Find out about other relevant news that you cannot stop reading and that mark the day of this Sunday, December 29, 2024
Chad votes in first legislative elections since 2011 in full political transition
Some eight million people are called to the polls this Sunday, December 29 in Chad to vote in the first legislative, provincial and municipal elections since 2011, which could represent a turning point in the country’s political transition, whose future remains uncertain after several years of instability.
«We consider these elections as a key moment to reinforce the legitimacy of Chadian institutions and promote a democratic transition. Its celebration is an opportunity to consolidate democracy, allow for broader representation and build a more inclusive State,” he told EFE Issa Doubragne, spokesperson for the ruling party, the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS).
Although Chad held presidential elections last May after three years of transition, the country’s future is still uncertain. «The preparations for these elections have raised hopes, that is why the rest of us have agreed to participate. We need an elected Parliament to decide on the future of the country,” candidate François Djekombé, from the small opposition party Sacred Union for Democracy, told EFE.
Despite Djekombé’s words, the main opposition groups have decided to boycott the elections: they have challenged the legitimacy of the process and have denounced conditions that, in their opinion, do not guarantee free and fair elections.
“We totally reject an irregular electoral system without guarantees of transparency, such as the refusal of the National Electoral Management Agency (ANGE) to deliver the minutes to the candidates’ delegates,” Max Kemkoye, opposition spokesperson and president, told EFE. of the Union of Democrats for Development and Progress (UDDP).
Italy works for early release of journalist arrested in Iran
The Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, stated that they hope that the release of the Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, arrested on December 19 in Tehran, will occur shortly.
«The time, it is difficult to say, I hope it is brief but it does not depend on us. We are trying to resolve an issue that is complicated and in the meantime guarantee that Cecilia Sala is detained in the best possible conditions, that she can receive consular visits, that she can speak with her family and, therefore, has decent treatment, which is what “It’s happening right now,” he said in statements to the media.
And he added that, as the Italian ambassador to Iran, Paola Amadei, could see, “the treatment (that the informant receives) is dignified, it is respectful of the dignity of the person. “She’s obviously detained, so it’s not an ideal condition, but she’s fed and in a single cell, but she’s not isolated.”
«The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has followed with constant attention the complex story of Cecilia Sala since her arrest and is in close contact with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, and with the Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano, in order for the Italian journalist return home as soon as possible,” according to a statement published by the Government and reported by the agency EFE.
The note added that “all possible dialogues have been activated and with the necessary caution, which is expected to continue to be observed by the media as well.”
The journalist has already been able to speak by phone with her relatives on two occasions. Sala, a 29-year-old international information expert and contributor to the newspaper ‘Il Foglio, was arrested on December 19 at her hotel in Tehran, shortly before heading to the airport to return to her country.
For the last ten days he had remained in the Islamic republic with a journalistic visa and had published some reports on the situation in the country and how the fall of the regime in neighboring Syria affected it.
Sala is now being held in the Evin prison in the capital, where opponents of the regime are imprisoned. The Italian traveler Alessia Piperno was also detained in that same prison for 45 days in 2022, amid protests over the murder of the young Iranian Mahsa Amini after being arrested by the Moral Police for wearing her veil incorrectly.
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