Elections

Subterms

    Latest story

    75 Shares23 Views

    What Joko Widodo Achieved as President

    by

    Joko Widodo rose from a slum to the presidency. As his term ends, he is being accused of undermining the democracy that made that possible.The words “emergency warning” galvanized protesters in Indonesia in August. It was a rallying cry to protect the world’s third-largest democracy, which broke free from dictatorship less than 30 years ago. Thousands of protesters took to the streets. Some stormed the gates of Parliament, tearing one down in fury.The threat, as they saw it, was from their elected leader, President Joko Widodo.In his two terms in office, Mr. Joko, who steps down on Sunday, has transformed Indonesia, virtually eradicating extreme poverty in the sprawling archipelago, where about 280 million people live. But many believe he has also tried to bend the laws to install a political dynasty, undercutting the very democracy that let him become the country’s first president who was not from the military or the long-established political elite.Last year, critics say, Mr. Joko — widely known to Indonesians as Jokowi — engineered a Constitutional Court ruling that let his 36-year-old son run for vice president. The son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was elected in February alongside Mr. Joko’s choice to succeed him as president, Prabowo Subianto, a former defense minister and general who has been linked to human rights abuses. In August, Mr. Joko’s allies attempted another maneuver to get his 29-year-old son, Kaesang Pangarep, on a ballot for political office. Infuriated Indonesians saw it as another about-face from Mr. Joko, who once declared, “Becoming a president does not mean channeling power to my children.”Thousands of protesters took to the streets in August, enraged by a plan to revise a law that would allow the younger son of Mr. Joko to run in local elections next month.Timur Matahari/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThousands of protesters gathered outside the Parliament and Constitutional Court in Jakarta, the capital. Mr. Joko was subjected to very personal attacks, as social media users cursed him by using his birth name, Mulyono. (Mr. Joko was a sickly child whose parents renamed him in hopes of better health; calling him Mulyono was tantamount to casting a hex.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    More stories

    • 113 Shares117 Views

      in Elections

      The OB-GYN Running on Abortion Rights in Conservative Wisconsin

      by

      Dr. Kristin Lyerly is looking to make inroads in a heavily Catholic part of the state.It was 7:15 a.m. on Sunday, and a blood-orange sun had turned the sky lavender. Dr. Kristin Lyerly was getting ready to leave.She had laundry going, and her bags half-packed. She felt as if she might be forgetting something. She was about to make the 400-mile drive from her home in De Pere, Wis., for a 10-day stint at a medical center in Hibbing, Minn., where she has been working as an obstetrician-gynecologist following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.Lyerly has another job, too: running for Congress.Abortion rights have become central to the fight for control of the White House and Congress, and Democrats have worked hard to bring the issue to life through the stories of women who have had abortions. Lyerly, though, is doing something a little rarer: campaigning as a Democrat who can talk about providing reproductive care in post-Roe America.She said she had bumped into children she delivered on the trail. She has been approached by women at campaign events seeking basic information about handling an unwanted pregnancy or a miscarriage. She hasn’t heeded the advice that she said she got from men suggesting she talk about the issue a little bit less.“Reproductive rights,” she told a group of teachers who gathered to knock on doors in Green Bay, Wis., last weekend, “are on everybody’s mind.”Lyerly’s district, Wisconsin’s Eighth, encompasses a rural swath of the northeastern part of the state, the city of Green Bay and the peninsula that looks like the state’s pinkie finger dipping into Lake Michigan. It is difficult territory for Democrats. Former Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican who chafed at Trump’s influence over his party, held it easily for seven years before suddenly retiring in April; a Trump-endorsed former gas station chain owner, Tony Wied, is favored to win the seat.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares111 Views

      in Elections

      Arizona Democrats Shut Down a Phoenix Campaign Office After Shootings

      by

      The Arizona Democratic Party shut down a campaign office in suburban Phoenix after it was struck by gunfire and a BB gun on three occasions over the past month, said a local official, Lauren Kuby, on Friday.Nobody was hurt in the shootings, but they raised concerns about the safety of campaign workers and volunteers in the thick of a bitterly fought election that has already seen assassination attempts against former President Donald J. Trump.Ms. Kuby, a Democratic candidate for the Arizona State Senate and former city council member in Tempe, said on Friday that people who had been working out of the office shifted to houses and other “undisclosed locations.” News of the office’s closure was first reported by The Arizona Republic.“We’re not giving up,” Ms. Kuby said in an interview. “People are determined not to be stopped.”Gunshots were fired through the front door of an office used by the Tempe Democratic National Committee in suburban Phoenix.Ray Stern/The Republic/USA TODAY NETWORK, via Imagn ImagesThe office in Tempe, which is home to Arizona State University, had been a bustling hub for gathering volunteers and starting voter-outreach efforts, Ms. Kuby said. The shootings left its windows scarred by bullet holes.The three shootings all happened between midnight and 1 a.m. local time when the office was empty, according to the Tempe Police Department. A BB gun was used in the first incident, on Sept. 16, and a firearm was used in the second and third shootings, on Sept. 23 and Oct. 6, the police said. The Tempe police said investigators were still working to determine what kind of gun was used. The police have not made any arrests or identified a motive. This week, the police identified a silver Toyota Highlander with unknown license plates as a “suspect vehicle.”The Arizona Democratic Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. More

