Foreign News
Senegal votes as President Faye eyes parliamentary majority to push reforms
Polls have opened in Senegal’s parliamentary elections as President Bassirou Diomaye Faye aims for a resounding majority to see through the promises of ambitious reforms that swept him to power eight months ago.
More than seven million of the country’s 17 million people are eligible to vote on Sunday to pick members of the 165-seat National Assembly for a five-year term. Polls opened at 8am (08:00 GMT) and will close at 6pm (18:00 GMT).
Faye secured victory in March pledging economic transformation, social justice and a fight against corruption – raising hopes among a largely youthful population facing high inflation and widespread unemployment. He dissolved the National Assembly in September.
Faye appointed his firebrand mentor Ousmane Sonko as prime minister after Sonko was barred from running for president due to defamation charges against him.
The pair promised a left-wing pan=African agenda – promising to diversify political and economic partnerships, review hydrocarbon and fishing contracts and re-establish Senegal’s sovereignty, which they alleged had been “sold abroad”.
An opposition-led parliament hampered the government’s first months in power, leading Faye to dissolve the parliament in September and call snap elections as soon as the constitution allowed him to do so.
Analysts say Senegalese voters have historically confirmed their presidential choice during parliamentary elections, and the governing Pastef party is the favourite to win.
Earlier this year, the West African country witnessed the worst violence in decades in the run-up to the presidential vote. The then-President Macky Sall delayed the vote originally scheduled in February, plunging the country into chaos. The move led to deadly protests, as well as a pushback from the country’s highest court.
Elections finally took place on March 24, giving a smashing victory to Faye – a relatively unknown candidate appointed by widely popular Sonko. But seven months since the vote, pledges have failed to materialise, with Sonko blaming the opposition-led parliament for failing to pass legislation needed to execute the promised reforms.
Senegal is plunging into a debt crisis after the new government said it had discovered the budget deficit was much wider than reported by the previous government. A $1.9bn IMF programme is on hold while the government audit is being reviewed.
The main threat to the Pastef party’s ambitions is the unexpected alliance of two opposition parties, including the Alliance for the Republic (APR), headed by Sall. The race also includes two smaller opposition coalitions – one led by Dakar’s mayor, Barthelemy Dias.
Mariam Wane Ly, a former parliamentarian and trailblazer for women in politics in Senegal, said the election campaign gave the leaders a chance to explain their agendas and she expected Pastef to win the majority it is seeking.
“I think it’s going to make up for all the unhappiness,” she said.
[Aljazeera]
At least 13 people, including four children, have been killed in two incidents in Nigeria as large crowds gathered to collect food and clothing distributed at annual Christmas events, police say.
In the capital, Abuja, at least 10 people died on Saturday and many more were injured in a scramble to receive gifts of charity being distributed by the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama district.
“This unfortunate event, which took place around 6:30am [05:30 GMT], resulted in a stampede that claimed the lives of 10 individuals, including four children, and left eight others with varying degrees of injuries,” said Josephine Adeh, a police spokesperson.
In a separate incident in Okija in Anambra State in southern Nigeria, three people were killed in a crush at a charity event organised by a philanthropist, state police said.
“The event had not even started when the rush began,” police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga said. There could be more deaths recorded as officers investigate, he said.
In both incidents, the victims were mostly women and children who were trampled as crowds tried to reach the provisions being offered.
[Aljazeera]
A nine-year-old child and four adults have been killed, and more than 200 injured after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, officials say.
At least 41 people were critically injured after the incident which lasted around three minutes, police said.
The arrested suspect has been named in local media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi citizen who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had worked as a doctor.
Reiner Haseloff, the premier of Saxony-Anhalt state, said a preliminary investigation suggested the alleged attacker was acting alone.
He added that he could not rule out more deaths due to the number of injured.
The suspect is currently being questioned and prosecutors expect to charge him with murder and attempted murder in due course, the head of the local prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.
Prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens added that the investigation was ongoing but suggested the background to the crime “could have been disgruntlement with the way Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany”.
The suspected attacker has no known links to Islamist extremism – social media and posts online appear to suggest he had been critical of Islam.
Footage from the scene showed numerous emergency services vehicles attending while people lay on the ground.
Further footage then emerged of armed police confronting and arresting a man who can be seen lying on the ground by a stationary vehicle.
Unverified video on social media purports to show a car ploughing into the crowd at the market.
City officials said around 100 police, medics and firefighters, as well as 50 rescue service personnel rushed to the scene.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who travelled to the city on Saturday, described the attack as a “dreadful tragedy” as “so many people were injured and killed with such brutality” in a place that is supposed to be “joyful”.
He told reporters that there were serious concerns for those who had been critically injured – which German media reports is in the dozens – and that “all resources” will be allocated to investigating the suspect behind the attack.
There would be a memorial service for the victims at the Magdeburg Cathedral later on Saturday, he added.
[BBC]
Independent Wexford TD Verona Murphy will be the next Ceann Comhairle (speaker) of Dáil Éireann.
She will become the first woman to ever hold the role after being elected by her fellow TDs (members of the Irish parliment).
Fianna Fáil’s John McGuinness and Seán Ó Fearghaíl as well as Aengus Ó Snodaigh from Sinn Féin also ran for the position.
Politicians in the Republic of Ireland met for the first time since the general election on Wednesday.
[BBC]
At least 13 people killed in Nigeria stampedes at charity events
Prime Minister and ADB Country Director discuss educational reforms
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