Analysis-For Spain's Socialists, regional elections a rehearsal for national vote
By Belén Carreño MADRID In speeches across the country ahead of regional elections on Sunday, Spanish Prime Minister
2023-05-24 18:56
Ron DeSantis to make 2024 U.S. presidential bid official with Musk on Twitter
By James Oliphant WASHINGTON Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to make his long-awaited foray into the 2024
2023-05-24 18:22
Greece to appoint caretaker PM ahead of June repeat election
By Lefteris Papadimas ATHENS (Reuters) -Greece's president will appoint a caretaker prime minister on Wednesday to form a government that
2023-05-24 17:55
Turkish anti-migrant party backs Erdogan's rival in presidential runoff
A hard-line anti-migrant party has decided to throw its weight behind the opposition candidate who is running against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in this weekend’s runoff presidential race
2023-05-24 17:26
How conservative activists worked to kill an effort to protect Florida election workers from harassment
Florida lawmakers were poised this year to protect election workers from harassment. Then, conservative "election integrity" activists worked to kill the effort.
2023-05-24 17:23
Ron DeSantis news – latest: Florida governor’s wife launches his 2024 presidential bid
Ron DeSantis will officially enter the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday following months of speculation. The Florida governor will take part in a live Twitter event with Elon Musk on Wednesday night, NBC News reports. Afterward, the campaign will release an official launch video. On Tuesday night Casey DeSantis kicked off her husband’s campaign by posting a video of him getting ready to go on stage in front of an American flag. “America is worth the fight... Every. Single. Time,” Ms DeSantis tweeted along with the expensively produced video. On Monday, Mr DeSantis, 44, teased his 2024 bid while speaking at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Orlando in which he outlined his vision for a conservative grip on the Supreme Court to last a quarter of a century. In what appeared to be a subtle swipe at Donald Trump he announced his plans to run for eight years – something Mr Trump cannot do. Mr DeSantis, 44, is seen as Mr Trump’s biggest rival for the Republican vote with several Republican lawmakers and right-wing media rallying behind him after the midterms. However, the latest polls show Mr DeSantis trailing Mr Trump. This comes at a time when Mr DeSantis is going to war with Disney and pushing back on the NAACP‘s advisory warning travellers that Florida is “openly hostile” towards Black people, people of colour and LGBT+ people due to his laws. Read More DeSantis’s wife launches his presidential campaign with first 2024 video: ‘America is worth the fight’ Everything Elon Musk has said about the 2024 election so far David Sacks: The controversial entrepreneur hosting Ron DeSantis 2024 event with Elon Musk
2023-05-24 13:52
Ecuador election council sets presidential vote for Aug. 20
Ecuador's National Electoral Council announced on Tuesday that early presidential elections would be held on Aug. 20 after President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree last week and brought forward the vote scheduled for 2025. Lasso's decision to dissolve the opposition-led legislature came as lawmakers tried to impeach him for not stopping a deal between the state-owned oil transport company and a private tanker company, accusations he denies. In disbanding the assembly, the president made first use of an option available to him under the constitution in conflicts with the legislative branch. Elections had to be called within three months, for both the assembly and presidency, and the winners will serve out what would otherwise have been the remainder of the terms of those elected officials. If there is no outright winner a runoff vote will be held in October. Lasso can choose to run in the presidential election. In the meantime, he can rule by decree for up to six months. Ecuador’s Constitutional Court on Thursday rejected multiple challenges that sought to invalidate Lasso’s decree dissolving the National Assembly. Lasso, a 67-year-old former right-wing banker, took power in May 2021 for a four-year term after winning the general election. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide
2023-05-24 12:54
North Carolina gerrymander ruling gives electoral gift to GOP in Congress
A North Carolina redistricting ruling has set up a possible electoral windfall for congressional Republicans in preserving their U.S. House majority next year, declaring that judges should stay out of scrutinizing seat boundaries for partisan advantage
2023-05-24 12:17
Here’s How Thailand’s PM Race Could Play Out as Talks Drag On
Talks over forming Thailand’s next government are well into their second week and there’s still no sign that
2023-05-24 11:58
Donald Trump hush-money trial date set for March 2024
The ex-president says a judge's decision to hold the trial in March next year is "very unfair".
