Polish voters are going to the polls in local elections that will test the public mood under a new liberal government. Premier Donald Tusk is seeking confirmation of support for his pro-European course. Voters across Poland are casting ballots in local elections on Sunday four months after the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk took power, ending eight years of conservative nationalist rule in the country. Nearly 190,000 candidates are vying for positions as mayors and councillors across the nation of 38 million people. Recent voter surveys have shown a close race is likely between Tusk's Civic Coalition  and Law and Justice (PiS), the conservative party that governed the country from 2015. The results will be closely watched in Brussels ahead of European Parliament elections in June. Litmus test for liberal pro-European stance The vote is being seen as a first electoral test for Tusk's coalition government. Tusk has pledged to reverse the  previous government's changes to the judicial system and public media, which were seen by the European Union as violating its democratic standards. This led to frequently strained relations between Warsaw and Brussels. However, change in several areas has been slow in coming, as new legislation will be needed, for example, to give the judicial system back its independence. The strict abortion laws introduced by the PiS are also supported by some conservatives in Tusk's own coalition, hampering reforms. Nonetheless, the reforms enacted by Tusk have already led to the unblocking of billions in EU funds that were frozen over the bloc's concern about the state of the rule of law under the PiS. Tusk warns of backsliding The prime minister himself has warned that a win for his liberal Civic Coalition (KO), the largest grouping in the ruling alliance, is vital if Poland is to not to slip toward a return of the nationalist rule of the PiS. "Our dream — once a beautiful dream, and today an increasingly better reality — may end overnight," he told a rally in Warsaw on Friday. "If someone believes that freedom, human rights, women's rights, democracy, free economy, self-government — that all this is permanent, will defend itself ... we will lose it all again." The PiS has repeatedly rejected accusations that it undermined democracy and human rights during its time in power. PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has called on voters to show Tusk's government "a yellow card" — a warning given to players by soccer referees.  A second round of voting in mayoral races will be held on April 21.

Preliminary results from the 12th national election have unveiled an unexpected outcome for actress Mahiya Mahi, who, failed to secure any votes in 17 polling stations of Rajshahi-1 (Godagari and Tanore). Out of a total of 136 polling stations, Mahi managed to secure 8,262 votes under the truck symbol.  However, her inability to garner support in a significant number of stations raised eyebrows, marking a challenging outcome for the popular actress. The constituency saw the triumph of the incumbent Member of Parliament and Awami League candidate, Omar Farooq Chowdhury, who secured an impressive 86,846 votes. Independent candidate Ghulam Rabbani was not far behind with 74,261 votes under the Kanchi symbol. Voting in Rajshahi-1 began at 8 am on Sunday, January 7, with the counting process starting promptly at 4 pm. The constituency boasts a total of 440,218 voters, comprising 219,653 male voters and 220,564 female voters. In response to the results, Mahiya Mahi released a statement expressing her acceptance of the outcome. She emphasised her unwavering commitment to serving the local community in the days ahead, regardless of the election results.    

Election Commission Secretary Md Jahangir Alam has said 27% votes were cast in seven hours from 8am to 3pm on Sunday in the 12th national parliamentary election.  The EC Secretary said this at a press briefing at the media centre of Election Commission around 3:15pm. “During the period, 25% votes were cast in Dhaka division, 27% in Chattogram, 22% in Sylhet, 31% in Barishal, 32% in Khulna, 26% in Rajshahi, 26% in Rangpur and 29% in Mymensingh,” the EC Secretary said.  The voting started at 8am and will continue until 4pm without any break at 261,912 polling booths in 42,103 voting centres across the country. A total of 1,970 candidates, including 1,534 from 28 political parties and 436 independents, are vying in the polls. Of the candidates, 266 from the ruling Awami League (AL), 265 from Jatiya Party (JaPa), 135 from Trinomul BNP, 66 from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASAD), 122 from National People's Party (NPP), 13 from Jatiya Party (JP) and 10 from Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh are contesting in the polls. A total of 90 female candidates, including from political parties and independents, and 79 from ethnic minority and other groups are vying in the polls.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday (January 1, 2024) urged the people to give a befitting reply to arson violence, BNP and Jamaat by casting their votes in the January-7 general election. “You must cast your vote and protect your vote. Give a befitting reply to arson violence, militant and terrorist BNP and Jamaat,” she said. “BNP and Jamaat want to snatch your votes in the upcoming election by resorting to arson violence,” PM said.   The Awami League chief said this while addressing an election rally, arranged jointly by Awami League Dhaka City South and North units at Kalabagan Krirachakro Field in the city’s Dhanmondi area. She asked the people of Bangladesh to stay vigilant always against arsonists BNP and Jamaat as they want to destroy the country. She urged the voters to go to polling stations and cast their votes in the morning on January 7 so that none can snatch away their voting rights and election.

