Iran - Interior Min to Announce Final Elections Results on Tuesday, partial results Saturday evening

Iran - Interior Min to Announce Final Elections Results on Tuesday, partial results Saturday evening.(Fars).

Iran's Interior Ministry said the final results of the Friday parliamentary and Assembly of Experts Elections will be declared on Tuesday, although results of final vote counts in smaller towns and cities will be declared on Saturday and Sunday.

Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told a press conference in Tehran on Saturday that the results of 70% to 80% of polling stations will be announced by Saturday night.

"We will start announcing the (partial) results of the Tehran electorate tonight," he said, but stressed that nationwide vote counting and declaration of the final results will take place on Tuesday as final elections results in Tehran will not end any sooner than Monday.

Ramani Fazli noted that over 60% of all eligible voters took part in the elections, and over 53,000 polling stations were set up for some 54,915,024 eligible people to vote.

According to the interior ministry, a sum of 6,229 candidates were cleared to compete for the 290-seat legislature but 729 of them withdrew from candidacy. More than 5,500 carried out the final registration to run in the race. Candidates from all the three major camps, the Principlists, Moderates and Reformists were present in the race.

The winning candidates of the Assembly of Experts' next term, lasting until 2024, possibly might have to choose the next Supreme Leader of Iran, or at the very least plan for it

Video - Sunni Muslim vs. Sunni Muslim - This is the real Pakistan.

Sunni Muslim vs. Sunni Muslim - This is the real Pakistan from Tarek Fatah on Vimeo.

Video - This is a debate between Sunni Muslim 'scholars' of the Taliban (Deoband) variety versus Sunni Muslim 'scholars' of the more indigenous Punjabi (Barelvi) HT: TarekFatah.

Pakistan - Imran Khan faces ultimate test in governing Taliban stronghold.

Pakistan - Imran Khan faces ultimate test in governing Taliban stronghold.(ET).

ISLAMABAD: In perhaps the most dramatic outcome of Pakistan’s elections, Imran Khan’s party has won power in the northwest, putting to the ultimate test the former cricket star’s anti-US rhetoric and calls for peace talks with the Taliban.

After years of war, displacement and broken promises from religious parties and the secular Awami National Party (ANP), voters on the frontline of the Taliban insurgency rewarded Khan’s untested party with the highest number of seats.

For Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), which previously only held one seat, it was a staggering victory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) — one of the most troubled parts of the country — and hands Khan an almost poisoned chalice of responsibility.

Early results indicate PTI has secured at least 33 seats in the 99-member KPK provincial assembly, with nearest rival Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam on 15 seats.

Bitterly opposed to US drone strikes and Pakistani offensives against Taliban fighters blamed for killing thousands of people, victory in the northwest propels PTI from the lofty ideals of opposition to the comfortable realities of government.

Many analysts believe Khan will have a rude awakening and will realise very quickly that his policies of appeasement are naive, that it is not just “America’s war” and that the Taliban are not people he can do business with.

“They will wake up to reality very quickly because the stance of the Taliban is such that it is absolutely not reconcilable with any government in KPK or in the federal capital,” said Saifullah Khan Mahsud of the FATA Research Center.

The ANP, which governed KPK for the last five years, was all but wiped out at the polls, sent packing by an electorate fed up with corruption and their inability to bring peace to the war-racked province.

Khan, on the other hand, presented himself as a charismatic leader. He visited repeatedly, talking with and walking among ordinary people. He promised peace and denounced the US drone strikes — it proved a heady combination.

The Taliban, who denounce democracy as un-Islamic, killed more than 150 people during the election campaign, including 24 on polling day itself. Secular parties in the outgoing government suffered by far the heaviest losses.

In a telephone conversation with AFP, Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said the insurgents would first “wait till political parties form their government in centre and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” before announcing their policy. But referring to PTI and the Pakistan Muslim League-N, which won the national polls, before the election he also warned that: “If they also come into conflict with Islam, then we will decide to target them.”

That could present PTI with the uncomfortable prospect of having to go back on the policies that got them elected, says Umair Javed, a Pakistani columnist.“Right now Imran is very clear on ending things. That would mean you completely stop sharing intel, you put an end to the transit network for NATO, the (US) drone programme has to end.

