Spain's ruling Socialist party is licking its political wounds, after voters punished the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in local and regional elections.
The Spanish prime minister wanted to maintain a robust welfare state while handling the demands of the global economy. His decision to abandon the former in favour of the latter goes a long way to explaining the Socialists' local election disaster
A crushing defeat for the ruling Socialist Party in regional elections over the weekend has thrust the bond market's attentions back on Spain, but market participants say it might be too early to press the alarm button.
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Thailand will hold vote before June, says DPM
Abhisit’s term expires at the end of this year
Thailand will hold elections before June, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuagsuban said today, providing first test of support for the government since it came to power three years ago in the polarised country.
“I can guarantee it will be before June because the prime minister has made that clear,” Suthep told reporters. “We will fix problems of rising prices and dissolve (parliament).”
Although Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s term expires at the end of this year, the British-born, Oxford University-educated premier has been coy about the timing of an election.
Last week , he said elections could be held by June but would not commit fully, saying Thailand needs to be stable for any poll takes place.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Obama urges blacks to vote, ‘guard the change’
President Barack Obama, seeking to fire up an important part of his support base ahead of November’s elections, told black leaders today he wanted their support to “guard the change” he was delivering.
“I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, and your workplaces, to your churches, and barbershops, and beauty shops. Tell them we have more work to do. Tell them we can’t wait to organise. Tell them that the time for action is now,” he told the Congressional Black Caucus.
US President Obama kisses his wife Michelle after being announced to speak by Lee and Payne at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Legislative Conference Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington
The words of America’s first black president showed a deliberate effort to recapture the enthusiasm that had helped him win the White House in 2008, after polls showed African- Americans much less likely to vote than whites this year.
“It’s not surprising that a lot of people may not be feeling that energized or that engaged right now,” he told an annual awards ceremony hosted by the organisation representing black members of the US Congress.
“A lot of folks may be feeling like politics is something they get involved in every four years when there’s a presidential election, but they don’t see why they should bother the rest of the time,” he said.
Republicans could make big gains in November as high unemployment and slowing growth turns voters away from Obama’s Democrats, potentially costing them control of Congress.
A Gallup survey in early September found only 25 per cent of blacks had given ‘quite a lot’ or ‘some’ thought to the November 2 congressional ballot, compared to 42 per cent of whites.
This represents a much larger gap than during the presidential election in 2008, when the two groups were about equal in their intention to cast a ballot.
High turnout in the African-American community, together with the enthusiastic support of young voters, was a striking feature of the 2008 election and an important part of Obama’s strategy in securing the White House.
Success in repeating at least part of that performance in the upcoming midterm poll, when voter turnout is traditionally low, could make a big difference to congressional Democrats running in close races. All 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 37 of 100 Senate seats are up for grabs.
“The last election was a changing of the guard — now we need to guard the change,” Obama said.
“I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, and your workplaces, to your churches, and barbershops, and beauty shops. Tell them we have more work to do. Tell them we can’t wait to organise. Tell them that the time for action is now,” he told the Congressional Black Caucus.
The words of America’s first black president showed a deliberate effort to recapture the enthusiasm that had helped him win the White House in 2008, after polls showed African- Americans much less likely to vote than whites this year.
“It’s not surprising that a lot of people may not be feeling that energized or that engaged right now,” he told an annual awards ceremony hosted by the organisation representing black members of the US Congress.
“A lot of folks may be feeling like politics is something they get involved in every four years when there’s a presidential election, but they don’t see why they should bother the rest of the time,” he said.
Republicans could make big gains in November as high unemployment and slowing growth turns voters away from Obama’s Democrats, potentially costing them control of Congress.
A Gallup survey in early September found only 25 per cent of blacks had given ‘quite a lot’ or ‘some’ thought to the November 2 congressional ballot, compared to 42 per cent of whites.
This represents a much larger gap than during the presidential election in 2008, when the two groups were about equal in their intention to cast a ballot.
High turnout in the African-American community, together with the enthusiastic support of young voters, was a striking feature of the 2008 election and an important part of Obama’s strategy in securing the White House.
Success in repeating at least part of that performance in the upcoming midterm poll, when voter turnout is traditionally low, could make a big difference to congressional Democrats running in close races. All 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and 37 of 100 Senate seats are up for grabs.
“The last election was a changing of the guard — now we need to guard the change,” Obama said.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Afghanistan braces for violent polling day
Afghanistan braced for a day of violence today as voters headed to the polls for a parliamentary election that is a crucial test of government credibility and the strength of its security forces.
The Taliban has vowed to disrupt the poll and urged potential voters to stay at home — even as the government called on Afghans to come out to polling stations for what is their second chance to choose their own parliament.
“We should try to do our best under the current circumstances. It is very important that the Afghan people come out and vote,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was re-elected last year in a poll marred by fraud accusations, told reporters.
It will not be clear for several weeks at least who among the almost 2,500 candidates have won the 249 seats on offer in the Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of parliament.
Preliminary results from today’s voting will not be known until October 8 at the earliest, with final results not expected before October 30.
Election observers expect thousands of complaints from losing candidates, with Afghanistan’s own poll watchdog expecting a “disputatious” election, which could delay the process further.
Almost 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police are providing security for the poll, backed up by some 150,000 foreign troops.
Kabul so far has been quiet since a heavy clampdown was imposed yesterday.
A wave of abductions spread across much of the rest of the country yesterday however, with 23 kidnappings of people working on the elections, including two candidates.
Significant security failures would be a major setback, with Washington watching closely before US President Barack Obama conducts a war strategy review in December likely to examine the pace and scale of US troop withdrawals.
Observers fear security worries could lead to a low voter turnout, as it did last year when the Taliban staged dozens of attacks but failed to disrupt the process entirely.
However, voter turnout was very low last year in the south and east where Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s main ethnic group, dominate and where the Taliban has its strongest support.
Corruption and fraud are also serious concerns after a deeply flawed presidential ballot last year. A third of votes cast for Karzai were thrown out as fake. Even though he is not standing, today’s vote is seen as a test of Karzai’s credibility.
Washington believes corruption weakens the central government and its ability to build up institutions like the Afghan security forces, which in turn determines when Western troops in Afghanistan will be able to leave.
Voter turnout may also be hit by cynicism and disillusionment. Billions of dollars in foreign aid cash have flowed into Afghanistan over the past nine years but, for many people, have brought no real improvement in their lives.
The Taliban has vowed to disrupt the poll and urged potential voters to stay at home — even as the government called on Afghans to come out to polling stations for what is their second chance to choose their own parliament.
A donkey collapses after being overloaded with election materials to be transported to a village unreachable by vehicles, in Panjshir province, north of Kabul yesterday, September 17, 2010.
“We should try to do our best under the current circumstances. It is very important that the Afghan people come out and vote,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was re-elected last year in a poll marred by fraud accusations, told reporters.
It will not be clear for several weeks at least who among the almost 2,500 candidates have won the 249 seats on offer in the Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of parliament.
Preliminary results from today’s voting will not be known until October 8 at the earliest, with final results not expected before October 30.
