal Is France’s Youngest and First Openly Gay Prime Minister

PARIS — In a typically bold bid to revitalize his second term, President Emmanuel Macron named Gabriel Attal, 34, as his new prime minister, replacing Élisabeth Borne, 62, who made no secret of the fact that she was unhappy to be forced out. Mr. Attal, who was previously education minister and has occupied several government […]

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Turkey’s Parliament Resumes Talks on Sweden’s NATO Bid, Still in Limbo

The foreign affairs committee of Turkey’s Parliament on Tuesday resumed talks on Sweden’s bid to join NATO, a process that Turkish officials have been slow walking for months. Yet there were no indications that Tuesday’s discussion would significantly advance the process, which Turkey has repeatedly delayed, saying that Sweden, the United States and Canada all […]

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Russia Sees a Western Hand Behind Serbian Street Protests

Fishing in Serbia’s troubled waters after a contested general election, Russia on Monday accused the West of orchestrating anti-government street protests in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, that flared into violence on Sunday evening. Claims of a Western plot by Russia’s ambassador to Serbia, Alexander Botsan-Harchenko, were the latest efforts by Moscow to thwart a so […]

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Polish Right Occupies State TV, Refusing to Accept Loss of Power

Amid a turbulent change of power, Poland’s main state television news channel went abruptly off the air on Wednesday, as the former governing party sent legislators and other supporters to the public broadcasting headquarters to try to prevent new management from taking over. Members of the ousted former government staged a sit-in inside a building […]

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Israel’s War Cabinet Reflects the National Consensus, for Now

The five men who make up Israel’s war cabinet have more than a century of military experience among them and decades of political and diplomatic know-how. The cabinet was formed five days after Israel declared war on Gaza to temporarily unify Israel’s political factions and ensure its steadiest hands were in charge during a national […]

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UK Parliament’s Rwanda Vote Today, Explained

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain survived a crucial test of his authority on Tuesday, facing down at least for now a rebellion from the hard right of his party. At issue was a highly contentious immigration policy that aims to deter asylum seekers from crossing from France to Britain on small boats by putting […]

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Thomas Mayo on What Comes After Australia Rejected the Voice

Thousands of people had gathered amid the red dirt and golden grass of an Australian Outback cattle town to commemorate a watershed moment for Indigenous rights. Thomas Mayo was there to make a push for the future. A tall, strongly built man wearing a maritime labor union T-shirt and an amulet shaped like an Indigenous […]

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What Kevin McCarthy and Rishi Sunak Have in Common: Unmanageable Parties

On Wednesday evening, a hard-line Conservative minister, Robert Jenrick, resigned from the British government to protest its new immigration policy. Hours later, in Washington, Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican toppled by his right-wing colleagues as House speaker in October, announced he would resign from Congress. A pair of bitter political exits, on opposite sides of […]

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Rishi Sunak’s Dilemma: When to Hold an Election He Looks Poised to Lose

No question in British politics will be more regularly asked, and reliably brushed aside, over the next few months than when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to call the country’s next general election. He must do so by January 2025. The conventional wisdom is that with his Conservative Party trailing the opposition Labour Party by […]

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Election Day Guide: Governor Races, Abortion Access and More

Election Day is nearly here, and while off-year political races receive a fraction of the attention compared with presidential elections, some of Tuesday’s contests will be intensely watched. At stake are two southern governorships, control of the Virginia General Assembly and abortion access in Ohio. National Democrats and Republicans, seeking to build momentum moving toward […]

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Turkey’s President Sends Sweden’s NATO Bid to Parliament for Ratification

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey signed the protocol approving Sweden’s bid to join the NATO military alliance and sent it to the Turkish Parliament on Monday, according to a brief statement from his office. It was not immediately clear why Mr. Erdogan, who had refused to officially endorse Sweden’s NATO bid for many months, […]

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Another Setback for Rishi Sunak in a Local Election

Britain’s governing Conservative Party, which is trailing badly in the opinion polls, lost one of its safest parliamentary seats on Friday in a significant new setback for the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who was also awaiting the result of another closely watched contest. Voting in the two Conservative strongholds of Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire took […]

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New Zealand’s Maori Party Uses Fashion as a Political Weapon

The outfit is distinctly Victorian. A high, vintage lace collar with ruffles cascades over the lapel of a black tailcoat. But it is not meant to be a throwback. For Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, the co-leader of Te Pati Maori, a New Zealand political party, it is a reclamation of the era when her ancestors first engaged […]

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The Aboriginal Australians Leading the Opposition to the Voice

One calls for Aboriginal Australians to be treated like any other Australian. The other stands against what she sees as their forced assimilation. They are hardly natural allies, but Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Lidia Thorpe, two Indigenous Australian senators at opposite ends of the political spectrum, share one key view: In this weekend’s referendum, they […]

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UK’s Labour Holds Party Conference After a Big Win

Only a month ago, some Labour Party officials were fretting about the risks of fighting a parliamentary election in Scotland days before the party’s annual conference. What if the party underperformed, just before its leader, Keir Starmer, had to make one of the most important speeches of his career? In the end, the opposite happened. […]

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A Wartime Election in Ukraine? It’s a Political Hot Potato.

It might seem like a huge distraction at the height of a full-scale war, not to mention a logistical nightmare: holding a presidential election as Russian missiles fly into the Ukrainian capital and artillery assaults reduce whole towns to ruins. But President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has not ruled it out. His five-year term ends […]

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