Low election turnout could spell trouble for Iran regime, experts say
Islamic republic’s leaders may face crisis of legitimacy if disillusioned Iranians stay away from polls
The 2021 Iranian presidential election will mark a turning point in the country’s history and a fundamental crisis of legitimacy for the regime if turnout fed by disillusionment falls below 50%, according to leading experts.
The election – in effect a contest between the hardline chief of the judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, and the quasi-reformist former governor of the central bank Abdolnaser Hemmati – has been one of the most engineered in the history of the Islamic republic.
Polls have suggested turnout could be as low as 40%, as a mix of those disillusioned with all politics and those opposed to the regime stay away, rejecting the call from the political class to recognise it is their patriotic duty to vote. The fear of a low turnout led the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to call for “a show of force” at the ballot box, saying it would ease external pressures on the country.
Moscow registers record Covid-19 cases amid stuttering vaccination programme
The negative dynamics appear to have been caused by the appearance of more virulent mutations of the virus inside Russia and the withering failure of the country’s vaccination campaign.
Across the world, life is getting back to normal. Hotspots in US and Britain are no longer following an efficient vaccine rollout. Israel and Bahrain, which led from the start, have largely beaten the virus. Europe is cautiously peeling back restrictions.
Russia is doing things a different way.
A look at the headlines from the last three days gives an idea of where things are headed. St Petersburg is once again "running out of Covid beds." The town of Vladimir already has run out — there, an ambulance drove up to the regional government in protest after being turned away from all the local hospitals. Chelyabinsk and Novokuznetsk have declared "critical emergencies.”
Number of displaced persons at record high: UN report
The UN has called for action after an increase in people fleeing conflict and persecution despite the COVID pandemic. The number of displaced people has doubled in the last decade.
The number of people leaving their homes due to persecution, conflict, violence, and human rights violations has increased to 82.4 million, according to the Global Trends report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The report released in Geneva on Friday called for reversing the global trend towards more flight and displacement triggered by violence and persecution, which has been going on for almost a decade.
Two Hong Kong newspaper executives charged with endangering national security
Hong Kong police charged two executives from the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper on Friday using a powerful new security law, a day after the company's newsroom was raided over articles it had published.
Police said a 47-year-old and a 59-year-old were charged with "collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security".
Apple Daily said the two charged executives were chief editor Ryan Law and CEO Cheung Kim-hung.
Some 500 officers descended on the paper's newsroom on Thursday, bundling computers and notepads into evidence bags.
How Bulgaria hit rock bottom on press freedom
The space for independent media is shrinking as moguls monopolise the industry, but some are cautiously hopeful about the future.
On September 2, 2020, Bulgarian journalist Dimitar Kenarov headed to the centre of the Bulgarian capital Sofia to cover an anti-government protest.
He was filming the largely peaceful demonstration calling for then-Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s government to resign, when a few individuals started throwing projectiles at police, who responded with pepper spray and batons.
In the ensuing violence, Kenarov, who had by then put on a gas mask marked “Press”, was yanked to the ground by police officers, kicked repeatedly in the face, and handcuffed, despite insisting that he was a journalist and showing them his press card.
One Covid vaccine dose cuts hospital risk by 75%
- A single Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine dose reduces chances of catching coronavirus and going to hospital with it by about 75%, data suggests
- UK infections have risen slightly in the last week, with an estimated 119,000 people - up from 110,000 - positive for the virus
- First Minister Mark Drakeford confirms a delay to the easing of restrictions in Wales, saying a third wave is under way
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