Election observers expect thousands of complaints from losing candidates, with Afghanistan’s own poll watchdog expecting a “disputatious” election, which could delay the process further.
Almost 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police are providing security for the poll, backed up by some 150,000 foreign troops.
Kabul so far has been quiet since a heavy clampdown was imposed yesterday.
A wave of abductions spread across much of the rest of the country yesterday however, with 23 kidnappings of people working on the elections, including two candidates.
Significant security failures would be a major setback, with Washington watching closely before US President Barack Obama conducts a war strategy review in December likely to examine the pace and scale of US troop withdrawals.
Observers fear security worries could lead to a low voter turnout, as it did last year when the Taliban staged dozens of attacks but failed to disrupt the process entirely.
However, voter turnout was very low last year in the south and east where Pashtuns, Afghanistan’s main ethnic group, dominate and where the Taliban has its strongest support.
Corruption and fraud are also serious concerns after a deeply flawed presidential ballot last year. A third of votes cast for Karzai were thrown out as fake. Even though he is not standing, today’s vote is seen as a test of Karzai’s credibility.
Washington believes corruption weakens the central government and its ability to build up institutions like the Afghan security forces, which in turn determines when Western troops in Afghanistan will be able to leave.
Voter turnout may also be hit by cynicism and disillusionment. Billions of dollars in foreign aid cash have flowed into Afghanistan over the past nine years but, for many people, have brought no real improvement in their lives.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Afghan officials promise security for elections
Afghan officials and political figures sought to reassure wary Afghans on Thursday that it will be safe to vote in this weekend's parliamentary election despite an upswing in violence in recent months.
Both the Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami, an insurgent group under the leadership of warlord and former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, have criticized the elections and urged people to stay home.
In the southern province of Kandahar — the birthplace of the Taliban — Gov. Tooryalai Wesa insisted that recent military operations by NATO and Afghan forces had weakened the insurgents.
An Afghan girl walks past by election posters of parliamentary candidates in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010. Afghans will choose 249 members of the lower house from among more than 2,500 candidates on Sept. 18.
"They've got nothing," Wesa told reporters in Kandahar city. "They just have propaganda and threats, so people should not be afraid. They should come out for the coming elections and they should vote their choice for their own candidate."
Saturday's poll is the first since a fraud-marred presidential vote last year that left many of the Afghan government's international backers questioning whether they had a reliable partner in President Hamid Karzai.
Much of the fraud in the August 2009 election was tied to insecurity. Polling station lists were only released a few days before the vote because of continually changing reports from security forces about what areas they could secure. A push to open as many polling stations as possible enabled corrupt officials to stuff ballot boxes for their preferred candidate at stations voters didn't know about or couldn't get to.
Adding to tensions in Afghanistan have been a series of protests in recent days against reported burnings of Qurans in the United States. On Thursday, about 100 rock-throwing protesters moved toward a NATO military base in Chora district of Uruzgan in southwest Afghanistan. The provincial governor, Khudi Rahim, said one person was killed.
The coalition said a protester armed with an AK-47 attempted to access Forward Operating Base Mirwais through a side gate and was shot by a NATO service member. It did not say if the person died as a result.
The government on Thursday sought to reassure Afghans that it will still be safe to vote on Saturday.
"The Interior Ministry calls on the people of Afghanistan to come out and vote in force. The security is fine. We have taken care of the security," Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary told reporters in Kabul.
NATO said Thursday that eight insurgents who "actively" planned to execute attacks during the elections were killed in an airstrike and a follow-up ground operation against a Taliban district commander in northern Kunduz province the previous day.
In addition, NATO and Afghan forces arrested three men who had been planning a rocket and grenade attack on a military training center in the capital during the balloting, NATO said Thursday.
Nevertheless, the campaign season has been characterized by violence and intimidation.
There have been at least 19 election-related deaths, including four candidates, according to the U.N. and the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan, the main Afghan monitoring group.
The Taliban repeated their threat of violence on election day in a statement sent to media Thursday.
It said it has planned countrywide attacks "to frustrate this American process and will implement them on the day when the illegitimate process (of elections) is conducted."
In the eastern province of Khost, Taliban leaflets were posted on mosques warning against voting.
"Any election workers or voters will be considered abandoned by our holy warriors and if they go to polling stations they will be targeted," one leaflet said. "Vehicles and polling stations will be attacked by bombs and other means."
The reactions in Khost reflected a mixture of fear and tenacity among citizens.
"I am not crazy to risk my life by participating in the elections," said one resident, Mohammad Shapoor.
But another man said he would not be deterred. "We will vote fearlessly, we are not scared of anyone," Sharifuddin Zazai said.
In a reminder of the ongoing violence, NATO said one of its service members was killed in an insurgent attack in the south Thursday. The military coalition did not provide details.
About 280,000 Afghan police and soldiers will protect the more than 5,800 voting centers officially scheduled to open on election day, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi. Last year, about 150,000 Afghan forces protected more than 6,000 voting centers. He said the number of international forces providing back-up has also increased since the 2009 vote.
In Kandahar, local officials warned that too much security could even hamper turnout. The province, and particularly Kandahar city, have seen a surge of international and Afghan forces in recent months as part of a push out the Taliban.
Ahmad Wali Karzai, chairman of the provincial council and President Karzai's brother, said that people can be frightened away if daily traffic is restricted or there are too many security forces out on the street.
"It's better for people and the government to relax and make it more like a normal, routine day," he said.
Abdullah Abdullah, the runner-up in last year's presidential poll, called on Afghans to vote "in massive numbers" Saturday, even though he said the vote will likely be marred with fraud and violence.
Afghan women walk past by election posters of parliamentary candidates in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010. Afghans will choose 249 members of the lower house from among more than 2,500 candidates on Sept. 18.
A supporter of Qadria Yazdan Parast carries her poster away after attending an election campaign in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday Sept. 15, 2010. Afghanistan will elect the lower house of its parliament on September 18
Supporters of candidate Qadria Yazdan Parast attend an election campaign meeting in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday Sept. 15, 2010. Afghanistan will elect the lower house of its parliament on September 18.
Both the Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami, an insurgent group under the leadership of warlord and former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, have criticized the elections and urged people to stay home.
In the southern province of Kandahar — the birthplace of the Taliban — Gov. Tooryalai Wesa insisted that recent military operations by NATO and Afghan forces had weakened the insurgents.
An Afghan girl walks past by election posters of parliamentary candidates in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010. Afghans will choose 249 members of the lower house from among more than 2,500 candidates on Sept. 18.
"They've got nothing," Wesa told reporters in Kandahar city. "They just have propaganda and threats, so people should not be afraid. They should come out for the coming elections and they should vote their choice for their own candidate."
Saturday's poll is the first since a fraud-marred presidential vote last year that left many of the Afghan government's international backers questioning whether they had a reliable partner in President Hamid Karzai.
Much of the fraud in the August 2009 election was tied to insecurity. Polling station lists were only released a few days before the vote because of continually changing reports from security forces about what areas they could secure. A push to open as many polling stations as possible enabled corrupt officials to stuff ballot boxes for their preferred candidate at stations voters didn't know about or couldn't get to.