    • 125 Shares74 Views

      in Elections

      In Wisconsin, Middle-Class Voters Think Carefully About Trump and Harris

      by

      Voters in Wisconsin are weighing which candidate better understands their economic anxieties.It was a resplendent autumn morning in central Wisconsin this week, and I was doing what I do best: hanging out at a farmers’ market, admiring a $6 bunch of dahlias, and talking to strangers about the election.“We’re 50-50. We’re middle-class. We’re in a swing state,” said Toni Case, 65, as she took a break from selling gyros from a silver trailer. “We’re in the middle of an election tornado.”Case was right.The market was set up in a suburban shopping center near Wausau, a city of about 40,000 people bisected by the Wisconsin River. The whole area is the kind of place that has almost mythic status in American politics today: a haven for the middle class.According to the Pew Research Center, the Wausau metropolitan area is one of 10 in the country with the largest share of middle-income residents. It has a gleaming downtown, a new Amazon distribution center and an abundance of parks along the river. It’s the sort of place that both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are evoking all the time, though not by name, as they talk about how to improve the American economy by strengthening the middle class.It’s also a place that lays bare the challenges both candidates face as they try to appeal to middle-class voters. As I interviewed voters in Wausau and Weston, right next door, I heard pronounced anxiety over the rising cost of living, and confusion over what being middle class even means anymore. It was clear that Trump’s dire picture of a middle class under attack has resonated here, but also that voters are thinking carefully about which candidate better understands the economic complexities of their lives.“It’s hard to stay ahead,” Mercedes Anderson, 25, told me. “It feels like you just get by.”Facing ‘outrageous’ costs, and seeking a solutionTrump has depicted an American middle class on the edge of extinction, accusing Harris of making middle-class life “unaffordable and unlivable.” He pledges to create a middle class that is “once again the envy of the entire world,” mostly by suggesting that his broad promises of tax cuts or mass deportations will help these Americans.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 150 Shares69 Views

      in Elections

      Afghan Man Charged With Plotting Election Day Attack on Behalf of ISIS

      by

      It is not clear where the man intended to stage the attack, though the criminal complaint said he sought to inflict mass casualties on behalf of the Islamic State.The F.B.I. has arrested an Afghan citizen in Oklahoma City on charges of plotting a suicide attack on Election Day, with the intent of inflicting mass casualties on behalf of the Islamic State, according to a criminal complaint filed on Tuesday.In preparation for the attack, the complaint said, the man, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, liquidated his family’s financial assets to raise cash for the resettlement of his relatives in Kabul and recruited a co-conspirator, his nephew, who was not named because he is under the age of 18.It is not clear where Mr. Tawhedi intended to stage the attack, though investigators said he planned to use two AK-47s. His online history showed that he searched for how to access cameras in Washington on the same day he visited the White House and Washington Monument webcams, according to investigators.Mr. Tawhedi communicated his plans in chilling detail to a man he later identified as a member of the Islamic State, telling him he would obey any order he was given.“God willing, with the help of God, we will get ready for the election day,” he wrote, according to the filing.Charges against other individuals are possible, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 113 Shares117 Views

      in Elections

      Does India Offer a Glimmer of Hope for Democracy?

      by

      Prime Minister Modi was re-elected, but his party fell short in dominating Parliament. Was that an inflection point for the world’s largest democracy?This article is from a special report on the Athens Democracy Forum, which gathered experts last week in the Greek capital to discuss global issues.Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India was elected to a third term in office in June, but his Bharatiya Janata Party failed to win a simple majority in the lower house of Parliament, surprising political observers inside and outside the country.With the B.J.P. winning only 240 of the 543 seats, far short of the 300 that party members had hoped for, Mr. Modi now leads a coalition government.India and the Allure of Modi, a panel discussion at the Athens Democracy Forum on Oct. 3, addressed this issue, focusing on the appeal — and the shifting role — of this galvanizing figure and the future of Hindu nationalism that had cemented much of his power. Ahead of the Democracy conference, two of the panelists, Yamini Aiyar and Maya Tudor, were interviewed by video for their take on Mr. Modi’s future and what it portends for the world’s largest democracy and for other democracies facing elections. Ms. Aiyar is a visiting senior fellow at the Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia at Brown University and Ms. Tudor is the professor of politics and public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, and a fellow at St. Hilda’s College, both at Oxford University. The panel was moderated by Jyoti Thottam, senior editor and member of The New York Times editorial board.The interviews were edited and condensed.What is the allure of Narendra Modi, and how has it evolved?MAYA TUDOR Modi came to power in 2014 on the heels of several corruption scandals that had marred the previous governments. He was able to nationalize a strategy he had really honed in the state of Gujarat when he was the chief minister, which was to polarize in places where doing so reaped political dividends.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 88 Shares139 Views