Malians started tallying ballots in a constitutional referendum proposed by the ruling junta. The junta says the proposal, which greatly expands the powers of the military, paves the way for civilian rule. Malians voted Sunday in a referendum on a new constitution that would expand the role of the president and the military. Vote counting began Sunday evening and provisional results are expected by Tuesday. The West African nation is ruled by military officers, who seized power in a 2020 coup, followed by another coup nine months later that removed the interim civilian government at the time. Back then the prime minister and the president were to lead a government to steer the country towards new elections. The ruling junta has said the proposed measures are meant to kickstart a gradual transition to civilian rule, with parliamentary elections to be held in October. "I am convinced this referendum will pave the way for a new Mali, a strong Mali, an efficient Mali, a Mali in the service of the well-being of its population," military junta leader Assimi Goita said on Sunday.  A presidential election would follow in February 2024. Mali has been battling an Islamist insurgency and violence, with civilians bearing the brunt of the instability and conflict. Election observer group MODELE reported a voter turnout at midday of only about 21% of eligible voters. The organization also reported the closing of dozens of polling stations due to security issues. The referendum also did not the entire northern region of Kidan. What are Malians deciding? Malians faced the choice of accepting or rejecting the draft constitution, seen as being a test for Goita. The proposed changes would expand the role of the president and the military at the expense of the parliament. The military would be entrusted with the "execution of the law" and the president would have more power over the prime minister and the Cabinet. Goita has not said whether he would run for president. He oversaw the arrest of the nation's acting civilian leader and prime minister in 2021. Ahead of the vote, Malians received text messages to persuade them to vote in favor of the proposed measures. While opposition parties and groups have been critical of the new constitution, the vote is expected to go in favor of the military junta. The Freedom House's flagship annual report 2023 labeled Mali as a country that was "not free." The political situation in Mali Mali built up its democratic institutions for about 20 years after transitioning away from authoritarian rule in the 1990s. However, state fragility led to a coup in 2012 and insecurity followed in the years since. Over the years fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. On Saturday, Mali ordered foreign troops out of the country. France, which stationed troops in 2013 to fight terrorism, withdrew troops from Mali in August 2022. Germany is due to pull back troops from Mali in the summer of 2024.

The Respect for Marriage Act received bipartisan support. It is designed as a backstop should the Supreme Court move to overturn its 2015 ruling that legalized gay marriage nationwide. The US Senate voted to protect same-sex and interracial marriages on Tuesday, in a move aimed at preventing any roll-back of existing marriage laws. The Respect for Marriage Act passed 61-36, which included support from 12 Republicans. It will now move back to the House for a final vote. In a statement on Tuesday, President Joe Biden said, "With today's bipartisan Senate passage of the Respect for Marriage Act, the United States is on the brink of reaffirming a fundamental truth: love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love." Senate leader Chuck Schumer said the vote was "deeply personal for many of us in this chamber." He addressed the Senate wearing the same tie he wore at his lesbian daughter's wedding. Why are US lawmakers voting on same-sex marriage? Same-sex marriage and interracial marriages are already legal in the US thanks to Supreme Court rulings from 2015 and 1967, respectively. However, when the conservative-dominated Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion in June this year, the possibility that the rulings relating to marriage could also be overturned opened up as well. The new bill will remove the previous legal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. It would also require states to recognize marriages regardless of "sex, race, ethnicity or national origin." Earlier on Tuesday, Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin said the bill would give "millions of same sex and interracial couples the confidence and certainty that they need that their marriages are and will in the future continue to be valid." Baldwin is one of the key negotiators of the bill, and the first openly gay person elected to the US Senate.