Adding to tensions in Afghanistan have been a series of protests in recent days against reported burnings of Qurans in the United States. On Thursday, about 100 rock-throwing protesters moved toward a NATO military base in Chora district of Uruzgan in southwest Afghanistan. The provincial governor, Khudi Rahim, said one person was killed.
The coalition said a protester armed with an AK-47 attempted to access Forward Operating Base Mirwais through a side gate and was shot by a NATO service member. It did not say if the person died as a result.
The government on Thursday sought to reassure Afghans that it will still be safe to vote on Saturday.
"The Interior Ministry calls on the people of Afghanistan to come out and vote in force. The security is fine. We have taken care of the security," Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary told reporters in Kabul.
NATO said Thursday that eight insurgents who "actively" planned to execute attacks during the elections were killed in an airstrike and a follow-up ground operation against a Taliban district commander in northern Kunduz province the previous day.
In addition, NATO and Afghan forces arrested three men who had been planning a rocket and grenade attack on a military training center in the capital during the balloting, NATO said Thursday.
Nevertheless, the campaign season has been characterized by violence and intimidation.
There have been at least 19 election-related deaths, including four candidates, according to the U.N. and the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan, the main Afghan monitoring group.
The Taliban repeated their threat of violence on election day in a statement sent to media Thursday.
It said it has planned countrywide attacks "to frustrate this American process and will implement them on the day when the illegitimate process (of elections) is conducted."
In the eastern province of Khost, Taliban leaflets were posted on mosques warning against voting.
"Any election workers or voters will be considered abandoned by our holy warriors and if they go to polling stations they will be targeted," one leaflet said. "Vehicles and polling stations will be attacked by bombs and other means."
The reactions in Khost reflected a mixture of fear and tenacity among citizens.
"I am not crazy to risk my life by participating in the elections," said one resident, Mohammad Shapoor.
But another man said he would not be deterred. "We will vote fearlessly, we are not scared of anyone," Sharifuddin Zazai said.
In a reminder of the ongoing violence, NATO said one of its service members was killed in an insurgent attack in the south Thursday. The military coalition did not provide details.
About 280,000 Afghan police and soldiers will protect the more than 5,800 voting centers officially scheduled to open on election day, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi. Last year, about 150,000 Afghan forces protected more than 6,000 voting centers. He said the number of international forces providing back-up has also increased since the 2009 vote.
In Kandahar, local officials warned that too much security could even hamper turnout. The province, and particularly Kandahar city, have seen a surge of international and Afghan forces in recent months as part of a push out the Taliban.
Ahmad Wali Karzai, chairman of the provincial council and President Karzai's brother, said that people can be frightened away if daily traffic is restricted or there are too many security forces out on the street.
"It's better for people and the government to relax and make it more like a normal, routine day," he said.
Abdullah Abdullah, the runner-up in last year's presidential poll, called on Afghans to vote "in massive numbers" Saturday, even though he said the vote will likely be marred with fraud and violence.
Afghan women walk past by election posters of parliamentary candidates in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010. Afghans will choose 249 members of the lower house from among more than 2,500 candidates on Sept. 18.
A supporter of Qadria Yazdan Parast carries her poster away after attending an election campaign in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday Sept. 15, 2010. Afghanistan will elect the lower house of its parliament on September 18
Supporters of candidate Qadria Yazdan Parast attend an election campaign meeting in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday Sept. 15, 2010. Afghanistan will elect the lower house of its parliament on September 18.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Australian PM Gillard announces new Cabinet
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard unveiled her new cabinet today, with Wayne Swan retaining his treasury portfolio and former Climate Minister Penny Wong moved to the senior finance portfolio.
Gillard also kept Martin Ferguson in the key Resources and Energy portfolio, where he will be crucial to pushing through plans for a 30 per cent tax on the profits of big iron ore and coal mines.
In other changes, former union leader Greg Combet was promoted to a Cabinet position as minister for climate change to replace Wong, while Anthony Albanese stays at transport and infrastructure.
File photo of Gillard with Swan (right) in Parliament House, Canberra on September 7, 2010
Combet, a political trouble-shooter known for his negotiating skills, faces the task of drawing up a plan to put a price on carbon pollution, blamed for global warming, and finding community consensus for action against climate change.
“The ministry continues a strong emphasis on economic management and the creation of jobs,” Gillard told reporters in Melbourne.
“We have sought to provide stable economic management, and we have sought to focus on jobs. That kind of economic stability will continue, as will our approach to ensure the budget comes to surplus in 2013.”
But the difficulties facing the government were underlined when independent Andrew Wilkie demanded changes to the planned mining tax, which the opposition had threatened to scrap during the campaign for last month’s election if it took office.
Wilkie told The Australian newspaper he would not support the new Minerals Rent Resource Tax (MRRT) unless it was redesigned and possibly expanded to include more mining projects.
“I think we need to go back to the drawing board because the MRRT as it is currently designed is unsatisfactory,” he told The Australian.
Gillard last week secured a second term in office in the aftermath of the close election with the support of three independents and a Green MP. Hers will be the first minority government since World War Two, raising concerns the administration will be unstable and may not run its full term.
The new ministry is Gillard’s first chance to put her stamp on the government since the ruling Labor Party dumped former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in late June, as she made only minor changes to the Cabinet ahead of the August 21 election.
In a bid to heal some of the internal tensions over her move against Rudd, Gillard gave Rudd the senior role of foreign minister in her new government.
But two Labor figures, Mark Arbib and Bill Shorten, key players in the move to dump Rudd in favour of Gillard, were also rewarded.
Arbib moves from the junior employment participation portfolio to become the minister for indigenous employment and economic development, while Shorten becomes assistant treasurer.
The Cabinet reshuffle was made easier by former Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner retiring from politics and former Defence Minister John Faulkner announcing before the election that he would stand down from the ministry.
Former Foreign Minister Stephen Smith was moved to defence, with responsibility for policy on Afghanistan, where Australia has around 1,600 troops.
Former Small Business Minister Craig Emerson will be the new trade minister.
Gillard also kept Martin Ferguson in the key Resources and Energy portfolio, where he will be crucial to pushing through plans for a 30 per cent tax on the profits of big iron ore and coal mines.
In other changes, former union leader Greg Combet was promoted to a Cabinet position as minister for climate change to replace Wong, while Anthony Albanese stays at transport and infrastructure.
File photo of Gillard with Swan (right) in Parliament House, Canberra on September 7, 2010
Combet, a political trouble-shooter known for his negotiating skills, faces the task of drawing up a plan to put a price on carbon pollution, blamed for global warming, and finding community consensus for action against climate change.
“The ministry continues a strong emphasis on economic management and the creation of jobs,” Gillard told reporters in Melbourne.
“We have sought to provide stable economic management, and we have sought to focus on jobs. That kind of economic stability will continue, as will our approach to ensure the budget comes to surplus in 2013.”
But the difficulties facing the government were underlined when independent Andrew Wilkie demanded changes to the planned mining tax, which the opposition had threatened to scrap during the campaign for last month’s election if it took office.
