These are being held under a State of Emergency. This gives the Government almost unlimited powers of arrest and control, at a time when it already dominates the media. The People’s Democratic Party (HDP) is the third largest party in the Parliament, but has been demonized as a collaborator of terrorists. This accusation disregarded the…
On Thursday last week, the Government tabled a measure to bring forward changes to the electoral registers which provides the basis for conducting our elections and reviewing constituency boundaries. It probably hoped that nobody would notice that this change could remove nearly two million people from the voting registers by the end of this…
Over the weekend, a number of Conservative and Labour parliamentarians, from both ends of the building, were moaning and groaning about the arrival of 22 new Peers. Some were complaining that Conservative Party donors were included; some were querying whether Liberal Democrat activists were sufficiently august; some were griping that there were insufficient numbers of…
Resignations, possible replacements of ministers and increasing violence have hit already fragile Iraqi politics in the last few days. Officials say 110 people were killed in the latest violence. These are indeed difficult days. The Kurdistan Regional Government and the central government are at odds over issues including a swathe of disputed territory in north…
On December 17 2010, a young Tunisian man set himself on fire. This desperate act helped to spark a political revolution in the Arab world. Images of people revolting against notoriously oppressive regimes captivated onlookers worldwide. More than a year later, the world is indeed a different place – long-term dictators have been unseated, governments…
