Tehran: A member of Iran's constitutional watchdog group insists that women cannot be presidential candidates, a report said Thursday, effectively killing the largely symbolic bids by about 30 women seeking to run in the June 14 election. Even before the comments by Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, chances for a woman candidate in Iran's presidential election were considered nearly impossible.
Women also have registered as potential candidates in past presidential elections, but the group that vets hopefuls appears to follow interpretations of the constitution that suggest only a man may hold Iran's highest elected office. Women, however, are cleared to run for Iran's parliament and have served as lawmakers.
The semiofficial Mehr news agency quotes Yazdi as saying the "law does not approve" of a woman in the presidency and a woman on the ballot is "not allowed." The Guardian Council, where Yazdi is a member, vets all candidates for the presidency and parliament.
A total of 686 people have registered to replace President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who cannot run for a third mandate because of term limits. The final list will be announced Tuesday, with only a handful of names expected on the ballot....
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08:13 PM, May 17, 2013
Dubai: Iran's best known political grandee, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, looms large in the history of the Islamic Republic - now registered to run in Iran's presidential election June 2013 he may also get the chance to carve out its future. Few have wielded such influence in modern Iran as the 78-year-old but since 2009 he and his family have faced political isolation over their support for the opposition...
06:29 AM, May 12, 2013
Rome: Italy's Parliament re-elected Giorgio Napolitano to an unprecedented second term as president, after party leaders persuaded the 87-year-old to serve again in hopes of easing the hostility that has thwarted formation of a new government. Napolitano easily surpassed the simple majority required to be elected on Saturday afternoon. He garnered 738 votes, far more than the 504 needed for victory for another seven-year mandate. Parliament had a much harder...
06:34 AM, Apr 21, 2013
Caracas: Venezuela's chief prosecutor said on Tuesday seven people have been killed and 61 injured in protests following presidential elections in which the opposition candidate is demanding a recount. Prosecutor Luisa Ortega did not provide any details about the deaths or injuries or how they occurred. But she said the seven killed were humble members of the working class, a suggestion that the opposition might be to blame. Chavez's chosen...
11:29 PM, Apr 16, 2013
Istanbul: US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday world powers would pursue further talks with Iran to resolve a decade-old dispute over its nuclear programme, but stressed the process could not go on forever. The six powers and Iran failed again to bridge wide differences at weekend talks in Kazakhstan, prolonging a stand-off that could yet erupt into a new Middle East war. No new talks were scheduled....
06:59 AM, Apr 08, 2013
Raila Odinga, beaten by Uhuru Kenyatta in Kenya's presidential election, said on Saturday that his party would contest the results in court, alleging "massive tampering" of the March 4 vote. ...
04:49 PM, Mar 10, 2013
Venezuelans will vote April 14, 2013, to choose a successor to Hugo Chavez, the elections commission announced on Saturday as increasingly strident political rhetoric begins to roil this polarized country. ...
06:15 AM, Mar 10, 2013
Kenya's presidential race tightened on Friday as Uhuru Kenyatta's lead slipped to a level that could mean there is no outright winner and open the way for a tense, second round run-off against his main rival Prime Minister Raila Odinga. ...
03:52 PM, Mar 08, 2013
Uhuru Kenyatta had an early edge as Kenya continued the count on Tuesday in a presidential election that brought out millions of voters despite pockets of violence that killed at least 15 people. Kenyans, who waited patiently in long lines, hope the vote will restore the nation's image as one of Africa's more stable democracies after tribal blood-letting killed more than 1,200 people when the result of the 2007 vote...
12:05 PM, Mar 05, 2013
A landslide second re-election secured, President Rafael Correa immediately vowed to deepen the "citizen's revolution" that has lifted tens of thousands of Ecuadoreans out of poverty as he expanded the welfare state. "In this revolution the citizens are in charge, not capital," the leftist US-trained economist said after winning 56.9 percent of the vote on Sunday against 23.8 percent for his closest challenger, longtime banker Guillermo Lasso. ...
03:23 PM, Feb 18, 2013
US Vice President Joe Biden on January 23 said he is still undecided about running for the 2016 presidential elections, a prospect that may entail a clash with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic party nomination. "There are a whole lot of reasons why I wouldn't run. I haven't made that decision and I don't have to make that decision for a while," Biden told CNN in an interview. ...
12:47 PM, Jan 23, 2013
As political experts assess Republican Mitt Romney's failed US presidential bid, an analysis of how his campaign and President Barack Obama's winning team used cable TV to target ads at specific groups of voters may offer some valuable tips for the future. ...
10:40 AM, Jan 06, 2013
PA Sangma, who broke ranks with the NCP to fight Presidential election against Pranab Mukherjee, will launch his own party on January 5. Sangma's National People's Party (NPP) will be formally launched at a function in the capital. His daughter Agatha, an NCP MP, may not join the new outfit as of now. ...
04:09 PM, Jan 04, 2013
Seoul: The daughter of a former military ruler won South Korea's presidential election on Wednesday and will become the country's first female leader, saying she would work to heal a divided society. The 60-year old conservative, Park Geun-hye, will return to the presidential palace in Seoul where she served as her father's first lady in the 1970s, after her mother was assassinated by a North Korean-backed gunman. With more than...
02:07 AM, Dec 20, 2012
Washington: Campaign finance filings with the government now show that the cost of the 2012 US presidential race has surpassed $2 billion, a new record. The new tallies released on Thursday, which include nearly $86 million in fundraising by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in the election's final weeks, boosted the total campaign haul over the $2 billion mark. The campaign's record-breaking expenditures on media ads were fuelled by eye-popping...
07:42 AM, Dec 07, 2012
Cairo: The assembly writing Egypt's constitution said it could wrap up a final draft later on Wednesday, a move the Muslim Brotherhood sees as a way out of a crisis over a decree by President Mohamed Mursi that protesters say gives him dictatorial powers. But as Mursi's opponents staged a sixth day of protests in Tahrir Square, critics said the Islamist-dominated assembly's bid to finish the constitution quickly could make...
02:45 AM, Nov 29, 2012
Washington: Sorry, fellas, but President Barack Obama's re-election makes it official: Women can overrule men at the ballot box. For the first time in research dating to 1952, a presidential candidate whom men chose decisively - Republican Mitt Romney - lost. More women voted for the other guy. It's surprising it didn't happen sooner because women have been voting in larger numbers than men for almost three decades, exit polls...
11:04 AM, Nov 25, 2012
Washington: Democrats in the US Senate increased their voting edge to 10 with a newly elected independent saying on Wednesday he will align with them. Senator-elect Angus King says he has decided to caucus with Democrats, ending months of speculation about which party he would vote with. The former Maine governor was elected last week to replace retiring Republican Sen Olympia Snowe, a prominent centrist. Republican and conservative groups spent...
10:42 PM, Nov 14, 2012
Gilbert: Police in Arizona say a Mesa woman injured her husband by running over him with an SUV because he didn't vote in last week's US presidential election. Authorities say Holly Solomon opposed President Barack Obama and was upset her husband didn't go to the polls. The husband told investigators Solomon believed her family was going to face hardship if Obama were re-elected. Police say Solomon chased her husband through...
08:52 PM, Nov 14, 2012
On World View this week, Obama gets 4 more years: What to expect of Obama's second-term and new Chinese leadership. ...
12:35 PM, Nov 09, 2012