Wilkie told The Australian newspaper he would not support the new Minerals Rent Resource Tax (MRRT) unless it was redesigned and possibly expanded to include more mining projects.
“I think we need to go back to the drawing board because the MRRT as it is currently designed is unsatisfactory,” he told The Australian.
Gillard last week secured a second term in office in the aftermath of the close election with the support of three independents and a Green MP. Hers will be the first minority government since World War Two, raising concerns the administration will be unstable and may not run its full term.
The new ministry is Gillard’s first chance to put her stamp on the government since the ruling Labor Party dumped former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in late June, as she made only minor changes to the Cabinet ahead of the August 21 election.
In a bid to heal some of the internal tensions over her move against Rudd, Gillard gave Rudd the senior role of foreign minister in her new government.
But two Labor figures, Mark Arbib and Bill Shorten, key players in the move to dump Rudd in favour of Gillard, were also rewarded.
Arbib moves from the junior employment participation portfolio to become the minister for indigenous employment and economic development, while Shorten becomes assistant treasurer.
The Cabinet reshuffle was made easier by former Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner retiring from politics and former Defence Minister John Faulkner announcing before the election that he would stand down from the ministry.
Former Foreign Minister Stephen Smith was moved to defence, with responsibility for policy on Afghanistan, where Australia has around 1,600 troops.
Former Small Business Minister Craig Emerson will be the new trade minister.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Australia PM Gillard to form second-term government
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard secured a second term in office Tuesday, winning the support of independent lawmakers to form a minority Labor government after losing her majority at elections last month.
Gillard’s (picture) success sent a shudder through mining shares and the Australian dollar, with her government vowing to press ahead with a new mining tax and work toward a scheme that would force major polluters to pay for their carbon emissions.
With four of the five cross-bench MPs in the new parliament now backing Gillard, she has a majority of just one seat and a tenuous grip on power.
“I will reserve the right to represent my constituency on any vote in the parliament and also reserve the right to move a no-confidence motion in the government as I see fit,” said rural independent Tony Windsor in announcing he would back Labor.
The four have all made clear they will support a stable Labor government and back its budgets, but they pointedly do not guarantee their support for Labor policies, reserving the right to vote independently on each one.
“This parliament is going to be different and no one party has dominance over the executive or the parliament,” independent lawmaker Rob Oakeshott told reporters at parliament house after announcing the decision alongside colleague Windsor.
“That is just the reality of the way we are going to do business over the next three years.”
But with Labor in minority in the lower house and the Greens to control the balance of power in the upper house Senate from July 2011, Gillard will need all her negotiating skills to not just pass policy, but ensure Labor survives its three-year term.
“It’s really anyone’s guess how long the government will last and how effective it will be and I don’t think you can really pre-judge the outcome,” said Brian Redican, senior economist at Macuarie Bank.
Gillard and conservative leader Tony Abbott had been desperately wooing three undecided independents since dead-heat August 21 elections and Tuesday agreed to reforms demanded by the trio, including brakes on executive power over parliament.
Major policies up for review
Major policies will now be up for review, including Labor’s mining tax and a US$38 billion (RM118 billion) national broadband project proposed by Labor. Climate change policy will also be reviewed.
Global heavyweights BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata have already signed-up to the 30 per cent tax due by 2012. Shares in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto extended losses Tuesday after the independents backed Labor.
BHP was down 0.5 per cent at 1334 (Malaysian time) compared with flat before the independents backed Labor, while Rio was down 1.1 per cent compared with down 0.4 per cent earlier. Fortescue was down 0.6 per cent.
But the final shape of Labor’s resource tax and its headline rate may rise due to pressure from the Greens party which supports the tax but has argued for a higher rate.
Such a move could see Labor’s deal with the miners broken and reignite a bitter battle in which miners earlier warned that around A$20 billion (RM57 billion) in resource investment could be at risk. Australia avoided recession during the financial crisis due in large part to its booming minerals exports to China.
The other major Labor policies seem to be on more solid ground, with Windsor saying Labor’s fiber-optic broadband network was the critical factor in his decision.
“There’s an enormous opportunity for regional Australians to engage with the infrastructure of this century and ... I thought (that) was too good an opportunity to miss,” said Windsor.
“You do it once, you do it right and you do it with fiber.”
Windsor also said Labor’s pledge to move toward a carbon price, postponed by previous Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd, was another reason for his support.
“It’s obvious to me that regional Australia would be a major beneficiary of a lot of the renewable energy sources. I see enormous opportunities where others fear the whole climate change debate,” he said.
Gillard’s (picture) success sent a shudder through mining shares and the Australian dollar, with her government vowing to press ahead with a new mining tax and work toward a scheme that would force major polluters to pay for their carbon emissions.
With four of the five cross-bench MPs in the new parliament now backing Gillard, she has a majority of just one seat and a tenuous grip on power.
“I will reserve the right to represent my constituency on any vote in the parliament and also reserve the right to move a no-confidence motion in the government as I see fit,” said rural independent Tony Windsor in announcing he would back Labor.
The four have all made clear they will support a stable Labor government and back its budgets, but they pointedly do not guarantee their support for Labor policies, reserving the right to vote independently on each one.
“This parliament is going to be different and no one party has dominance over the executive or the parliament,” independent lawmaker Rob Oakeshott told reporters at parliament house after announcing the decision alongside colleague Windsor.
“That is just the reality of the way we are going to do business over the next three years.”
But with Labor in minority in the lower house and the Greens to control the balance of power in the upper house Senate from July 2011, Gillard will need all her negotiating skills to not just pass policy, but ensure Labor survives its three-year term.
“It’s really anyone’s guess how long the government will last and how effective it will be and I don’t think you can really pre-judge the outcome,” said Brian Redican, senior economist at Macuarie Bank.
Gillard and conservative leader Tony Abbott had been desperately wooing three undecided independents since dead-heat August 21 elections and Tuesday agreed to reforms demanded by the trio, including brakes on executive power over parliament.
Major policies up for review
Major policies will now be up for review, including Labor’s mining tax and a US$38 billion (RM118 billion) national broadband project proposed by Labor. Climate change policy will also be reviewed.
Global heavyweights BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata have already signed-up to the 30 per cent tax due by 2012. Shares in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto extended losses Tuesday after the independents backed Labor.
BHP was down 0.5 per cent at 1334 (Malaysian time) compared with flat before the independents backed Labor, while Rio was down 1.1 per cent compared with down 0.4 per cent earlier. Fortescue was down 0.6 per cent.
But the final shape of Labor’s resource tax and its headline rate may rise due to pressure from the Greens party which supports the tax but has argued for a higher rate.
Such a move could see Labor’s deal with the miners broken and reignite a bitter battle in which miners earlier warned that around A$20 billion (RM57 billion) in resource investment could be at risk. Australia avoided recession during the financial crisis due in large part to its booming minerals exports to China.
The other major Labor policies seem to be on more solid ground, with Windsor saying Labor’s fiber-optic broadband network was the critical factor in his decision.
“There’s an enormous opportunity for regional Australians to engage with the infrastructure of this century and ... I thought (that) was too good an opportunity to miss,” said Windsor.