“But being in power and having to govern a province is a huge experience for the party and will help in tempering some of their more extreme positions in the war on terror and relationship with the US,” he says.

One crucial aspect will be the relationship between PTI in the province and Nawaz Sharif’s government in the centre. Both leaders voiced similar positions on the war on terror though Sharif is seen as a pragmatist.

But even if a decision is taken to reach out to the Taliban to initiate a peace deal, similar policies of talks have unravelled in recent years.“He wants peace without fighting the war. We could well see another peace deal, and after a few months of Taliban misrule and injustice public opinion would once more sour,” said Shaukat Qadir, a retired brigadier and security analyst.

Pakistani troops have been fighting for years, but it was only in 2009 that the country largely united for the first time behind an operation against the Taliban in Swat after a video emerged in 2009 showing the flogging of a 17-year-old girl.

But much will likely depend on Pakistan’s powerful military. Army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, has been a strong US ally but junior ranks are increasingly fed up with the bloody war and opposed to American intervention.

“It is a very tricky situation because on the one hand the army chief mentioned recently that political forces and the military should be on the same page and there is no compromise with those forces which they are fighting,” says retired general Talat Masood.Read the full story here.

Video - Secret Pakistan : Documentary by BBC Part 1.

"Secret Pakistan" by BBC showing involvement of ISI and Pakistan Army in helping taliban. Some MIGHT/MIGHT NOT agree with it. It's their personal matter.

Pakistan - Major Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami boycotts vote in Karachi, alleges rigging.

Pakistan - Major Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami boycotts vote in Karachi, alleges rigging.(ET).

KARACHI: A major Islamist party on Saturday announced it would boycott Pakistan’s elections in the country’s financial hub Karachi and another city, accusing a rival party of rigging and violence.

Jammat-e-Islami (JI) is thought to be the third largest party in the city after the secular Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which were coalition partners in the outgoing government.

“These are false elections, armed workers of the MQM are terrorising people and rigging the elections,” Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, a JI party leader announced at a press conference.

“MQM workers are openly displaying arms and torturing people, they are harassing people, how it is possible to conduct fair and free elections in such an atmosphere?” Mehnati said.

Cricket star Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) also accused the MQM of major rigging in the city.

JI withdrew all of its 29 candidates who were contesting for national and provincial seats, as well as withdrawing from the city of Hyderabad in Sindh. The party did not take part in the last elections in 2008.

Responding to the boycott, Haider Abbas Rizvi, a senior MQM leader, said: “By boycotting the elections, (JI) deprived the people of Karachi and Hyderabad of democratically defeating it through ballot.”

The election commission also raised concerns about threats to its staff in the port city, which it says has prevented them from performing their duties.

“In other instances, attempts have been made to hijack the vehicles transporting voting material from the returning officers to the polling stations. This has caused serious delays in polling,” it said in a statement.

The independent Free and Fair Election Network tweeted from its account that three of its observers had been beaten up by MQM workers in a district of Karachi.

Arif Alvi, a senior PTI leader, also charged that “extensive rigging” had taken place, claiming that thousands of its supporters had been prevented from voting.

JI also complained of a delayed start in voting in many parts of Karachi, which last year saw record violence linked to ethnic and political tensions.Read the full story here.

Election Day bombings sweep Pakistan: Over 20 killed, almost 200 injured (LIVE UPDATES).

Election Day bombings sweep Pakistan: Over 20 killed, almost 200 injured (LIVE UPDATES).Violence was reported across Pakistan as millions vote in landmark elections, the first peaceful turnover of power in the country’s 66-year history. The Taliban has vowed further attacks amid a string of blasts and shootings rocking the country.

12:41 GMT: A polling station outside the Islamia School in Nawabshah, Sindh Province, was set ablaze by unidentified men, Dawn.com reported.

12:32 GMT: Gunshots were heard in the city of Nawabshah, south-eastern Pakistan, local media reported.

11:44 GMT: A total of 25 people have been killed and 198 injured across Pakistan in Election Day violence, Dawn.com reported. Most of the victims are from the city of Karachi.

