Politics

The polls closed in Iran’s parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections at 23:45 local time (2015 GMT) on Friday after voting was extended several times due to a massive voter turnout. Some 55 million Iranians were eligible to vote in the two elections. The process of counting ballots is already underway. Iran’s Interior Ministry said in a statement that the election staff at each polling station should first count the ballots related to the Assembly of Experts poll and then do the same for the parliamentary election.  

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli said results would be announced Saturday. He had earlier said that turnout was estimated to be around 70 percent based on opinion polls. As many as 4,844 candidates, including about 500 women, were competing for a place in the 290-seat Parliament. A total of 159 others were running for the 88-member Assembly of Experts. Members of the Assembly serve eight-year terms while MPs are elected every four years.

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Ngwa Bertrand

27.Feb.2016

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US President Barack Obama has once again renewed his call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, saying there is no alternative to his removal. He also called on Russia and the Syrian government to honor a negotiated ceasefire in the war-torn country, warning Moscow and Damascus that the "world will be watching." Obama made the remarks after holding a rare meeting with his national security team at the State Department on Thursday, a day before the cessation of hostilities was due to come into force.The ceasefire for Syria is set to take effect at midnight Friday local time. He was flanked by Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other top advisers, who updated him on the years-old Syrian crisis. Obama said militants in Syria will never stop fighting until Assad is ousted from power. "It's the only way to end the civil war and unite the Syrian people against terrorists," he claimed. 

The cessation of hostilities was announced earlier this week after negotiations between Russia and the US, both of which have been engaged in airstrikes in the Arab country. Obama said Assad should step down if a lasting peace is to be found in Syria. "This is going to be a test of whether the parties are truly committed to negotiations," he said. "It's clear that after years of his barbaric war against his own people -- including torture, and barrel bombs, and sieges, and starvation -- many Syrians will never stop fighting until Assad is out of power. There's no alternative to a managed transition away from Assad," he argued. Obama said "the coming days will be critical" in finding whether there is a way to end the five-year-long deadly conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrians and displaced millions more. “None of us are under any illusions,” Obama said. “We’re all aware of the many potential pitfalls, and there are plenty of reasons for skepticism.” "But history would judge us harshly if we did not do our part in at least trying to end this terrible conflict with diplomacy,” he added.

In an interview with Press TV on Thursday, American political analyst Daniel Patrick Welch said regime change has always remained America’s only objective in Syria. Welch said Washington has never had such a thing as Plan B and the alternatives they are speaking of now have always been the primary objectives they have been following in Syria. “This idea of Plan B is kind of a scam; it has always been Plan A to topple the legitimate government and replace it with something weaker and something more compliant be it a failed state, a puppet regime or this division into sectarian mini states, instead of the legitimate elected government,” he explained. US Secretary of State John Kerry had warned that if the Syrian ceasefire deal that the US and Russia agreed to on Monday falters, Washington will resort to its Plan B options.

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Ngwa Bertrand

26.Feb.2016

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Chad's opposition held a nationwide shutdown Wednesday in protest against President Idriss Deby Itno’s bid for a fifth term in office. A large number of shops and schools remained closed, and traffic stayed off the streets in the capital, N'Djamena, and several other cities. The strike action was called under the slogan, “That's enough,” by several opposition groups who oppose the bid. "That's enough" opposition grouping is made up of scores of civil society groups, the Chadian Human Rights League and the Union of Chadian Trade Unions. 

Meanwhile, Mahamat Nour Ibedou, a spokesman for the opposition, said the cities of Abeche in the east, Sarh in the south and central Mongo were also locked down. "This shows people have realized they can exercise their democratic rights," Ibedou said, adding, "It also highlights that people are fed up, it's proof they reject Deby's candidacy" for president." Chad's second-biggest city, Moundou, also observed complete shutdown from the morning to lunchtime, with a resident saying, "Not even the motorbike taxis are running." Banks and private companies reportedly remained open for business along with some ministries in N'Djamena and elsewhere. President Deby, who has been in office for two and a half decades, is running for re-election on April 10.

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Ngwa Bertrand

25.Feb.2016

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As pressure continues to mount on President Biya to retire before 2018, the Sultan of the Bamoum people, Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya has made a clarion call on the Cameroonian dictator, Paul Biya to convene an extraordinary congress of the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM). 

Sultan Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, who held several cabinet positions in the Biya regime and whose chieftaincy title is still being contested by the Dr. Adamou Ndam Njoya faction also added that the head of state should consult with the political bureau of the ruling CPDM party soonest. The Sultan who is backing President Biya's bid to seek another mandate in 2018 stated that it is not necessary to wait three years to undertake appropriate policy measures.

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Ngwa Bertrand

23.Feb.2016

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Madam Françoise Angouing, wife of the Minister of Public Service who was told that she cannot be a candidate for the election to the presidency of the Kadey I Northern CPDM section has been speaking of the bad aspects of tribalism in Cameroon politics. Madam Angouing was reminded during the renewal operation of the CPDM basic organs in December 2015 that she was not from Batouri and does not even reside there. She is actually from from Ngéulebog but was however raised in Batouri. 

Elected head of the Kadey North 1 section, the wife of the Minister of Public Service during her first technical working session and meet the people tour noted that tribalism was hindering the development of the nation. In the working session which held on February 7, Françoise Angouing launched a warning against the "theoreticians of tribalism. Said the Minister's wife, "Those who want to sink the Kadey I Section today will not succeed because they themselves do not have life jackets".

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Ngwa Bertrand

21.Feb.2016

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In Cameroon, the president of the Senate is rightly the constitutional successor to President Paul Biya. Article 4 of the Constitution of 18th January,1996 stipulates that in case of vacancy at the Presidency of the Republic, due to death, resignation or permanent incapacity, the president of the Senate takes over as the interim head of state until the election of the new President of the Republic. The President of the Senate, Marcel Niat Njifenji in the present state of affairs is the one who will succeed Paul Biya. 

Following recent photos of President Biya celebrating his 83rd birthday, a lot of tongues have been waging on whether the president of the senate has the physical and moral strength to run a nation with very weak institutions? Some pro CPDM comedians hinted recently that age is a source of experience and wisdom.They added that if Senate president Marcel Niat were to succeed President Paul Biya, he will continue with what they described as "such great works" such as completing the construction of the port of Kribi, the building of many electric power plants in the country. Some even suggested that Marcel Niat was the right man for Cameroon's top job.

However, Jean Emmanuel Mpouma of the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (Manidem) opined that there was not nothing different between Mr. Biya 83 and Mr. Niat who is presently 82 years of age. A majority of Cameroonians are of the reasoning that, there 'will be no change in policy and governance if Marcel Niat becomes head of state since it will simply be a matter of reproducing the same system, whose defects, slag and dysfunctions have already been criticized for more than three deades.

A cross section of the Cameroonian youth in a recent opinion poll conducted by our Yaounde bureau said Cameroon can not emerge in 2035 with Biya or Marcel Niat as leader. Some constitutional law experts observed on state owned radio and television that the problem was the absence of a constitutional court and term limits. Issues such as how to interpret the basic law have also been raised. Whether Marcel Niat succeeds Biya or not, Cameroon is likely going to be another flash point in Sub Sahara Africa.

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Ngwa Bertrand

20.Feb.2016

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