Argentine president vows growth after vote

BUENOS AIRES – President Cristina Fernandez said yesterday that keeping Argentina’s economy growing despite the global consumption slowdown is her top priority as she looks forward to what seems like a certain reelection in October.

Fernandez received just more than 50 percent of the valid votes in Sunday’s primary, leading her nearest challengers by more than 37 percentage points.

83 Candidates to Run for Kyrgyzstan Presidential Election

Kyrgyzstan’s Central Election Commission says 83 people have registered to run in the country’s presidential election at the end of October.

The commission said Tuesday that 16 candidates received nominations from political parties and 67 are running as independents.

The candidates are now required to collect at least 30,000 signatures, submit an electoral deposit of more than $2,000, and pass a Kyrgyz language test by September 25 in order to be considered as a presidential contender.

Turnout in Ireland general election estimated at 70%

The polls have closed in the Republic of Ireland’s general election.

Turnout is believed to be close to 70%. There are 566 candidates contesting 165 seats in the Irish parliament.

The ballot was called a few months after the ruling coalition negotiated an 85bn-euro (£72bn) EU/IMF loan package. Divisions had emerged in the ruling coalition between Fianna Fail and the Green Party.

The first results are expected early on Saturday afternoon.

Rwandan president wins re-election despite critics

Rwandan President Paul Kagame celebrated an overwhelming election victory by dancing with thousands of supporters early Tuesday, after opposition parties were banned from the vote and some Rwandans said they were forced to cast ballots for him.

The country’s election commission said preliminary results indicated Kagame would win more than 90 percent of Monday’s vote. While Kagame faced three opponents on the ballot, analysts said none of the three presented any real competition.

Rwanda’s Kagame set for landslide win: early results

Early results on Tuesday showed that Rwandan President Paul Kagame would win re-election by a landslide, after an election campaign that rights groups and opponents said was marred by repression and violence against critics.

Preliminary results from the National Electoral Commission showed that in 11 out of a total 30 districts Kagame had won 1,610,422 votes out of 1,734,671 votes cast.

Vote counting in Solomon Islands election slower than expected

The chair of the Solomon Islands electoral commission says there are doubts that all the results from the national election will be in by Sunday as had been previously expected.

The first results have been declared but counting has been very slow in some areas.

Jo O’Brien reports from the Solomon Islands capital, Honiara.

“Before the election, the Commission said it expected allt eh results in by sunday, except in two small areas where the voting was delayed by the late arrival of election officials and supplies. But now its chair, Sir Peter Kenilorea, says he doubts that will be the case. He says the counting system is contributing to delays as each box contains votes for all the candidates, and all boxes have to be brought to provincial headquarters before counting can begin. He says counting is also slower in some constituencies in Honiara where there are many candidates. Several constituencies have been able to return results relatively quickly, with sitting MPs Job Dudley Tausinga returned in North New Georgia and Seth Gukuna in Rennell-Bellona. Sir Peter is also calling for reform of voter registration after some people could not vote because they were not on the electoral list.”

Burundians vote at the polls despite terrorist threats and opposition boycotts

Burundians visited polling stations across Burundi on Friday to vote for members of the country’s national assembly despite a terrorist threat from the Somali terrorist group al-Shabab.

Security remains tight in Burundi after al-Shabab threatened to attack the country because Burundi has several thousand troops in Somalia under the African Union. Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the July 11 attacks in Uganda that killed 76 people because Uganda also has troops in Somalia.

Polls open for Japan election, PM’s party struggles

Voting began on Sunday in a Japanese upper house election that could deal Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s government a sharp setback, putting his job at risk and threatening steps to curb the country’s huge public debt.

Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan, which swept to power last year promising change, will almost certainly stay in power regardless of the outcome of the vote.

Poland’s Liberals in control as Komorowski elected

Poland’s liberals held all the reins of power on Monday after their candidate Bronislaw Komorowski foiled conservative Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s audacious bid to replace his late twin in a presidential election.

Komorowski’s victory means the Civic Platform controls both the government and the presidency, after a long power struggle.

Runoff looms in Polish presidential election

A somber election season in Poland was prolonged by two weeks Sunday when a first round of voting produced no immediate successor to Lech Kaczynski, the president killed more than two months ago in a plane crash.

Results show the interim president and parliament speaker, Bronislaw Komorowski, is leading Kaczynski’s identical twin, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. But Komorowski appeared to fall short of the 50 percent needed for outright victory.