Erdogan's AK Party 'loses' major Turkey cities in local elections - Aljazeera.com

Istanbul, Turkey - Turkey's ruling party has lost mayoral elections in the country's largest three cities - Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir - in a stunning election setback for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to unofficial results published by state-run Anadolu Agency on Monday.

The official results will be released after the country's election board looks into objections filed by political parties, who have three days to file complaints.

Anadolu's unofficial data shows Republican People's Party's (CHP) candidate Ekrem Imamoglu won the heated mayoral race in Istanbul, the country's largest city and economic centre, with 48.8 percent of the vote, while the ruling Justice and Development (AK Party) candidate Binali Yildirim got 48.5 percent.

In the capital, Ankara, unofficial results showed that CHP candidate Mansur Yavas had garnered 50.9 percent, with the AK Party nominee Mehmet Ozhaseki trailing on 47.2 percent.

In the third-largest city, Izmir, the CHP candidate, Mustafa Tunc Soyer, was leading with 58 percent votes while AK Party's Nihat Zeybekci stood at 38.5 percent.

All of the votes have been counted in the three largest cities.

The ruling AK Party, which ran as part of the People's Alliance, lost both Ankara and Istanbul in Sunday's local elections, which were held against the backdrop of Turkey's first recession in a decade while its lira currency lost as much as 40 percent of its value against the US dollar last year.

The race in Istanbul was particularly tight, with both AK Party and the CHP claiming victory in Istanbul's mayoral election.

Yildirim claimed early on Monday that he had won the race by around 4,000 votes, but later admitted he was 25,000 votes behind Imamoglu from CHP, which is part of the Nation Alliance.

Yildirim's statement

Yildirim, however, said that his party had objections to the results over invalid votes.

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"There are 31,136 ballot boxes [in Istanbul]. If there is one invalid vote in each ballot box, it makes 31,136 votes in total, which is more than the difference [between the two sides]," he said, adding that there are some 315,500 invalid votes in the polls.

Sezgin Tanrikulu, a CHP MP from Istanbul, said that although Imamoglu won the race in Istanbul, the election board was waiting for the objection period to end for legal reasons to declare the official winner.

"There have been complaints about certain ballot boxes. Legally, the party objecting should show a valid reason in doing so over each particular ballot box. Therefore, the number of boxes votes will be recounted in is limited," he told Al Jazeera.

"The government should respect the results."

According to Galip Dalay, a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford, the results are not a mathematical loss for the AK Party, but they still would not be taken lightly by Erdogan's bloc.

"However, it is a psychological loss as it lost several major cities including the biggest three," Dalay, who is also a non-resident fellow at Brookings Institution in Doha, told Al Jazeera.

"Early elections are out of the picture due to the fact that it did not suffer major losses in terms of vote numbers, but the result might set a context for wider discussions within the party and the conservative camp in Turkey about policy choices."

Speaking at a news conference in Istanbul on Sunday, Erdogan acknowledged that his party had lost control in a number of cities and pledged that he would focus on carrying out economic reforms.

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Erdogan, who was elected last year as the country's first executive president, said the next polls would be held in June 2023, adding that Turkey would carefully implement a "strong economic programme" without compromising on free-market rules.

Ozgur Dilber, a CHP volunteer, said the results showed that the AK Party's popularity was waning.

"To me, the results are proof that the number of voters who want change is increasing," he told Al Jazeera speaking on the election results on Sunday.

Focus on economy, security

The polls posed a major challenge for Erdogan, given a backdrop of high inflation and rising unemployment sparked by a major currency crisis last year.

Earlier this month, official statistics showed that in the last two quarters of 2018, the Turkish economy slipped into its first recession in a decade, as inflation and interest rates soared due to the currency meltdown.

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In February, inflation stood at just under 20 percent, while the Central Bank's main interest rate is currently 24 percent.

In the lead-up to Sunday's vote, the People's Alliance sought to link the local polls to internal and external risks threatening the country's security.

Erdogan has often blamed foreign powers and "speculators" for the currency fluctuations and other economic woes faced by Turkey - a message he repeated this week.

For its part, the main opposition alliance has focused its campaign on the economic situation and its effect on citizens.

It also used Turkish flags in their campaigns, rather than party banners, in an apparent bid to attract voters from different backgrounds.

Follow Umut Uras on Twitter @Um_Uras

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2019-04-01 19:29:00Z
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UK Parliament is voting on 4 Brexit alternatives. Here’s why it matters. - Vox.com

The British Parliament is voting yet again on Monday, in another attempt to try to break the Brexit impasse.

Members of Parliament (MPs) will try to see if they can agree on a new plan for the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union by holding another round of “indicative votes.”