Voting has begun in Italy in a snap ballot to elect a new parliament. The country may see its first far-right leader since World War II. DW has the latest. Voting starts in Italy’s snap election Exit polls expected Sunday evening This story was last updated at 11:15 UTC Turnout similar to 2018 Voter turnout by midday reached 19.21% of those who have the right to vote, based on a final count in all localities, the Italian news agency ANSA reported citing the Interior Ministry. The rate of participation was only slightly lower than at the same time during the 2018 election when it reached 19.43%. DW correspondent Giulia Saudelli said that the number of voters showing up to vote at a polling station in central Rome had picked up mid-morning. We’re told numbers are pretty good for a Sunday morning, she added in a tweet. Heavy rain was expected but instead the sun is shining. First party leaders cast their votes Leaders of several major Italian parties have already voted this morning. Enrico Letta of the center-left Democratic Party (PD) voted at a polling station in Rome, while the head of the right-wing, anti-migrant League, Matteo Salvini, voted in Milan. Salvini is running along with the far-right Brothers of Italy (FdI) leader Giorgia Meloni and Forza Italia’s Silvio Berlusconi in a right-wing coalition. He has seen his previous popularity eclipsed by the rising star of the far right, who is expected to win more seats. Asked if he considered coming in just fourth place as a defeat, he said I’m playing to win, not to participate, ANSA reported. Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has also voted in Florence. A one-time time leader of the PD, Renzi split from the party and founded Italia Viva, which is running as part of the Azione-Italia Viva centrist coalition. Who can vote in the election? Just under 50 million people have been called to cast their votes, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. Of those, more than 4.7 million are voting from abroad more than half, 2.6 million, are voting from other European countries. Some 2.7 million people can vote for the first time. The voting age in Italy is 18. There are just over 61,500 polling stations around the country that will be open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., with the first exit polls expected as soon as they close. Turnout is expected to hit a new record low this year, falling even lower than the previous record of 72.9% in 2018. President casts his vote Italian President Sergio Mattarella has voted in his hometown of Palermo on the island of Sicily. He turned up at his polling station, a local school, not long after the polls opened. The presidency is not up for grabs in Sunday’s vote as it is decided in a separate, complicated system involving lawmakers and regional representatives. Mattarella won his second term in January. Polls open Italians began casting their votes on Sunday in what is being dubbed a crucial election. People aged 18 and above are voting for lawmakers in both the lower house Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, the upper house of parliament. Balloting began at 7 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and will run until 11 p.m., with the exit polls being released when voting ends. But it may take hours before a precise seat count is available due to complex calculations required by a hybrid proportional/first-past-the-post electoral law. The snap general election was triggered by outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s resignation in July when the populist 5-Star Movement one of the several parties in Draghi’s marquee coalition, which included leftists, right-wing and centrist parties decided to withdraw its support for the prime minister’s economic aid decree. Draghi, who was chosen by the president to form a government after the previous 5-Star-led government bundled, has said that he will not contest again. The key election also comes at a time when Europe is reeling from the effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The vote could see a return to Italy’s most right-wing government since World War II bringing euroskeptic populists to the heart of Europe. Who are the candidates? There are five main candidates including three former heads of government and two far-right leaders vying for power in the elections. A right-wing alliance led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party appears to be leading in as per the opinion polls and looks set to take office in a coalition with the far-right League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia parties. Meloni who has previously expressed admiration for former Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini could become Italy’s first female prime minister. The frontrunner for the center-left alliance is the Democratic Party led by Enrico Letta. There are speculations that support for the 5-Star Movement has gained some momentum in the last few days. A late surge by the left-leaning party could put the rightist alliance’s chances of clinching a majority in the Senate in jeopardy, making the process of forming a government more complex. How would a potential Meloni government handle the EU? If Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party manages to become the strongest force in the center-right populist coalition governing Italy, it could impact Rome’s relationship with the EU.  

