Jordanians Call for Boycott of Upcoming Elections
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of downtown Amman on October 5 to call for a boycott of the upcoming parliamentary elections. The demonstration was the largest since weekly protests began in early 2011. Jordanian opposition groups ...
October 6, 2012
Category: Elections, Featured, Islamist movements, Jordan, Muslim Brotherhood, Parliament, Political Islam, Political transition, Protests, Reform
POMED Notes: Beyond Dichotomy, Building a New Egypt
The Woodrow Wilson Center International Center for Scholars hosted an event on Wednesday (9/26) entitled “Beyond Dichotomy: Building a New Egypt,” featuring Wilson Center Senior Scholar Margot Badran. Over the past year in Egypt she saw how a society which has been polarized for several decades along the lines of “the religious” and “the secular” has witnessed a decrease in significance of such categories. According to Badran, such distinctions are ...
September 27, 2012
Category: Egypt, Elections, Event Notes, Islamist movements, Muslim Brotherhood, Political Islam, Reform, Secularism
September 26, 2012
Category: Elections, Featured, Islamist movements, Jordan, Muslim Brotherhood, Political transition, Reform
Iranian Officials Call for Reformist Participation in Elections
In a speech to a group of students on September 11, former Iranian president and reformist Mohammad Khatami stated his belief that reformists should participate in the coming presidential elections. Khatami's website quoted him as saying that "participating in ...
September 12, 2012
Category: Civil Liberties, Elections, Featured, Iran, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, Political Islam, Protests, Reform
Libyan PM to Come from Outside Congress
Libya's National Congress voted to bar any current members from serving as prime minister in the next government. The vote passed overwhelmingly in favor of the motion, in what is a major step in defining the separation of powers ...
Yemen Announces Formation of New Election Committee
On August 30, Yemeni Minister of Legal Affairs Mohamed Mikhlafi announced the creation of an new election committee ahead of a round of elections which are slated to take place within the next two months. "The coming period ...
Thousands in Kuwait Protest Controversial Election Law
Supporting media reports from Kuwait indicate that as many as 10,000 people rallied Monday in protest of possible amendments to the controversial proposed election law, and calling for the dissolution of the recently reinstated 2009 parliament. However, others put ...
Jordan’s Islamists Continue to Demand Regime Reform
Jordan's major Islamist party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), issued a statement Friday saying "'regime reform is a 'realistic and achievable objective' and the only acceptable outcome of the country’s reform process," according to the Jordan Times. The party's Secretary ...
Algerian Government at a Standstill
With four months elapsed since Algeria's legislative elections in May and no new government yet named, politicians from several parties are expressing frustration and concern for what many call an unprecedented government absence, even for Ramadan. "There is ...
‘The Green Wave’ Now Available Nationwide to View
The Green Wave (2010), a documentary-collage about the 2009 protests in Iran against fraudulent presidential elections and the subsequent crackdown on what became known as the Green Movement, is now available nationwide for viewing (trailer here). The L.A. Times calls the film "deeply moving," and NPR calls it "soulful." You can find the film on Movies on Demand and iTunes. POMED screened the film at the West End Cinema last night, featuring remarks ...
Salam Fayyad Calls for West Bank Elections
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is calling for parliamentary elections in the West Bank to be held soon, without waiting for a reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. He compared the Gaza-West Bank split to that of East and ...
Hundreds Petition Jordan’s King Abdullah to Postpone Elections
Hundreds of former officials and leading public figures urged Jordan's King Abdullah to delay the upcoming parliamentary elections, warning that holding the polls amid a nationwide boycott may tip the country into a deep political crisis. According to the ...
Tunisian Finance Minister Resigns
Tunisia's Finance Minister Houcine Dimassi resigned this week, citing excessive spending and the recent firing of the head of Tunisia's Central Bank Mustapha Kamel Nabli. Dimassi called the decision to dismiss Nabli "random and unfair" and "something which will have very negative ...
Libyan Olympic Committee Chief Released
The deputy chief of Libya's Olympic Committee announced Sunday that Nabil Elalem, the committee's president, is free and resting at home. Elalem had been kidnapped from his car last week by armed gunmen, and information surrounding his whereabouts or ...
Electoral Analysis: Full Election Results Released In Libya
(A Libyan polling station worker checks electoral material; Photo Credit: Getty) Libya's High National Elections Commission (HNEC) released the complete set of preliminary election results (Arabic) on Tuesday. As part of POMED's ongoing Libyan election coverage, we have translated HNEC's party-list results chart into English. The chart provides a breakdown of how many seats each party attained by electoral district. Of the upcoming General National Congress' (GNC) 200 seats, 120 were designated for individual candidates ...
Egypt’s Administrative Court to Hear Several Critical Cases
Cairo's Administrative Court is scheduled to hear several major cases today including the dissolution of the parliament's lower house, President Morsi's decision to cancel the dissolution, the status of the Shura Council, and the SCAF issued supplement to the ...