International | September 27, 2021
Merkel’s Party Suffers Sweeping Losses as Germans Spread Vote
International | September 27, 2021
As Germany’s election results came into sharper focus on Monday, no party won decisive majority but the loser was clear: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats. After 16 years in power under Ms. Merkel’s leadership, they saw their share of the vote collapse by nearly nine points, garnering only 24.1 percent of the vote. It was the party’s worst showing in its history, and the election signaled the end of an era for Germany and for Europe. The Social Democratic Party defeated Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union by 1.6 percentage points, according to preliminary official results reported early Monday. New York TimesAs Germany’s election results came into sharper focus on Monday, no party won decisive majority but the loser was clear: Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats. After 16 years in power under Ms. Merkel’s leadership, they saw their share of the vote collapse by nearly nine points, garnering only 24.1 percent of the vote. It was the party’s worst showing in its history, and the election signaled the end of an era for Germany and for Europe. The Social Democratic Party defeated Ms. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union by 1.6 percentage points, according to preliminary official results reported early Monday… (Excerpts from the New York Times)
International | September 20, 2021
Pro-Kremlin party leads in early results in Russian election
International | September 20, 2021
Early results Sunday in Russia’s parliamentary election showed the dominant pro-Kremlin party well in the lead, but it was unclear if the party will retain the two-thirds majority of seats that allow it to change the constitution. The election is widely seen as an important part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to cement his grip on power ahead of the 2024 presidential election, in which control of the State Duma, or parliament, will be key. Results from about 10% of the country’s polling stations gave the pro-Kremlin United Russia party 38% of the vote for the 225 deputies apportioned by party lists, according to the elections commission. Another 225 lawmakers will be chosen by individual races, and the elections commission said early results showed United Russia candidates leading in 130 of those single-constituency seats….(Excerpts from Politico)
International, New Jersey | July 2, 2021
PM Naftali Bennett lived in NJ as a kid. Israel belongs to all Jews, he says
International, New Jersey | July 2, 2021
NEW JERSEY (Jewish Standard) — Israel recently swore in its 13th prime minister — and the third to have spent formative years in the United States.
Golda Meir, who led Israel from 1969 through 1974, immigrated from Kyiv to Milwaukee with her family when she was 8, in 1906; she only moved to Palestine 15 years later, not long after she married Morris Meyerson. (She changed her name to Meir in 1956, when she became Israel’s foreign minister.)
Benjamin Netanyahu, whose tenure as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister ended in June, spent two stints of his youth — one in elementary school, one in high school — in suburban Philadelphia, while his historian father taught Jewish history at Dropsie College…
(Excerpts from the Times of Israel)
International | June 2, 2021
Isaac Herzog elected Israel’s 11th president, with 87 votes of Knesset’s 120
International | June 2, 2021
Isaac Herzog, the chairman of the Jewish Agency and former head of the Labor party, was elected Wednesday as Israel’s eleventh president.
Herzog defeated Miriam Peretz, a social activist who overcame the loss of two of her sons in battle to become an Israel Prize-winning educator, with 87 votes, the most a presidential candidate has ever won, to her 26.
In the secret election, in which all 120 MKs were eligible to cast votes, three abstained, three votes were disqualified and one lawmaker, Ra’am chair Mansour Abbas, did not vote.
Herzog, who is the son of Israel’s sixth president, Chaim Herzog, and the grandson of Israel’s first chief rabbi, will succeed Reuven Rivlin when the latter’s term ends on July 9…
(Excerpts from the Times of Israel)
International | May 12, 2021
Trump hails UK voter ID proposal as model for United States
International | May 12, 2021
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday touted a voter identification proposal in the United Kingdom as a model for what should be done in the United States.
Such voting reforms are necessary “so we never again have an election rigged and stolen from us,” Trump said in a statement, alluding to the 2020 election.
The announcement on Tuesday of a proposal to require U.K. voters to show a photo ID to vote was made as part of the “Queen’s Speech,” an address delivered by Queen Elizabeth II and prepared by the ruling party that lays out Parliament’s priorities. The speech is not meant to represent the queen’s own opinions…
(Excerpts from Washington Examiner)