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Wednesday) said Bangladesh didn't vote against any country, but it stood for humanity in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), clearing her country's stance regarding the issue.    "When there was vote against a country (Russia) we didn't go for it, but when, the issue of human rights appeared in the second proposal of UNGA, Bangladesh voted in favour of it," she said.    The premier said this in the Jatiya Sangsad while replying to a supplementary question from Jatiya Party lawmaker Md. Mujibul Haque of Kishoreganj-3 regarding the vote against Russia in UNGA's second proposal.    She said the Ukrainian people are facing sufferings, becoming refugees and children are also sufferings due to the war.    "As the issue of human rights was involved, Bangladesh stood for it . . . It is very clear and none should have confusion on it," she added.    Sheikh Hasina said when the first proposal was tabled in the UNGA, Bangladesh found that there was no issue of human rights, no initiative of stopping the war and no other issues rather only vote against a country which is Russia.    "To see it, I decided not to vote," she said.    The Prime Minister, also the leader of the house, said the war didn't begin automatically; rather there might be someone who is provoking and forced to begin the war. She questioned why a single country would be condemned?    In this context, she said, "We abstained from voting."    The Prime Minister mentioned that Russia is a friendly country of Bangladesh and it stood beside us when the 7th fleet was sent towards Pakistan during the War of Liberation in 1971.    "Russia stood by us in our bad time and we are surely beside the country, but if they (Russia) do unjustified anything we don't accept this," she said.    She continued that all have to see who is provoking and behind this war.    She went on saying that, "So, on that day we made a decision we wouldn't cast vote."    Sheikh Hasina, however, said there is a group of people in the country who can't eat in the normal process rather they choose to eat in different ways through twisting.    "Whatever you say they don't like because their income or consultancy will be stopped if they don't talk or defame Bangladesh abroad," she said. She added that they actually don't want that Bangladesh moves forward. Source: BSS AH

Bangladesh has been re-elected as a Deputy Member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) from the Asia-Pacific region for the term 2021-2024. The election was virtually held today in Geneva during the ongoing 109th International Labour Conference (ILC), a foreign ministry press release said in Dhaka. Bangladesh secured the first position among the candidates of the Asia-Pacific region by bagging the highest 210 votes. Since the announcement of the bid, the Permanent Mission of Bangladesh in Geneva was strongly engaged in election campaign in order for seeking support from other ILO Member States in favour of Bangladesh’s candidature. A Bangladesh delegation, led State Minister for Labour and Employment Begum Monnujan Sufian, virtually attended the ongoing ILC. The Bangladesh delegation also comprised with Labour Secretary K. M. Abdus Salam and Bangladesh Ambassador and Permanent Representative in Geneva Md. Mustafizur Rahman. This is the third consecutive victory for Bangladesh in the ILO Governing Body as earlier Bangladesh served as a Deputy Member for the terms 2014-2017 and 2017-2021. Source: BSS AH

The fourth phase voting out of five phases has been completed. The lowest votes were casted in the fourth phase of upazila council election which was held on Sunday. In this phase 37 percent votes were casted. In the earlier three phases that was over 40 percent. On March 10 in the first phase election in 111 upazilas 43.32 percent votes were casted. On March 18 in the second phase election in 78 upazilas 41.25 percent votes were casted. On March 24 in the third phase election in 116 upazilas 41.41 percent votes were casted. In the fourth phase election in 106 upazilas of the total one crore 65 lakh 89 thousand 981 voters only 60 lakh 54 thousand 615 voters have exercised their voting rights. According to Election Commission source, in the fourth phase the most votes were casted in Fakirhat upazila under Bagerhat district. Total 70.82 percent votes were casted in this upazila. Out of one lakh eight thousand 357 voters 76 thousand 742 voters gave their votes. In the fourth phase the least votes were casted in Feni sadar upzila. Votes were taken here through EVM. In this upazila out of three lakh 48 thousand 259 voters 47 thousand 18 voters have casted their votes. The percentage came up here at 13.50. For the first time the upazila election is being held under party symbols. The fifth and last phase election is scheduled to be held on June 18.   AH