11:33 GMT: Clashes and grenade attacks between two rival groups left four people dead and 23 injured in the Balochistan towns of Chaman and Kuchlak in the north-west of Baluchistan Province, local media quoted police as saying.

11:12 GMT: Clashes between rivaling supporters have temporarily suspended voting in Naushahro Feroze’s NA 212 constituency, local media stated. Polling was also put on hold at a high school in Nawabshah 214 constituency, after a man was discovered allegedly stamping ballot papers at a women's booth.

10:32 GMT: Another National Assembly candidate was kidnapped in Karachi, Geo News reported.Read the live updated story here.

Imran Khan gains in Pakistan, a survey showed 24.98 percent to vote for his party, haggling over government expected.

Imran Khan gains in Pakistan, a survey showed 24.98 percent to vote for his party, haggling over government expected.(ET).ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan cricket star Imran Khan’s party was enjoying a late surge of support on Friday, the eve of a landmark election, raising the prospect of a fragmented parliament that could lead to weeks of haggling to form a coalition government.

The failure of other parties to capture a commanding lead raises the risk a weak government will emerge, clouding optimism over the first transition between civilian governments in a country that has been ruled by the military for more than half its history.

In a sign of Imran’s popularity, 35,000 supporters turned up on Thursday at a rally in Islamabad that he didn’t even attend.

The 60-year-old is in hospital after suffering injuries in a fall from a mechanical lift at a rally this week, which may also win him sympathy votes.

“While Imran was initially handicapped by the lack of party organisation and the absence of a formal presence at the provincial level, he managed to overcome these challenges by establishing a network of volunteers who have campaigned frenetically and held massive public rallies in recent weeks,” said Shamila Chaudhary, senior editor at Eurasia Group.

Imran, Pakistan’s most well-known sportsmen who led a playboy lifestyle in his younger days, has emerged as a tough challenger to dynastic politicians who have relied heavily on a patronage system to win votes and are often accused of corruption.

Campaigning officially ended at midnight on Thursday.Election-related violence that has killed more than 110 people continued on the eve of the vote.

Five people were killed in bomb attacks on party offices on Friday, one in Quetta, capital of the southwestern province of Balochistan, and the other in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The al Qaeda-linked Pakistan Taliban, which regards the elections as un-Islamic, are responsible for the attacks that have made this the country’s bloodiest election yet, and on Thursday they revealed plans for suicide bombings on polling day.
Imran, who appeals mostly to young, urban voters, has won support by calling for an end to corruption, a new political landscape and a halt to US drone strikes on Pakistani soil.

Early opinion polls had put the share of votes for Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party as low as single figures. However, a survey released on Wednesday showed 24.98 percent of voters nationally planned to vote for his party, just a whisker behind former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N).Read the full story here.

Iran Analysis: Presidential Election --- Rafsanjani and Khatami Put Supreme Leader in a Corner

Hashemi Rafsanjani & Mohammad Khatami 

Iran Analysis: Presidential Election --- Rafsanjani and Khatami Put Supreme Leader in a Corner.HT: EAWorldview.
On the opening day of formal declarations of candidacy for June's Presidential election, the biggest noise came from former President Mohammad Khatami, heralding the likely entry of another former President --- Hashemi Rafsanjani --- into the race.
Khatami endorsed a Rafsanjani candidacy as a "victory for everyone" and then laid down a challenge for the Supreme Leader:

I was pleased yesterday when Mr. Hashemi said he was prepared to run, if the Supreme Leader does not oppose it. It's correct that if the Supreme Leader does not want someone to run, that would cause a problem, and I say why would the Supreme Leader oppose it?

