Archive for the ‘Politics - South Asia’ Category

Best and Worst of 2009

Friday, January 1st, 2010

The results are in! Our best and worst of 2009 Polls are now closed, with over 550 votes cast between them, from over 40 different countries.

The Top World Political Figure of 2009 is a clear winner: Barack Obama with 31% of the votes cast, followed by ‘none of the above’ with 15% and Hu Jintao of China with 13% of voters.

Barack Obama comes out on top again in the Top US Politician Poll, with 35% of the votes, Bill Clinton as runner up with 24% and Sarah palin in third with 13%.

In the most active of our Best and Worst of 2009 Polls, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad garnered a huge majority of the votes, with 62% calling him the Worst Political figure of 2009. Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi came in a distant second with 9% of the votes with Barack Obama just behind taking 6% of the votes.

The Economic Crisis was our voter’s choice for Top Political Issue of 2009, receiving 40% of all the votes, Climate Change came in second with 16% and Healthcare and the Middle East tied for third with 14%.

For the Worst U.S. Politician of 2009, once again Barack Obama takes the lead, with 36% of votes, Sarah Palin narrowly trailing with 28%. No-one else came close!

Worst Political Move of 2009 award goes to ‘The Blagojevich Auction’ with 33% of votes, Obama’s Public Option comes in second at 25% with Joe Wilson’s ‘You Lie!’ coming in third with 20% of the vote.

Glenn Beck edged out Keith Olbermann as your ‘Worst Political Commentator of 2009‘ with 32% and 28% of the vote respectively. Rush Limbaugh came in third with 21%.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad featured strongly in our ‘Biggest Political Liar of 2009‘ Poll, with 44% of the vote, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin and Silvio Berlusconi all showing well, too, with Palin and Obama tied for second place at 13%, and Berlusconi at 10%.

Thanks for voting, everyone! Full Results:


Top US Political Figure of 2009?

Barack Obama 35%
Hillary Clinton (Sec. State) 5%
Sarah Palin 13%
Bill Clinton 24%
Sonia Sotomayo 2%
John McCain 10%
Edward Kennedy 0%
Ben Bernanke 8%


Top World Political Figure of 2009?

Barack Obama (US) 31%
Hu Jintao (PRC) 13%
Nicolas Sarkozy (FR) 8%
Ban Ki Moon (UN) 2%
Gordon Brown (UK) 8%
Mir Hossein Mousavi (Iran) 8%
Angela Merkel (Germany) 11%
None of the above 15%


Worst Political Figure of 2009?

Barack Obama (US) 8%
Silvio Berlusconi (Italy) 9%
Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) 6%
Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) 6%
Kim Jong-Il (North Korea) 3%
Mahmoud Ahmedinejad (Iran) 62%
Gordon Brown (UK) 1%
None of the above 2%


Top Political Issue of 2009?

Economic Crisis 40%
Climate Change/Global Warming 16%
Middle East 14%
Nuclear weapons 4%
Education 4%
Healthcare 14%
None of the above 6%


Worst U.S. Politician of 2009?

Barack Obama 36%
Hillary Clinton (Sec. State) 5%
Ben Bernanke 1%
Sarah Palin 28%
Van Jones 5%
Joe Wilson 9%
Christopher Dodd 7%
None of the above 3%


Worst U.S. Political move of 2009?

“You Lie!” 20%
The Public Option 25%
The Biden Bunker Reveal 4%
The Sanford Affair 8%
The Blagojevich ‘Auction’ 33%
The Ensign Affair 0%
The Grayson Slur 0%
None of the above 8%


Worst Political Commentator of 2009?

Glenn Beck 32%
Sean Hannity 3%
Rush Limbaugh 21%
Rachel Maddow 3%
Chris Matthews 3%
Bill O’Reilly 3%
Keith Olbermann 28%
none of the above 3%


Biggest Political Liar?

Sarah Palin 13%
Al Gore 6%
Barack Obama 13%
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 44%
Hugo Chavez 3%
Silvio Berlusconi 10%
Don’t know 3%
None of the above 3%

Pakistani president turns over nuclear authority

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

Pakistan’s president relinquished command of its nuclear arsenal to the prime minister, a political ally, and signaled he was ready to shed more power as he faces growing pressure to resign.
The move came as an amnesty protecting President Asif Ali Zardari and thousands of others from graft charges expired Saturday, risking political turmoil that could distract the U.S.-allied nation from its fight against the Taliban and other militants near the Afghan border.
Read More…

Muslims Mark Eid al-Adha Festival on 4th Day of Hajj

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Muslims around the world are celebrating the festival of Eid al-Adha, including more than two million pilgrims taking part in annual Hajj rituals in Saudi Arabia.

