Preliminary results of the parliamentary elections will be announced between Sunday and Tuesday…reports Asian Lite News
Tunisians on Saturday started voting in legislative elections, with a total of 4,551 voting centres and 11,310 polling stations open in the Tunisian territory, the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) said.
Polling stations across the country opened to voters at 8 a.m. amid tight security measures, and the voting is scheduled to continue until 6 p.m.
The total number of candidates running for the legislative elections reached 1,058, competing for the 161 seats in the parliament, Xinhua news agency reported.
Preliminary results of the parliamentary elections will be announced between Sunday and Tuesday.
Tunisian President Kais Saied announced on March 30 the dissolution of the Assembly of People’s Representatives, or the Tunisian parliament.
In December last year, Saied announced a constitutional referendum would be held in July this year, followed by parliamentary elections at the end of 2022.
Odinga is seeking the presidency for the fifth time and has campaigned on an anti-corruption ticket…reports Asian Lite News
Kenyans are voting on Tuesday to elect a President and a new Parliament, with around 22 million people eligible to cast their ballots in a closely fought election.
Pre-election polling put opposition leader and former prime minister Raila Odinga slightly ahead of William Ruto, who served as Vice President to the outgoing Uhuru Kenyatta, who has been President of the East African country for the past 10 years, reports dpa news agency.
Odinga is seeking the presidency for the fifth time and has campaigned on an anti-corruption ticket.
Ruto has pledged far-reaching economic reforms to improve the lot of small businesses and farms.
Rising food and fuel prices have added to tensions in the large country, which is home to a wide range of ethnic groups. Past elections have often been characterized by outbreaks of violence
Kenya is nevertheless seen as a relatively stable country on the continent, and the two main candidates have indicated they intend to accept the election result.
They have also said they plan to continue close relations with the US and the European Union.
Under the Constitution, results must be published within seven days. With four candidates running, and a close result expected, a run-off election may well be necessary.
The election in the country of some 56 million inhabitants is the fifth presidential election since independence from Britain in 1963.
Members of the National Assembly and Senate were also chosen on Tuesday.
Tanzanian President wishes Kenya peaceful general elections
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has wished neighbouring Kenyans peaceful general elections as they went to the polls to vote for their leaders.
“I am praying God be with you (Kenyans) as you fulfill your constitutional right of getting leaders of your choice in a peaceful environment, unity, harmony and solidarity,” she said in her official tweet on Tuesday.
“Wishing you all the best.”
President Hassan was inspecting the Njombe region in the country’s southern highlands on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Millions of Kenyan citizens on Tuesday cast their ballots at nearly 46,229 polling stations across the country to elect the country’s fifth President as well as members of the National Assembly, Senators, and county governors.
William Ruto, Kenya’s sitting Deputy President and Presidential candidate under the Kenya Kwanza (Kenya First) Alliance, cast his ballot at 6 a.m on Tuesday at a primary school located in his ancestral Sugoi village in the northwestern county of Uasin Gishu. Soon after casting his ballot, Ruto said he will respect the election outcomes, after months of heated campaigns.
Ruto is running for the presidency with three other candidates, including his closest rival, Raila Odinga, a veteran Opposition leader who is running for the presidency under the Azimio La Umoja (Resolution for Unity) One Kenya Coalition. Odinga also cast his ballot at a polling station in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, later on Tuesday.
President Uhuru Kenyatta Votes in Gatundu
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday morning cast his vote at Mutomo Primary School in Gatundu, Kiambu County.
The Head of State, who was accompanied by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, cast his vote shortly after 9.00 am and urged Kenyans to vote peacefully.
“Vote peacefully and go home to wait for the results,” President Kenyatta said.
Responding to questions from the media, the President said the voting exercise at the Mutomo Primary School polling station was smooth and he hoped the same will apply across the country.
Before accompanying the President to Gatundu, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta had cast her vote at St. Mary’s School in Nairobi County shortly before 7.00 am.
The voters comprising men, women and the first time electorates, in large numbers queued up in front of the polling stations well before they opened at 7 a.m…reports Asian Lite News.
As it is the day of democracy for some states in India, over 61 per cent voters have exercised their franchise till 2 p.m. in the third and final phase of the Assam Assembly polls, conducted in 40 constituencies amid tight security, according to election officials.
Tuesday’s balloting would decide the fate of 337 candidates, including 25 women aspirants.
All Covid-19 protocols for the voters including social distancing and thermal screening are being maintained.
Election officials said that no untoward incident was reported from anywhere of the 12 western Assam districts, bordering Bhutan, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh, where balloting is underway peacefully and smoothly.
The voters comprising men, women and the first time electorates, in large numbers queued up in front of the polling stations well before they opened at 7 a.m.
Polling officials checking Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs) to a distribution center in Uluberia for Assembly polls in West Bengal. (PIB)
The polling would continue till 6 p.m. without any break as the Election Commission has extended an hour in view of the Covid-19 induced situations.
According to the state’s Chief Electoral Officer Nitin Khade, a total of 79,19,641 voters, including 39,07,963 women electorates, are eligible to cast their ballots across 9,587 polling stations in 6,107 locations.
Of the 9,587 polling stations, 316 are all women managed polling stations.
Khade told the media that around 32,000 Central Armed Police Forces, along with thousands of state security force personnel, have been deployed to maintain law and order during this phase in which 45,604 polling personnel were engaged to conduct the polls.
Tuesday’s electoral battle is crucial for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress as both the parties won 11 seats each in the 2016 Assembly polls.
The BJP’s ally Asom Gana Parishad had bagged four seats, while the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) secured eight and six seats, respectively.
Both the BPF and the AIUDF this time are part of the Congress-led ‘Mahajot’ (grand alliance).
In the last elections, the BPF was with the BJP and the AIUDF fought independently.
Tuesday’s polling would also decide the fate of incumbent Finance, Health, Education, PWD Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the ruling party’s state President Ranjeet Kumar Dass.
Sarma, convener of the BJP backed anti-Congress body North East Democratic Alliance, is contesting from the Jalukbari seat from where he has consecutively won since 2001.
Meanwhile, Dass is contesting from the Patacharkuchi seat. In the 2016 elections, he was elected to the Assembly from the Sorbhog constituency.
Nearly 81 per cent of the 73,44,631 voters exercised their franchise in the second phase across 39 constituencies on April 1.
Around 80 per cent of 81,09,815 voters cast their votes on March 27 in the first phase in 47 constituencies.
