According to Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the massive participation of the population of Moroccan Sahara in the elections on 8 September confirms the population’s commitment to the Kingdom’s territorial unity and full commitment to the implementation of the new development model in the Southern provinces.

This accession “undeniably reflects the willingness of the people of the southern provinces to fully and effectively engage” in the implementation of the sustainable development project launched by HM King Mohammed VI in 2015, according to the Minister, who spoke via video conference at the United Nations’ 76th General Assembly.

Mr. Bourita stated that people of southern Morocco live in peace and tranquility and actively participate in the region’s socio-economic development. the voting operation in the Moroccan Sahara, took place in a climate of mobilization.

At the same time, the Minister expressed Morocco’s willingness to continue working with the UN Secretary-General to find a realistic, pragmatic, and long-term political solution based on compromise and respect for Morocco’s territorial integrity.

He insisted that the only way to a political and definitive solution to this artificial regional dispute is for Algeria to assume full responsibility in the political process of the Round Tables.

He also emphasized that Morocco has placed the issue of regional and international stability support at the heart of its diplomacy since independence, stressing that the Kingdom remains committed to working for a final settlement of the regional conflict surrounding the Moroccan Sahara.

Mr. Bourita also voiced Morocco’s worry about the dreadful humanitarian situation in the Tindouf camps, where Algeria, the host country, has handed over its responsibilities to a separatist armed group, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

The post Mr. Bourita before the UN General Assembly: The 8 September election confirms the attachment of the people of the Moroccan Sahara to the territorial unity of the Kingdom appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

After counting 96 percent of the ballots, the National Rally of Independents (RNI) won the elections for members of the House of Representatives held on Wednesday, while the Justice and Development Party (PJD) suffered a severe loss.

After two terms at the head of the government and 125 members in the House of Representatives in 2016, the PJD was only able to gain twelve seats in this election, putting it in eighth position.

This is the PJD’s lowest vote total since its debut appearance in the 1997 elections, when it won nine seats.

The RNI, on the other hand, took a giant step forward by gaining more than double the seats it won in 2016 (37 seats), establishing itself as the most powerful political force in the country.

Furthermore, despite losing 20 seats in Parliament, the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) was able to maintain its second-place finish from the 2016 elections, despite dropping from 102 to 82 seats.

In contrast, the Istiqlal Party (PI) maintained third place with a significant rise in seats, confirming its status as a major challenger by gaining 78 seats compared to 46 in 2016.

The same can be said for the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP), which nearly doubled its share of seats from 18 in 2016 to 35 in 2018, allowing it to claim fourth place and signaling his return to politics.

With a total of 26 seats, the Popular Movement (MP) maintained its fifth place.

The Party for Progress and Socialism (PPS) climbed two places to sixth place with 20 seats, up from eighth place with 12 seats in 2016, while the Constitutional Union (UC) retained its first-place position with 18 MPs, up from 19 in 2016.

As a result of the election results, a new political landscape has emerged, and the government formation scenario is now open to all possibilities.

The parliamentary, regional, and municipal elections on September 8 were held in regular conditions and in accordance with the Covid-19 pandemic’s preventative measures. The nationwide participation percentage in these surveys was 50.35 percent, up to 42 percent in 2016.

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The Minister of Interior, AbdelOuafi Laftit, announced the National Rally of independents (RN) party’s lead in the professional elections held yesterday, with 683 seats and 28.6 percent.
Abdelouafi Laftit announced at a press conference at the Ministry of the Interior headquarters that the results for the peasant chambers had been announced by the voting offices and central offices, as well as the provisional results for the Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Services and the Chambers of Industry and Fishing.
Therefore, The Minister of the Interior affirmed that the Independence Party came in second place with 360 seats, followed by the Party of Authenticity and Modernity with 363 seats, and the Popular Movement with 160 seats in these elections.
The Socialist Union Party received 146 votes, followed by the Constitutional Union Party, which received 90 votes, the Progress and Socialism Party, which received 82 votes, and the Justice and Development Party, which received 82 votes.
The results of the elections for the professional chambers, according to the Minister of the Interior are as following:
Party of the national rally of independents 638 Party of Authenticity and Modernity 363 Independence Party 360
Socialist Federation of the People’s Forces 146 Justice and Development Party 49 Constitutional Union 90
Popular Movement 160
Progress and socialism 82
The remaining parties (23 parties) 71 Independent regulations 241

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The result of the next German elections scheduled for September 26, 2021 could be hampered by the mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic.