“You do it once, you do it right and you do it with fiber.”
Windsor also said Labor’s pledge to move toward a carbon price, postponed by previous Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd, was another reason for his support.
“It’s obvious to me that regional Australia would be a major beneficiary of a lot of the renewable energy sources. I see enormous opportunities where others fear the whole climate change debate,” he said.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Australian PM wins Greens support in government bid
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard forged an alliance with the Greens party today to take her party closer to forming a government, but vowed not to allow the deal to change her plans for a tax on miners’ profits.
“Our election commitments are our election commitments,” the Labor Party leader told a news conference. “In the days since the election I’ve been asked will you change the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, and the answer of course is no.”
Labor’s widely expected agreement with the influential Greens party gives Gillard 73 seats in the 150-member lower house, bringing her level with the opposition conservative coalition but still three short of the majority required to rule.
A jostle for the support of four independent lawmakers who emerged from August 21’s inconclusive election holding the balance of power could still drag into early next week.
Bookmakers shortened their odds on Labor forming a government after the Greens deal, though they were still well behind the conservatives, who have promised to scrap the mining profits tax and carbon-trading plans, and a US$38 billion (RM119 billion) broadband project that could hurt dominant telecoms provider Telstra.
Despite Gillard’s reassurances that policy would not be affected, the Greens could use their leverage to harden up her plans on both the mining tax and pricing carbon pollution.
“It does lead to some nervousness. With Greens’ control of the Senate it sets in motion less friendly business policies starting from mining tax to climate change,” said Shane Oliver, head of Investment Strategy at AMP Capital.
The conservatives, who campaigned heavily on the threat of a Labor-Greens tie-up, charged that the deal would lead to early adoption of a carbon trade scheme Gillard had promised to delay until at least 2013 and after public consultation.
“It demonstrates that the quest for power is now the only principle that the Labor Party holds dear,” opposition leader Tony Abbott told a news conference.
“What this means is there will be a carbon tax, there will be a higher mining tax. This is a party that deserves to lose, but which (Greens leader) Bob Brown has thrown a lifeline to.”
If Labor prevails, the Greens deal would commit it to tackling climate change, holding a parliamentary debate on the war in Afghanistan and consulting on economic and budget issues.
So far financial markets have not been ruffled by the political uncertainty. Investors are more focused on the risk that economic weakness in the United States and Japan could spill into Australia, undermining its relatively robust growth.
Data released today showed that Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 3.3 per cent in the second quarter from the same period in 2009, well above the 2.9 per cent forecast in a Reuters poll.
As part of their agreement with Labor, which includes a future referendum on constitutional recognition of indigenous people, the Greens promised to ensure budget supply bills and back Labor in any no-confidence motions.
In return, the government agreed to a new climate change committee of politicians and experts to work out the best way forward for climate policy, with a view to putting a price on carbon emissions.
But more contentious issues, including the controversial mining tax, a price on carbon and gay marriage, were left out of the pact to avoid driving off more support for Labor from rural-based independents with conservative leanings.
The independents may take a few more days to decide whether to support Labor or the conservative coalition led by Abbott.
“I think it might be a bit optimistic to say this week, but I would be very surprised if it went beyond Monday or Tuesday,” rural-based independent Bob Katter told Australian television.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Myanmar opposition in disarray as polls approach
Boycotts, draconian election laws and resignations of opposition figures have put Myanmar’s ruling generals within easy grasp to sweep the first polls in two decades, just two weeks after setting an election date.
Myanmar’s politically marginalised opposition appears in total disarray in the run up to the much-criticised November 7 polls, experts say, playing into the hands of a military regime with no intention to give up its 48-year grip on power.
The leader of the National Democratic Force (NDF) party, Khin Muang Swe, said late on Thursday he would not run for a parliamentary seat, while influential Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday called on members of her now-defunct National League for Democracy (NLD) party to abstain from voting.
The moves, whether tactical or retaliatory, come as parties grapple with huge registration fees, strict campaign rules, intimidation by military agents and barely any time to recruit enough members to contest the election.
According to rules announced last week, campaign gatherings and publications will require official approval, criticism of the military is outlawed and election authorities are empowered to ban acts of “holding flags and chanting slogans”.
“This is just what the regime wants and has planned all along,” said Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese academic based in neighbouring Thailand.
“(Junta leader) Than Shwe’s only political strategy is divide and rule and a weakened opposition is just what he needs.”
Most analysts and opposition parties say the military has formed its own proxy party that is sure to win most seats in a parliament packed with army appointees, because of its big budget and sheer size and span of its representation.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is comprised of incumbent army-picked ministers recently retired from the military and critics say it enjoys the backing of the powerful business elite.
Opposition at odds
Even if unpopular with mainstream Myanmar people, who voted overwhelmingly in favour of Suu Kyi’s NLD in the annulled 1990 poll, an overall USDP victory appears almost guaranteed against an under-funded opposition unable to campaign freely or come up with enough money to field candidates in all constituencies.
Moreover, analysts say, the opposition appears to be struggling to forge a common stance unlike the last polls.
The Union Democratic Party (UDP) last week said it would boycott the election if it believed it would not be free and fair. Its leader, Phyo Min Thein, seen as one of the biggest hopes for democracy, quit on Aug 15 and said fair polls were impossible.
Thu Wai, chairman of Democratic Party (Myanmar) and a former political prisoner, disagrees and says a boycott would play into the hands of the military junta and give it legitimacy.
Election laws were so tight, he added, the junta-backed USDP did not need to cheat to win.
“These parties are divided over what’s the lesser evil,” said Christopher Roberts, a Myanmar expert at the University of Canberra.
“Do they enter a less-than-perfect process that’s better than nothing or take a principled stance and boycott to push for a better model of democracy? Either way, it doesn’t look like the generals and their proxies will face much of a challenge.”
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Australia’s Labor and conservatives jockey for government
Australia faces a week of political wrangling as votes were counted today from an inconclusive election, with financial markets rowing back on early expectations of a minority conservative government.
Online bookmakers changed their betting to make Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s Labor favourite to lead a government with a handful of independents after putting their money on the conservatives.
Latest official counting gave Labor 72 seats to the conservative’s 69, short of the 76 seats needed to form government. A respected ABC pollster predicted both would fall short with 73 seats each, leaving three independents and a Green MP kingmakers.
Gillard and opposition leader Tony Abbott both flew to the national capital Canberra today to hold talks this week with the crossbench MPs, who remain uncommitted to either side.
The prospect of a conservative government, which would kill Labor’s plans for a 30 per cent mining tax and a carbon price, saw the Australian dollar claw back early falls, while mining stocks ended the day slightly up.
Economic analysts said while investors did not like the uncertainty, Australia’s stable economic fundamentals and tradition of political stability had lessened concerns.
“The resilience of the Aussie, in spite of the weekend events can be viewed as a vote of confidence in the overall economic conditions in Australia,” said one currency analyst.
IG Markets analyst Cameron Peacock said: “Canada’s got a hung Parliament at the moment with a minority government. It recently happened with David Cameron in the UK. It’s probably becoming more common. It certainly can be worked around.”