      in Elections

      Tunisia’s President Cruises to Landslide Re-Election Victory

      by

      President Kais Saied’s apparent landslide re-election is the latest sign that authoritarianism has returned to the birthplace of the Arab Spring.In Tunisia’s first presidential election since its authoritarian leader began dismantling the democracy Tunisians built after their 2011 Arab Spring revolution, the apparent winner came as little surprise: the incumbent himself.President Kais Saied, first elected in 2019, easily won re-election on Sunday, according to exit polls broadcast on state television.The government had disqualified most of his would-be challengers and arrested his main rival on electoral fraud charges that rights groups said were trumped up. The resulting race recalled the days of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the dictator who ruled Tunisia from 1987 until his overthrow in 2011, rather than the competitive elections of the years in between, when Tunisia was working to develop a full-fledged democracy.Mr. Saied captured more than 89 percent of the vote over Ayachi Zammel, the imprisoned candidate, and Zouhair Maghzaoui, a leftist who had previously supported Mr. Saied before running to replace him, according to exit polls.But turnout was roughly half what it was in the last presidential election, according to figures released by the government commission that oversees elections — the latest sign that the country’s multiplying crises have damaged Tunisians’ faith in a president many once idolized, even though they see no real alternative to him among the country’s weak and fractious political opposition.Mr. Saied leaving a polling station in Tunis on Sunday. Exit polls showed he had won more than 89 percent, according to state television.Ons Abid/Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares179 Views

      in Elections

      Marxist Leads Presidential Vote as Sri Lanka Rejects the Old Order

      by

      Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s strong showing reveals voter weariness with leadership that has led to a national economic crisis and crushing hardship for many people.The Marxist candidate, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, led the early counting in Sri Lanka’s presidential elections on Sunday, riding a wave of popular anger at the established political order that has run the South Asian nation’s economy into the ground.If Mr. Dissanayake, 55, is confirmed as president, it would be a remarkable turnaround for his half-century-old leftist party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, which had long remained on the margins. In recent years, he led a rebranding effort of an organization once known for deadly insurrections: building a large coalition, softening its radical positions, and pitching it as the answer to the politics of patronage that has brought only hardship to many of the island nation’s roughly 23 million people.Early results showed Mr. Dissanayake leading with about 50 percent of votes amid high turnout, estimated at 75 to 80 percent. His closest competitor had received about 20 percent of the votes cast.At least three senior leaders of his opposition, including Sri Lanka’s current foreign minister, had already put out messages congratulating him on his imminent victory, as dawn broke on overnight vote counting that is continuing.In Sri Lanka’s election system, voters can mark one candidate on their ballot or rank three candidates in order of preference. If no one candidate gets 50 percent or more of the vote in the first counting, a second round of counting factors in the second preference of voters whose first choice did not make it to the top two.Election officials carrying ballot boxes to a counting center in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, on Saturday.Navesh Chitrakar/ReutersWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 150 Shares109 Views

      in Elections

      Nigel Farage’s Anti-Immigration Party Has Big Plans. Can It See Them Through?

      by

      Nigel Farage, a Trump ally and Brexit champion, thinks his Reform U.K. party can become a major political force. At a conference on Friday, he will explain how.A week ago, he was the keynote speaker at a glitzy Chicago dinner for the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank with a history of denying climate science, where the top tables went for $50,000.On Friday, it was back to the day job for Nigel Farage, the veteran political disrupter, ally of Donald J. Trump and hard right, anti-immigrant activist whose ascent has alarmed both of Britain’s main political parties.In a cavernous exhibition center in Birmingham, in England’s West Midlands, Mr. Farage is set to address supporters of his upstart party, Reform U.K., at its first annual conference since its success in Britain’s July general election. He is expected to lay out a plan to professionalize the party and build support ahead of local elections next year.His ambitions are clear. But the jet-setting lifestyle of Mr. Farage, 60, whose visit to Chicago was his third recent trip to the United States, underscores the question hanging over Reform U.K.: Does its leader have the ability and appetite to build the fledgling party into a credible political force?Mr. Farage, a polarizing, pugnacious figure, is one of Britain’s most effective communicators and had an outsized impact on its politics for two decades before finally being elected to Britain’s Parliament in July. A ferocious critic of the European Union, he championed Brexit and helped pressure Prime Minister David Cameron to hold the 2016 referendum.“A fairly strong case can be made that Nigel Farage has been the most important political figure in all the elections of the last decade,” said Robert Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More