German decision-makers can no longer control the evolution of the pandemic. This failure arouses the interest of international media. As a matter of fact, the British daily newspaper “The Guardian” devoted one of its March 27 news to this subject, headline: “Heroes to zeros: how German perfectionism wrecked its Covid vaccine drive“.

The inability to deal with the pandemic is also compounded by scandals, which are difficult to cover up, such as that of Bundestag (CDU) MP Karin Strenz, who traveled to Cuba to be vaccinated and who suffered from thrombosis, was killed on March 21 in full return flight.

Confusion remains the key word to describe the current situation in Germany, especially since the Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer himself refused to be vaccinated by Astra Zeneca, at the request of the Minister of Health Jehn Spahn.

The statement by Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, President of the Munich Security Conference also considers that Germany is “ridiculous” and requires “more courage in the fight against the pandemic”.

The inability of German decision-makers to cope with the health crisis suggests that the next elections in Germany risk being strongly impacted by COVID-19.

According to DW the number of coronavirus cases in Germany passed the 3-million mark on Monday as the country’s third wave showed few signs of easing up.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said the total number of infections now stands at 3,011,513, after Germany’s disease control center confirmed 13,245 more cases.

The RKI said the country’s latest death toll from the virus is 78,452.

Since the first infection was detected in Bavaria at the end of January 2020, Germany has been grappling with lockdowns, bailouts and finger-pointing — now with the prospect of nationwide curfews being considered— as hospitals edge closer to being overwhelmed.

The chances of Germany reopening anytime soon remain slim, with the national incidence rate for the past week at 136.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. Authorities are seeking a figure below 50 before restrictions can be relaxed.

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The Ministry of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform has reviewed the property permit system, as part of the implementation of the projects included in the National Anti-Corruption Strategy, and these amendments come in conjunction with the preparations for the collective and legislative elections during the current year.

The Ministry has prepared a draft law in coordination with the Supreme Council of Accounts and the National Authority for Integrity and Prevention of Bribery in order to evaluate the currently adopted system in light of the constitutional reference and international experiences regarding the declaration of property.

Mohamed Benchâaboun, Minister of Economy, referred the draft law, in the presence of the General Secretariat of the government, while ministers obtained copies to express their observations.

The new draft specifies the conditions and modalities for the compulsory declaration of assets, and checks the content, the competent authorities for its management, and the categories that are obligated to declare assets.

These amendments come to fill the gaps known by the current system, after the work of the Supreme Council of Accounts faced difficulties in tracking the properties of elected senior officials.

The post Morocco: New Law, Elected Officials Must Declare Assets appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

The US Senate is on track to remain Republican. The party of outgoing President Donald Trump retained an additional seat on Wednesday in the upper house of Congress, with a victory in Alaska, which puts it in a majority vote.

GOP Incumbent Dan Sullivan was easily re-elected, with more than 57% of the vote, according to projections by CNN and NBC television channels. His victory confirms the good performance of the Republican Party in the Congressional elections, which were held on November 3 at the same time as the presidential election which saw the victory of Democrat Joe Biden.

Two seats are still to be filled which will be played in a double by-election on January 5 in the conservative state of Georgia and the Republicans now have 50 seats, against 48 for the Democrats in this chamber of 100.

So the Democrats would have to win those two seats to catch up with the Republicans and give Joe Biden more leeway to implement his policies because it would then be the voice of Vice-President Kamala Harris who would decide the votes in the event of a 50-50 tie.

No law can be passed in the United States without the upper house, which also has the power to approve the president’s appointments: his ministers, ambassadors, and judges, including members of the Supreme Court. If the Senate remained Republican, Joe Biden, who sat there for 36 years, would have to use his talents for dialogue and negotiation. The president-elect said he was convinced on Tuesday he could bring together a sufficient number of parliamentarians from the other side.

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The Trump clan definitely does not want to let go. The head of American diplomacy Mike Pompeo has also refused Tuesday to recognize the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential election, by promising a “smooth transition” to a “second” term of Donald Trump! While asked about the measures taken by the State Department, a key national security ministry, to facilitate the transition with the President-elect’s teams, he replied: “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration”.