Gillard, setting out her case for power, said the government had attracted the majority share of the two-party preferred vote. “What that means is that the majority of Australians wanted a Labor government,” she said.
The scenario of a minority conservative government, on the other hand, rests on opposition leader Tony Abbott receiving a larger number of seats than Labor, and assumptions that the independents would naturally align themselves to the conservatives.
But independent Tony Windsor, challenged that assumption, saying he had long ago quit as a member of the National Party, which makes up half of the conservative coalition.
“I gave up smoking at the same time. I’ve ridden myself of two cancers,” Windsor told local television.
Australia’s Governor-General Quentin Bryce, who may be called on to break the deadlock as the Queen’s representative, said she was taking advice on her role as her daughter was married to a senior ruling Labor lawmaker, clouding her impartiality.
New Green MP Adam Bandt has said he is more likely to support Labor than the conservatives. He and the independents are under pressure to support the party that ends up with the most seats.
All three independents have promised to keep open minds in talks with leaders of both major parties.
“We can make this work I think if the major parties actually move away from this dog against dog attitude that they’ve had through the election campaign and look to the national interest on this,” said Windsor.
Australian stocks rose on hopes Gillard would fail to form a government, spelling the end of her 30 per cent tax on major iron ore and coal mines, which the conservatives have vowed to scrap.
The mining index firmed 0.6 per cent, led by shares in the world’s second-largest iron ore miner, Rio Tinto, up 0.9 per cent, and the third-largest iron ore producer, BHP Billiton, up 0.5 per cent.
Shares in Australia’s largest phone company, Telstra, sank 6.4 per cent, partly on concerns that an A$11 billion (RM31.5 billion) deal with Gillard’s government would be abandoned if the conservatives take power.
Telstra had agreed to hand over fixed-line assets to the government so they could be used as the backbone of Labor’s planned US$38 billion (RM121.6 billion) national fibre-optic broadband network.
Three of the independents held a phone hook-up yesterday to discuss forming a voting bloc with possibly two extra Green or green-minded MPs joining them in the lower house.
But they are a disparate group, standing for higher income and company taxes in the case of the Greens, to more open government, fewer banana imports, better state infrastructure for rural areas in the case of several independents.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Wyclef Jean’s Haiti presidential candidacy rejected
Haiti’s provisional electoral council ruled today that hip-hop star Wyclef Jean was not eligible to run as a presidential candidate for a November 28 election.
Singer-songwriter Jean, 40, an international celebrity who is popular in his impoverished and earthquake-ravaged homeland, was left off the list of approved candidates published by the council.
A council member told Reuters yesterday that Jean did not meet several of the legal requirements to stand in the November election to choose a successor to President Rene Preval, who cannot run again after two terms.
He was among 34 candidates considered by the electoral authority, which had postponed announcing the final list of approved candidates from Tuesday.
Hung Parliament looks possible in Australia vote
Australia’s ruling Labor party was just ahead on seats in the country’s closest vote in decades but one respected election analyst said it looked unlikely either of the main parties would be able to form a majority government.
ABC Television’s Anthony Green, one of the nation’s leading election analysts, projected Labor to win 73 seats.
That would be three short of the number Prime Minister Julia Gillard would need to keep control of the 150-seat lower house and mean a hung Parliament.
ABC’s Green projected the opposition with 72 seats, with four independents and one Green MP. At the time, just over half of the votes had been counted.
Combination picture shows Gillard (left) and Abbott casting their votes in Australia today, August 21, 2010
Official data after 62.2 per cent of the vote was counted gave Labor 59 seats against 50 for the conservative Liberal-National coalition led by Tony Abbott. To form a government, 76 seats are needed. The opposition was ahead in the national vote.
The close vote has raised concerns in markets over the possibility of a minority government unpopular with investors.
Australia’s opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey said the ruling Labor party could win.
“They rolled out union money, they rolled out union workers, they did not have the community with them and yet they may well steal the election tonight,” Hockey said after winning his Sydney seat.
But Labor Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the election was extremely close.
“Everything might have to go right for us to end up with 76.” At stake was not only the political future of Prime Minister Gillard and the opposition’s Abbott, both new and untested leaders, but also Labor’s plans for a 30 per cent resource tax and a US$38 billion (RM78 billion) broadband network.
“I would say that a narrow Labor victory or a hung parliament is certainly more likely than a coalition victory,” Graham Richardson, a former Labor minister and now a strategist, said.
From surf club polling booths along Australia’s coast to dusty outback voting stations, where political banners swayed in the hot breeze, Australians had stood in line to vote.
Financial markets were unsettled yesterday by the prospect that no major party would win enough votes to form government — a scenario which would see the Australian dollar sold off and possibly result in policy gridlock and investment paralysis.
Investors are also worried about the likelihood the Greens party will win the balance of power in the upper house Senate and stifle policy and force the next government to increase spending.
The poll may be determined in marginal seats in mortgage-belt areas of Sydney and Melbourne, where there are worries over immigration, as well as in resource states of Queensland and Western Australia, where there is bitterness over the mining tax
ABC Television’s Anthony Green, one of the nation’s leading election analysts, projected Labor to win 73 seats.
That would be three short of the number Prime Minister Julia Gillard would need to keep control of the 150-seat lower house and mean a hung Parliament.
ABC’s Green projected the opposition with 72 seats, with four independents and one Green MP. At the time, just over half of the votes had been counted.
Official data after 62.2 per cent of the vote was counted gave Labor 59 seats against 50 for the conservative Liberal-National coalition led by Tony Abbott. To form a government, 76 seats are needed. The opposition was ahead in the national vote.
The close vote has raised concerns in markets over the possibility of a minority government unpopular with investors.
Australia’s opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey said the ruling Labor party could win.
“They rolled out union money, they rolled out union workers, they did not have the community with them and yet they may well steal the election tonight,” Hockey said after winning his Sydney seat.
But Labor Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the election was extremely close.
“Everything might have to go right for us to end up with 76.” At stake was not only the political future of Prime Minister Gillard and the opposition’s Abbott, both new and untested leaders, but also Labor’s plans for a 30 per cent resource tax and a US$38 billion (RM78 billion) broadband network.
“I would say that a narrow Labor victory or a hung parliament is certainly more likely than a coalition victory,” Graham Richardson, a former Labor minister and now a strategist, said.
From surf club polling booths along Australia’s coast to dusty outback voting stations, where political banners swayed in the hot breeze, Australians had stood in line to vote.
Financial markets were unsettled yesterday by the prospect that no major party would win enough votes to form government — a scenario which would see the Australian dollar sold off and possibly result in policy gridlock and investment paralysis.
Investors are also worried about the likelihood the Greens party will win the balance of power in the upper house Senate and stifle policy and force the next government to increase spending.
The poll may be determined in marginal seats in mortgage-belt areas of Sydney and Melbourne, where there are worries over immigration, as well as in resource states of Queensland and Western Australia, where there is bitterness over the mining tax
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wyclef Jean says threats won’t deter candidacy
Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean said yesterday he had received death threats but they would not deter him from running for president of his native Haiti.