Pilgrims in the Saudi holy city of Mecca threw stones at three pillars representing Satan, a ritual that began Friday and continues until Sunday. No major incidents were reported Friday, the third day of the pilgrimage.
Read More…

Pakistan president loses amnesty for corruption charges

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

An amnesty protecting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari from corruption charges expired on Saturday and threatened to cast the nation into political crisis.
The National Reconciliation Ordinance, an amnesty passed in October 2007 under then-President Pervez Musharraf, protected more than 8,000 bureaucrats and politicians, including Zardari and his wife, late former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Read More…

Afghan election goes to run-off

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Afghanistan will hold a deciding round of its problem-hit presidential poll on 7 November, pitting Hamid Karzai against his rival Abdullah Abdullah. News of the run-off vote follows weeks of mounting international pressure. It comes a day after a UN-backed panel said it had clear evidence of fraud in August’s first round, lowering Mr Karzai’s vote share below 50%. More on this story at BBC News…

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Iraqi Kurdistan presidential elections

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

The Iraqi Kurdistan presidential elections will take place on 25 July 2009, coinciding with the Iraqi Kurdistan parliamentary elections of 2009. A total of 2.5 million citizens of Iraqi Kurdistan are eligible to vote for the parliamentary and presidential elections. It is the first time that the president of Iraqi Kurdistan will be chosen directly through popular votes. People currently living outside Iraqi Kurdistan will not be allowed to vote.

Like the parliamentary elections, campaigning for the elections officially started on 22 June 2009 and will be stopped 48 hours before voting starts The elections will be held with 84 registration centers and 5,403 polling stations in Kurdistan and 5 polling stations in Baghdad. Below are the candidates listed with their lot number. The Iraqi Kurdistan presidential elections will take place on 25 July 2009, coinciding with the Iraqi Kurdistan parliamentary elections of 2009. A total of 2.5 million citizens of Iraqi Kurdistan are eligible to vote for the parliamentary and presidential elections. It is the first time that the president of Iraqi Kurdistan will be chosen directly through popular votes. People currently living outside Iraqi Kurdistan will not be allowed to vote.
Like the parliamentary elections, campaigning for the elections officially started on 22 June 2009 and will be stopped 48 hours before voting starts The elections will be held with 84 registration centers and 5,403 polling stations in Kurdistan and 5 polling stations in Baghdad. Below are the candidates listed with their lot number.

Sri Lankan local government elections, 2009

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Local government elections are scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka on 8 August 2009 for two local councils in the north of the country: Jaffna Municipal Council and Vavuniya Urban Council.

These will be the first elections in the country since the government declared victory in the 26 year old civil war on 18 May 2009. They will also be the first local elections held in the Northern Province in more than 11 years.

On 25 May 2009 the government announced that local elections would be held in Jaffna and Vavuniya.

Nominations took place between 18 June 2009 and 25 June 2009. After the nominations closed the Sri Lankan Department of Election announced that the elections would take place on 8 August 2009, the same day as the Uva Provincial Council elections.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has said that the elections are being held too early, with so many of the electorate displaced. It expects the Jaffna elections to be violent and the results rigged, just like the 2008 Eastern Provincial Counil elections.

The United National Party (UNP) and the People’s Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL) have called on the election authorities to bring in foreign election observers.

Vote at VoteGlobal.com

Afghan election officially postponed till August 2009

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Afghan presidential election due to be held in spring 2009 has been officially postponed till Aug. 20

India General Election 2009

Monday, June 15th, 2009

India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. The results of the election were announced on 16 May 2009. India’s elections are considered the largest democratic election in the world.

Strong showing in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan helped the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) form the new government under incumbent prime minister Manmohan Singh, who became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to win re-election after completing a full five-year term. The Congress and its allies was able to put together a comfortable majority with support from 322 members out of 543 members of the House. Though this is less than the 335 seats the UPA held in the last election, the fact that UPA alone got over 260 seats this time, means that this government appears to be more stable than the previous one. The tally of 322 seats included those of the UPA and the external support from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP),Samajwadi Party (SP), Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other minor parties.

Reference and Results:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_general_election,_2009