“We will count all the votes,” he added at a press conference, assuring that leaders around the world were aware that this was a “legal process” which “takes time”. “The world must be fully confident that the transition necessary for the State Department to be effectively operational today and effectively operational with the president who will be in office on January 20 afternoon will be a successful transition,” continued the Secretary of State.

Many leaders of countries allied with the United States, from France to the United Kingdom, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel, congratulated Joe Biden on his election. But the outgoing Republican president refuses to recognize his defeat and has promised to fight in court to obtain a reversal of the results, without however providing the slightest proof of the massive “frauds” he denounces.

In the Republican camp, a handful of moderate senators recognized the Democrat’s victory, another handful of hawks agreed with Donald Trump, while the majority stress that it is in his right to consider appeal. Mike Pompeo, one of the ministers most loyal to the billionaire, thus seems to position himself among the die-hards of the Trumpist camp.

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It has been now two days that Joe Biden was projected to be the 46^th president of the United States although Donald Jr Trump has not yet conceded defeat. The later has been quite silent regarding the whole situation with one thing in mind: the election has been rigged. Since the different media outlets have started displaying and confirming Biden as the next POTUS, his opponent has only made two significant tweets (and Facebook posts) on the matter – though, they are both pretending a fraud in the election. “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” he wrote on November 7^th, 2020 on Twitter and few hours later he wrote that the observers were not allowed into the counting rooms. He even supposed he has won the election with 71,000,000 legal votes. In these conditions, it’s clear that he’s not ready to back down from this and he’s preparing something big on the coming days.

The Supreme Court confirmation

Even though every appeal Donald Trump has made so far ended up being ruled out by states authorities for lack of evidence, it’s obvious that the President is likely gathering more proofs (if any) in order to go to the Supreme Court, the only institution that can actually turn the table in his favour. A similar situation happened after the elections of 2000 which indeed ended up producing different results. Trump is hoping to go to court and have the judges rule out Biden’s votes that are according to him fraudulent or might have been taken from his votes. The battle in the supreme court will be his last stop and he’s confident he will win the election after the verdict from the judges.

It’s important to note that the president has nominated 3 judges in the court and that means things are going to heat up a little bit. Still, without solid evidence, it’s hard to foresee any other outcome out of the allegations Trump has been making since the beginning (even before the election day). Given how calm and relaxed he has been, it will be a mistake to believe that he does not have anything concrete because he knows he will fail (again) in the Supreme court if he brings unacceptable evidence. In events he still does not have such proofs, it’s possible that he’s trying to find another way to give up the chase and accept his lost. Since he has already supposed that election has been stolen, it’s going to be hard for him to pretend the opposite, for the sake of his supporters and his dignity. However, that’s what will likely happen.

A nation towards autocracy or even worse

By simply following Trump supporters’ reactions on social media, it appears that most of them are ready for anything to keep him in the White House. Facebook has been taking down groups of the supporters where calls for violent reactions are often made. The worst-case scenario that can come out of this already divided nation is a civil war first. It’s too premature and possibly phantasmagorical to even pretend this will happen but many non-negligible roads can lead to a series of violent encounters between both sides. In case Trump does not win the court’s appeal, it’s possible his supporters will still choose him anyway as stated by this conservative here. If that happens, the US will be leading to an autocracy with a self-proclaimed president – really one that doesn’t want to back down. But of course, on January Trump will be literally forced to leave the White House if the Court confirm Biden Presidency. Still, some will continue to refuse Biden as the president rightfully seated.

On the other hand, if the election results are flipped in favour of Trump by the Court, there is ultimately going to be an unavoidable flounce throughout the country from Biden supporters and Trump will be this time accused of power abuse and possibly a coup he has prepared way before the election day. By the look of it, Trump seemed to have been aware of his defeat before the vote and the Supreme Court move has been prepared as a backup plan.

The post Donald Trump’s Master Plan appeared first on Morocco Telegraph.

Joe Biden has won the race over Donald Trump surpassing 270 votes to become the 46th US president seeking to restore civility to the nation.

Joe Biden, a 77-year-old son of working-class Scranton, Pennsylvania, a veteran of American politics became the oldest candidate elected to the presidency.

In a statement, Biden said he was “honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in him and Ms. Harris”.

Biden was declared president-elect, marking the conclusion of a bitter presidential race that was fought during a devastating pandemic that has killed more than 228,000 Americans.

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