“There are people who think I’m a threat to their power and ambitions. I’m not going to give up. My will is to serve the Haitian people, and the death threats and intimidation won’t deter me,” Jean told Reuters.
Haiti’s provisional electoral council had been due to finalise on Tuesday the list of candidates who met the legal requirements to stand in the November 28 election that will choose a successor to President Rene Preval.
The announcement was delayed until tomorrow to allow more time to decide on legal questions about several of the 34 contenders, among them Jean.
Singer-songwriter Jean, 40, (picture) said he had received anonymous phone calls threatening that he would be killed unless he left Haiti. He was in hiding and has not appeared in public for two days, but sounded defiant.
“There are many people who died before me. If I have to die for the Haitian people, for the youth, I’m ready to die for them,” Jean said.
He is widely popular in his impoverished Caribbean homeland, which is struggling to recover from a devastating January 12 earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people and wrecked much of the coastal capital Port-au-Prince.
Haiti’s electoral law requires candidates to have five consecutive years of residency in Haiti, among other requirements, such as tax compliance.
Jean left his homeland at age nine to go to the United States, where he launched and developed his international musical career. His lawyers have said he is eligible to run and has maintained residency for more than five years in Haiti.
Legal challenges also have been raised against several other candidates, including Jacques Edouard Alexis, a former two-time prime minister, and Leslie Voltaire, a US-educated urban planner and former minister who has been heavily involved in Haiti’s post-quake reconstruction.
Jean has rebuffed criticisms that he lacks the experience and qualifications to be president, arguing that Haiti needs an international figure who can attract aid and allies.
He said his police security detail had recently been withdrawn without notice.
Police Chief Mario Andresol said that protection had been provided while Jean served as Haiti’s ambassador at large, and because of his celebrity. But it ended when Jean became a candidate because police would then have been obliged to provide the same security for all candidates, he said.
“If there is a specific threat, we’ll respond accordingly, but we have to be neutral and treat all candidates the same way,” Andresol said.
What Jean may lack in political experience he may make up for in popularity. He is admired by many Haitians, especially the young, who see him as a celebrity who never forgot his roots. Several Haitian youth organisations and Creole music groups are supporting his campaign as a candidate for the Viv Ansan-m party.
The three-time Grammy award-winner has said he will put his musical career on hold if his candidacy is approved.
Preval, who has been widely criticised at home over his handling of the response to the earthquake disaster, cannot run for re-election after serving two terms. —
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Reclusive Myanmar to hold elections on Nov 7
Myanmar will hold its first parliamentary elections in two decades on Nov. 7, state media said on Friday, ending speculation over the timing of a poll criticised by rights groups as a sham to entrench military power.
As of this week, at least 40 parties had registered to take part in the first civilian government in almost half a century in the reclusive, army-ruled country of 48 million people.
The United States, Britain and human rights groups have said the elections would be illegitimate if the military junta denies a role to thousands of political opponents now in prison, including detained Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which won by a landslide in the last elections in 1990 only to be denied power by the military, has refused to register with the authorities in protest at what it called “unjust” election laws.
Many diplomats and analysts see the polls as intended to strengthen the military’s power under the guise of civilian rule in an attempt to lure investment to the resource-rich country nestled strategically between booming China and India.
“It’s essentially a costume change,” said Jacob Ramsay, senior analyst for Southeast Asia & Pacific for British-based security consultants Control Risks.
At least seven parties registered with the election commission are believed to be proxies of the military, which will retain control of key ministries and enjoy a 25 percent quota of parliamentary seats under a new constitution.
The armed forces chief will be more senior than the president. There are no indications an estimated 2,000 political prisoners will be released before or after the elections.
“The government has been working hard in the past months to disqualify or marginalise all possible contenders who might form an opposition to its plan to essentially parachute its generals into civilian roles,” said Ramsay.
Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention and remains under house arrest. The constitution bars her from standing in the election because of her criminal record as a political detainee and because her late husband was a foreigner.
Her NLD party was dissolved this year after deciding not to register for the polls.
Daughter of the hero of the country’s campaign for independence from British rule, Suu Kyi emerged as a champion of political reform during an unsuccessful student-led uprising for democracy in 1988. A year later she was first detained.
The National Democratic Force, a renegade faction of the NLD opposed by Suu Kyi, will run to challenge the junta’s proxies and says it will work with other pro-democracy parties. But without Suu Kyi, few expect it gain traction.
One of Myanmar’s biggest opposition political parties, the Union Democracy Party, threatened this week to pull out of the elections if there were signs of foul play by the ruling military in the run-up to the polls.
Some parties have accused the regime’s military intelligence unit of spying on and trying to intimidate their members.
Political analysts and diplomats, however, say the election could mark a turning point which, over the longer term, delivers a gradual transition of power to a civilian government free of military control. They add that this would be an evolutionary process rather than a junta-inspired shift.
Monday, August 9, 2010
UK’s Cameron — refreshingly candid or loose cannon?
As opposition leader, David Cameron was often portrayed as a smooth public relations man, always on message and good on television.
As prime minister of Britain, he is turning out to be rather less predictable.
In the past two weeks, Cameron has angered Pakistan by suggesting it “promotes the export of terror”, offended Israel by comparing Gaza to a “prison camp” and mistakenly said that Iran “has got a nuclear bomb”.
The remark on Gaza was scripted, the one on Pakistan was not, though Cameron has stood by it. Both were made during foreign trips. The comment on Iran was a brief slip during a televised question-and-answer session with British voters.
What all the remarks had in common was that they were unexpectedly blunt.
“It is somewhat out of keeping with the David Cameron that we know, because normally he’s a pretty controlled performer,” said Tim Bale, author of a recent book on Cameron’s Conservative Party and senior politics lecturer at Sussex University.
“Normally, if he’s going to talk straight to people it’s in private, while in public he’s got a much more emollient, carefully crafted style,” Bale said.
The opposition Labour Party was quick to brand Cameron a foreign policy “klutz” after his Iran gaffe, while supporters have welcomed his frank talk as a breath of fresh air in the normally bland arena of diplomacy.
Critics and fans have both cited inexperience on the world stage as a possible reason for Cameron’s newly outspoken style.
At 43, the former public relations executive is Britain’s youngest prime minister for close to 200 years. He has only been in the job since May 11 and had previously shown little interest in foreign affairs.
But in the past week, he also set off a domestic row by saying during another unscripted question-and-answer session that people who were granted cheap subsidised housing should have it for a fixed term, not for life as is the case now.
A politically explosive suggestion in Britain, this had not previously been flagged as government policy. It angered his coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, who would oppose it.
Francis Elliott, political journalist at The Times newspaper and co-author of a biography of Cameron, said the prime minister was fluent and confident when speaking in public, and these were occasions when “his talent may have exceeded his discipline”.
“Cameron knows he’s at his most effective when he’s authentic and unscripted. But that carries risks and those risks are greater now that he’s at Number 10,” Elliott said, referring to the prime minister’s official residence in Downing Street.