2023-05-24 09:57
Texas governor sent bill abolishing position of Harris County elections chief
The Texas Legislature has approved abolishing a position Democrats in the state's largest county created to oversee more than 2 million voters around Houston
2023-05-24 09:19
Everything Elon Musk has said about the 2024 election so far
For years, Elon Musk kept fairly quiet about his political beliefs. He was a registered independent voter in California and claims to have supported Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. But the days of Mr Musk keeping his politics quiet are over. Since the onset of Covid-19, Mr Musk has become increasingly vocal about his right-wing politics — railing against Covid restrictions and work-from-home policies, urging people to support Republicans in the midterm elections, being accused of tweeting antisemitic statements, and offering a platform to Tucker Carlson. On Wednesday, Mr Musk will reportedly make his most direct foray into the 2024 presidential election yet when he is expected to help Gov Ron DeSantis of Florida launch his campaign. NBC News first reported the collaboration. Mr Musk said that his appearance with Mr DeSantis on Twitter Spaces is not an endorsement. It is, however, another instance of the Twitter owner providing a friendly platform to a far-right figure. The conversation between Mr Musk and Mr DeSantis will be moderated by tech entrepreneur David Sacks, who has given tens of thousands of dollars to the governor’s political committee. “I will be interviewing Ron DeSantis, and he has quite an announcement to make,” Mr Musk said at a Wall Street Journal event on Tuesday. “And it will be the first time that something like this is happening on social media and with real-time questions and answers, unscripted.” Mr Musk appears to be keeping close tabs on the developing Republican primary field. On Monday, Mr Musk retweeted a live stream of Sen Tim Scott of South Carolina announcing his candidacy for president in North Charleston. But Mr Musk has long praised Mr DeSantis, who has pushed during his tenure as Florida governor to ban gender-affirming care for minors, ban discussions of race, gender, and sexuality in public schools, compromise the state’s tenure system, and punish corporations like Disney for their stances on social issues. “Trump would be 82 at end of term, which is too old to be chief executive of anything, let alone the United States of America,” Mr Musk tweeted in July of last year. “If DeSantis runs against Biden in 2024, then DeSantis will easily win – he doesn’t even need to campaign.” Mr Musk appears much less bullish on Mr Trump, even though he reinstated the former president’s Twitter account after he took over the platform. Mr Trump was initially banned from Twitter in the aftermath of the events of January 6. “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” Mr Musk tweeted last year. “Dems should also call off the attack – don’t make it so that Trump’s only way to survive is to regain the Presidency.” Mr Musk also tweeted that Mr Trump is “too much drama,” and asked whether Americans “really want a bull in a china shop situation every single day!?” He also suggested, in one of his standard attempts at humour, that the maximum age for the start of a presidential term should be 69. The fact that Mr DeSantis is launching his campaign on Twitter speaks to the platform’s rising currency with Republican voters under Mr Musk’s leadership. Mr Musk’s embrace of Republican politicians and right-wing talking points has come as his purchase of Twitter has given him an outsize role in shaping public conversation around the campaign. It’s also led to a barrage of hate speech. Since Mr Musk’s takeover of Twitter and reinstatement of a number of previously banned accounts, the amount of hate speech targeting Black people, LGBTQ+ people, Jews, and other groups has surged. “Elon Musk sent up the Bat Signal to every kind of racist, misogynist and homophobe that Twitter was open for business,” Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, told The New York Times last year. “They have reacted accordingly.” Read More Ron DeSantis to launch 2024 presidential bid on Twitter with Elon Musk Twitter HQ was once a paradise. It’s working with Elon that’s ‘morally wrong’ Musk gadfly has a new jet to track - the one used by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Who is David Sacks: the controversial entrepreneur hosting DeSantis 2024 event Casey DeSantis gives cheeky response to reports husband is launching 2024 campaign
2023-05-24 07:24