Translation: either Ayatollah Khamenei accepts Rafsanjani's candidacy, which will shake up an already unsettled process and possibly put it beyond the Supreme Leader's control....
...or the Supreme Leader black-balls Rafsanjani, likely incurring blame for blocking one of Iran's highest-profile politicians.
As an EA correspondent summarised, "The Supreme Leader is between a rock and a hard place."
Even before Khatami's intervention, Ayatollah Khamenei's camp faced trouble on Tuesday. The declaration of 62 candidates in itself was not significant --- hundreds of hopefuls, almost of whom will be knocked back by the Guardian Council, will file this week.
However, among those 62 were a number of prominent names, unusual in a process where the "big guns" usually enter at the end of the period for filing on Saturday. Rafsanjani's ally Hassan Rohani entered. So did a number of conservative and principlist politicians, as well as the reformist Mostafa Kavakebian.
The rush of declarations reinforced the conclusion that the Supreme Leader's 2+1 Committee, after months of manoeuvres, has failed to control the race by setting forth a "unity" candidate.  Tabnak --- linked to Presidential hopeful Mohsen Rezaei --- highlighted,  "Everyone and his dog wants to stand."
So what's next?
The Supreme Leader's inner circle not only have to make a decision on Rafsanjani. They also have to grasp the nettle before Saturday and put out their standard-bearer.
But who will it be?
The likely choice has always been one of the three members of the 2+1 Committee --- the Supreme Leader's senior advisor Ali Akbar Velayati, leading MP and Khamenei relative Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, or Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf.
However, that choice has not been made after four months. Khamenei's camp appear to be worried that Velayati is an ineffective campaigner and that Haddad Adel lacks broad support.
And Qalibaf? The concern for the Supreme Leader is that the Mayor is too independent to be effectively controlled.
Khamenei may have to swallow hard, however, and put forth Qalibaf against Rafsanjani. Our correspondent writes:

Qalibaf keeps saying opinion polls are right and I am following opinion polls [that show him in the lead among likely voters].
If Qalibaf doesn't show up for the race, the Supreme Leader's people are left with an array of petty candidates across the board.

Read the full story here.

Imran Khan on defeating “Jihad Syndrome”, drones and Syria.

Imran Khan on defeating “Jihad Syndrome”, drones and Syria.(AA).Long after his cricket heydays, 60-year-old Imran Khan is once again inspiring young Pakistanis on an unprecedented scale.
With just a few months left until the upcoming general elections, many in Pakistan are now hoping Khan leads their country into stability and prosperity, just like the former cricket captain led the national team into winning the World Cup in 1992.
Khan is the founder and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) - also known as the “Movement for Justice” - which now boasts 7 million members.
According to various opinion polls, including that of the U.S.-based Pew Global, he is the “most popular politician in Pakistan today.”
In an interview with Al Arabiya News Channel, Khan described the PTI as the “only party that could bring change” to his country.
“People are sick of the old political leadership, who have all been in power in the last five years and have led Pakistan to destruction,” he added.
However, even the most sceptical of critics were surprised to listen to former President General Pervez Musharaf propose an electoral alliance with Khan last month.“There is more terrorism and extremism in Pakistan than ever in our history thanks to him (Musharaf),” he said.
As such, Khan has declined the offer and described it as “political suicide.”
He gives three reasons as to why he would never ally himself with Musharaf; firstly, because of what he described as immunity guarantees that the former president brokered to bring in his successor Asif Zardari - the current President of Pakistan.
Second, Khan says Musharaf is responsible for the killing of Nawab Akbar (the head of the Bugti tribe of Baloch) in Baluchistan and the Baluchistan insurgencies which came after that.
Finally, Khan argues it was wrong for Musharaf to send Pakistan’s troops under American pressure to fight internally, a conflict which left 50,000 Pakistanis dead.
As far as his plans go following an election win, Khan said the first thing he would do is disengage Pakistan from the American war on terrorism; adding that such disengagement would make the “Jihad syndrome” go away.
Khan is known to be an outspoken critic of American drone attacks in Pakistan; describing them as a “violation of all humanitarian laws,” particularly as they don’t distinguish between criminal and suspect as they are operated from thousands of miles away. 
He also believes they are a violation to Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Khan believes that while Obama and Biden had their heart in the right place; they are surrounded by generals and military advisors, who he believes didn’t give them correct guidance.
“They are losing the war, because they are losing the hearts and minds of the people,” he said, adding that today there is more anti-Americanism and more hatred due to the Obama administration’s handling of the situation.
After tens of thousands of people were killed, with no end to the war as of yet, Khan stresses that it is time the U.S. had friends, not lackeys.“We will be friend of the U.S. but we’re not going to be slaves of the U.S.,” he said.Hmmmmm......'CHANGE".Read the full story here.