Leaving aside the diplomatic fallout from his Pakistan remarks, which required some patching-up during talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday, Elliott said Cameron’s popularity at home was unlikely to be affected.
“He’s lucky that he’s made his mistakes early, and mostly in fields that are not quite so important domestically,” he said.
Bale said Cameron had shown during his years in opposition that he had the necessary skills to overcome periods of tension.
“If there’s one thing we know about David Cameron, it’s that he learns from his mistakes and he has an ability to recalibrate and smooth things over,” he said.
Cameron may simply tired after a gruelling election campaign, immediately followed by intensive talks to form a coalition with the smaller Liberal Democrat party and then by his first three months in office.
“The summer break can’t come soon enough,” said Elliott.
Policy differences ahead of Australian election
Here are policy differences between the government, the conservative Liberal-National opposition, which launched its campaign on Sunday, and the Greens party, expected to hold the balance of power in the Senate after the election.
Tax
* GOVERNMENT: A proposed 30 per cent tax on coal and iron ore mining profits from 2012. Company tax cut from 30 per cent to 29 per cent from 2012-13 for small business, and from 2013-14 for big companies. Tax cuts to offset for higher employer payments into worker pension funds, from 9 per cent to 12 per cent, by 2019-20.
* OPPOSITION: Promises to kill off the government’s proposed mining tax on the first day of a conservative government. Cut company tax to 28.5 per cent from 30 per cent from July 2013. But big companies pay a matching 1.5 per cent levy to fund parental leave policy. To announce tax reform agenda within 12 months.
* GREENS: Miners should pay more tax, but the money should be kept in a fund. Has not rejected new mining tax, but critical of watered-down version, and demands scrutiny of details.
Economy
* GOVERNMENT: Budget to return to small surplus from 2012-13 and a 2 per cent cap on new expenditure pending bigger surpluses.
* OPPOSITION: Produce a national economic blueprint within a month. Stronger control on spending and cut 12,000 public service jobs with a two-year recruitment freeze. Faster pay down of government debt, and return to surplus budgets from 2012-13.
* GREENS: Supported the US$42 billion (RM132 billion) stimulus package, which saw Australia avoid recession in 2009, after winning an extra US$400 million for various issues. With the economy improving, now say the stimulus should be wound back.
PARENTAL LEAVE
* GOVERNMENT: Fund 18 weeks on minimum wage from January 2011.
* OPPOSITION: A 1.5 per cent tax on companies earning more than AUS$5 million (RM14.4 million), to fund 26-week leave scheme on the mother’s wage, up to AUS$150,000. Scheme to start in 2012.
* GREENS: Want to improve the government’s Paid Parental Leave scheme by extending it from 18 to 26 weeks, plus superannuation, and guarantee to leave.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
* GOVERNMENT: Build a US$33 billion super-fast national broadband network. The plan involves an AUS$11 billion deal with phone giant Telstra to use its infrastructure.
* OPPOSITION: Will scrap the national broadband network to save at least AUS$18 billion.
CLIMATE:
* GOVERNMENT: A 5 per cent carbon emissions cut by 2020. Carbon emissions trade scheme delayed until the end of the Kyoto period in 2012 and dependent on what other countries do. An assembly of 150 people to help build consensus for a price on carbon. Rebates to trade in inefficient cars. New coal-fired power stations must have carbon capture and storage.
* OPPOSITION: Match 5 per cent emissions cut by 2020, but no carbon emissions scheme. A AUS$3.2 billion climate policy to include AUS$1 billion emissions reduction fund to help individuals and industry cut emissions. Also, the planting of 20 million trees, a AUS$1,000 solar panel rebate and soil carbon storage.
* GREENS: A two-year carbon tax set at US$23 a tonne on the biggest polluters, with US$5 billion returned to households, a long-term 100 per cent renewable energy target, US$4.5 billion in green loans for big renewable energy projects.
IMMIGRATION
* GOVERNMENT: With predictions the population could swell from 22 million to nearly 36 million by 2050, the government is targeting a sustainable population policy. Net immigration to fall from around 300,000 in 2009 to around 145,000 by 2012.
* OPPOSITION: Annual net immigration not to exceed 170,000. Growth of no more than 1.4 per cent against 2.0 per cent currently.
* GREENS: Growth must be environmentally sustainable.
ASYLUM SEEKERS/BORDER PROTECTION:
* GOVERNMENT: Asylum seekers to be processed at a centre in East Timor, although the plan needs that country’s backing.
* OPPOSITION: Pledged to jail people-smugglers for a minimum 10 years for repeat offenders. Reintroduce “Pacific Solution” of detention of asylum seekers in the Pacific island nation of Nauru and halting refugee boats before they reach Australian waters. The policy won conservative parties the 2001 election.
* GREENS: Increase the annual refugee intake by 20,000. Abolish detention of asylum seekers, keep health, security checks. Oppose offshore processing. Create a visa for refugees from Pacific islands threatened by rising sea levels.
HEALTH
* GOVERNMENT: Plans to take over 60 per cent of state-managed hospital funding to improve overstretched health system. AUS$276 million over four years for mental health and suicide prevention.
* OPPOSITION: An extra AUS$3.5 billion for state public hospitals, if states hand over some goods and services tax funds. An extra AUS$1.5 billion on mental health, clinics. Privatisation of government-owned health insurer Medibank Private, raising AUS$3-4 billion federally. Local management of public hospitals.
Local vote victory gives respite for Japan PM Kan
A candidate backed by Japan’s ruling Democratic Party won a local election late yesterday, giving temporary relief to struggling Prime Minister Naoto Kan as he faces a potential challenge to the party leadership.
But Kan, his support slipping following his party’s defeat in July upper house elections, is still fighting for his political life ahead of the Democratic Party leadership vote on Sept. 14.
In the first electoral test for the Democrats since their coalition lost its upper house majority in July, Shuichi Abe, who had worked in a government unit focusing on cutting waste, won Sunday’s gubernatorial election in Nagano prefecture, northwest of Tokyo.
“This is big for the Democratic party. It will be the first step toward rebuilding,” said Jun Azumi, chairman of the party’s election campaign committee.
The Democrats, desperate to avoid another election setback, had sent popular cabinet ministers to Nagano to support Abe, whose principal rival was backed by the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party.
While the local election victory could mean a respite for Kan, his Democratic Party faces political deadlock unless it can find new allies to help enact bills as the government struggles to curb Japan’s mountain of public debt, nearly twice the size of its US$5 trillion (RM15.71 trillion) economy, and engineer sustainable growth.
He may also face a challenge from party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa and his supporters in the vote for party chief next month. Ozawa was sidelined during the upper house election in an effort to woo voters put off by his scandal-tainted image.
Kan is so far the only declared candidate for party chief, but several groups within the party have been holding behind-the-scenes meetings and media reports said some are considering fielding rival candidates.
Banri Kaieda, a former party policy chief, has told the Ozawa camp of his willingness to run, weekend media reports said.
Voter support for Kan’s government has fallen sharply since he took office in June. But polls show most respondents see no need for Kan — Japan’s fifth premier in three years — to quit, a sign of rising irritation with revolving-door prime ministers.
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