Democracy
Voter’s quick reference to San Francisco’s mayoral candidates
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A succinct listing of candidate positions and quotes on more than two-dozen key policy issues and ballot initiatives.
Democracy
Swiss party seeks to expel foreign criminals
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Swiss voters in November will decide whether to activate a right-wing proposal to deport all foreign criminals in the country.
Democracy
By God, Australia’s PM is an atheist
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While “God bless America” is a seemingly requisite speech-closer for politicians in the United States, citizens Down Under just elected their first atheist prime minister.
Democracy
‘Conservative feminism’ trademark of election rhetoric
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The term “feminist” has been preceded by countless qualifiers since its debut in France in the late 1800’s, but leading up to the November 2010 midterm elections, it has been paired increasingly with a word many believe to be its antithesis: conservative.
Democracy & Civics
Slang constitution attempts to popularize Kenyan law
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In an effort to familiarize young voters with Kenya’s draft constitution, a website has translated the document into the slang language Sheng.
Democracy & Civics
Brazil bill could grant rights to ‘unborn’
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A current Brazilian bill could amplify the nation’s already stringent abortion restrictions. The “fetal rights” measure gives “absolute priority” to fetuses and extends constitutional rights to the “unborn.”
Democracy & Civics
Voters paid to stay away from Philippine elections
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A new form of voter fraud was reported in the May 10 Philippine general elections: some qualified voters were paid to not vote.
Democracy & Civics
Thousands of Philippine voting machines on the blink
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Over 82,000 automated voting machines in the Philippines have failed to recognize candidates running for elected office, just days before the May 10 elections. The voting machine failures caused more unrest and fears of fraud among the candidates and voters.
Democracy & Civics
Mayhem looms in Philippine elections
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Welcome to the spectacle known as Filipino politics. According to Transparency International, an agency that surveys corruption levels in international countries, the Philippines finished 139th out of 180 countries in its 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Democracy & Civics
Facebook Politics go Global
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U.S. President Barack Obama’s electoral success using social networking and the Internet is being mirrored in other parts of the world by candidates and nonpartisan democracy advocates. Mauricio Funes, front runner in El Salvador’s March 15 presidential elections, has a Facebook page where his friends can keep tabs on his campaign doings and post messages of support — and where Funes himself is said to write on his followers’ walls, urging them to “vote for change.” [Editor’s note: The Washington Post is reporting that Funes has won the Salvadoran election.]
In Chile, political candidates have sometimes had a hard time connecting with their supporters, in part because the country’s vast territory make on-the-ground campaigning difficult.
Now, The Santiago Times reports that the two major candidates for president in Chile both have Facebook pages, it is the center-right candidate, Sebastian Pinera, who is more effectively tapping into Facebook, Flickr, Fotolog, Twitter and YouTube. Meanwhile, his center-left opponent, former President Eduardo Frei, is stepping up his digital pace with a political Facebook page that features YouTube videos of his everyday activities. In India, however, it’s not the candidates but nonpartisan interest groups who are leading the technological charge to advance the democratic process.