Israel - First Polls Show Right Sweeping Knesset Vote.

Israel - First Polls Show Right Sweeping Knesset Vote.(INN).In the first polls taken since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared his intention to disband the Knesset in preparation for new elections, parties that would likely join a right-wing coaliton showed significant strength. A poll released by Ha'aretz Thursday showed the Likud garnering 29 Knesset seats if the elections were held today, with Shas getting 10 seats. Yisrael Beiteinu would get 15, and the newly coalesced Bayit Yehudi-National Union parties would together receive 8 seats. In addition, United Torah Jewry would garnet 6 Knesset seats. A coalition consisting of those parties would be able to comfortably form a right-wing government, with 68 MKs, the poll showed. A poll by Ma'ariv showed similar results, with the Likud garnering 29 seats, but Yisrael Beiteinu reaching only 12. One significant difference between the two polls involves the strength of Yair Lapid's new Yesh Atid (“There is a future”) party. The Ha'aretz poll shows Lapid getting 11 seats, while the Ma'ariv poll predicts he will get 17. In both polls, Labor, now led by Shelly Yechimovich, would receive only 16 seats, while Kadima, now led by Shaul Mofaz, would garner only 7 and 6 seats in the Ha'aretz and Ma'arvi polls respectively. Political pundits predicted that Kadima's dismal showing would have a major impact on negotiations between the party and Lapid, if the two parties run on a single list, which some political commentators have said both sides are considering. In a separate question, the Ma'ariv poll showed that a Kadima led by former party heads Tzippy Livni and Ehud Olmert would receive ten seats, but that in that scenario, the strength of Lapid's party would be reduced.Read the full story here.

Obama 'delays' implementing Iran sanctions for six months.For..."Election purposes"?

US delegation discusses Iran sanctions with Turkish officials.(TodaysZaman).A delegation from the United States held talks with Turkish officials in Ankara on Monday to discuss the latest economic sanctions on Iran to pressure the Islamic republic to abandon its nuclear program the West believes is a front for developing nuclear weapons.

US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns had separate talks with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu and discussed unilateral sanctions by the US on Iran due to its controversial nuclear program as well as other regional developments.
Iran, which says it only seeks to harness nuclear energy for energy production and research purposes, has sharply increased its threats and military posturing against stronger pressure, including the US sanctions targeting Iran's Central Bank in an attempt to complicate its ability to sell oil. Tehran also has been angered by the West's efforts to sanction Iran over its nuclear program, including a possible ban on European imports of Iranian oil.
President Barack Obama approved new sanctions against Iran a week ago, targeting the central bank and its ability to sell oil abroad. The US has delayed implementing the sanctions for at least six months, worried about sending the price of oil higher at a time when the global economy is struggling.

Burns' visit came days after Davutoğlu visited Tehran to discuss, among other things, the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West. Davutoğlu offered to host the next nuclear talks in Turkey -- a move Iran welcomed.Turkey is bound by UN sanctions against Iran, though it opposed the last round of measures in 2010, and it insists it is not obliged to follow non-UN sanctions. Turkey is also evaluating whether to seek a waiver from the US to exempt Turkish oil importer Tüpraş from the new US sanctions on institutions that deal with Iran's central bank.US ally Turkey is among the biggest importers of Iranian oil and gas. It gets about 30 percent of its oil from neighboring Iran, and Tüpraş, Turkey's biggest crude oil importer, is a big purchaser of Iranian crude.
Turkish diplomats said Burns and Turkish officials also discussed the Cyprus problem, the unrest in Syria and the political instability in Iraq.Hmmmm......Sanctions that benefit my reelection?Read the full story here.

Brian Lilley: Freedom Party - Arabic Being Taught In Windsor Elementary School

This will make you vote for the Freedom Party. Tom McKeever reveals that, under a pilot project initiated by the McGuinty government, children are being taught in Arabic 50% of the time in a Windsor elementary school. Hudak the alleged conservative has been silent on this.
HT: BlazingCatFur.