This is a follow-up to last Wednesday’s vote, when Parliament seized control of the Brexit process. Lawmakers debated and voted on eight Brexit options, from softer Brexit plans to a no-deal Brexit.

No plan won a majority in Parliament, although a few alternatives came close, including one option that would keep the UK in a customs union with the EU after the breakup.

Monday’s vote in Parliament is a second attempt to agree on one of those alternative plans. The options have been whittled down to the four, and the finalists chosen for a second vote mirror the plans that got a fair amount of support last week, but failed to win outright.

The hope is that now, with fewer choices on the ballot and time running out ahead of the April 12 Brexit deadline, MPs will rally behind a particular plan and offer up a Brexit compromise that can end the political stalemate and uncertainty.

Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow selected four measures for Monday’s vote. Parliament is voting on two types of plans. The first involve different Brexit outcomes, meaning measures that would fundamentally change the type of EU-UK divorce on offer by putting forward a softer-style Brexit.

The others focus on process. This applies to the second referendum choice, or “confirmatory public vote,” as it’s being called, which would put any deal approved by Parliament back to the people — but since Parliament hasn’t accepted any plan, it’s not clear what that would be just yet.

The results are expected to come in at about 10:30 pm London time (5:30 pm EST):

• Customs union

This plan would allow for the UK to retain a form of membership in the customs union post-Brexit, which means the UK would continue to follow all the EU customs rules. Parliament defeated this plan last week by a margin of eight votes, 264-272.

• Common market 2.0

This is a very “soft” Brexit proposal, meaning the UK and the EU would have very close economic ties. The model for this is Norway, which is not an EU member but has access to the EU single market (which broadly means free movement of goods, capital, services, and people) through seeking membership in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) — which is made up of of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein — and European Economic Area.

This plan would also call for negotiating membership in the customs union (which Norway doesn’t have), at least until the EU and UK could come up with a trade arrangement to guarantee an open border between Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland (an EU member-state).

This was voted down 188-283 last week, but support for this plan has shot up since. The big reason for this change is the opposition Labour Party is now in favor of this plan and is whipping votes, trying to force members to back this measure. Labour has its own soft Brexit plan that was defeated last week, but it’s not on the ballot this time around, so Labour leaders are giving support to this plan.

• Second referendum

This says that any Brexit deal approved by Parliament has to go back to the public for a “confirmatory” vote. To be clear, it doesn’t say exactly what will be on the ballot, just that the public gets a say in the final deal. This got the most “aye” votes last week, with 268, but 295 people still voted against it.

• If all else fails, revoke Article 50

This plan would seek an extension to Brexit, and if that doesn’t happen, requests the prime minister stop Brexit by revoking Article 50 if the Parliament can’t approve a deal before the Brexit deadline and agrees it does not want to leave the EU without a plan. (Article 50 is the mechanism in the EU’s Lisbon Treaty that the UK is using to leave the bloc.) This plan lost 184-293 last week.

The above options comprise Parliament’s “Final Four.” But it’s still unclear what happens if one of them — or more than one — ends up with majority support this time around.

A lot will depend on Prime Minister Theresa May, who lost another vote on her Brexit withdrawal agreement last Friday. These indicative votes are nonbinding, meaning they can’t technically force May to do anything.

The prime minister has established certain “red lines” in Brexit — meaning things she would not compromise on — such as withdrawing the UK from EU institutions like the single market and customs union. These alternative Brexit plans clash with those red lines, and agreeing to them would infuriate the hardline pro-Brexit crowd in her party. And yet — May might not really have a choice if she wants to avoid the UK crashing out of the EU on April 12 without a deal.

And the European Union also matters here. It’ll have to agree to any plan the UK puts forward and may be forced to grant the UK a much longer Brexit extension.

A useful chart by Simon Usherwood, deputy director at the independent think tank UK in a Changing Europe, shows that the EU would be amenable to most of these plans — although not all of them are free from complications.

Parliament is the closest it’s ever been to charting a new Brexit course. But there’s no guarantee that MPs will succeed, and they could easily fail once again to agree to any of these four plans.

And whatever MPs decide Monday — if they decide — still has to be implemented, for real this time. If politicians fail to come to a consensus, then the UK is facing the prospect of a no-deal Brexit on April 12, or will likely need to ask the EU for a much, much longer extension.

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2019-04-01 20:10:00Z
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Venezuelans struggle to understand power rationing plan - Fox News

FILE - In this March 29, 2019 file photo, a man on crutches is illuminated by headlights of oncoming traffic, in Caracas, Venezuela. Venezuelans are struggling to understand the Sunday, March 31, 2019 announcement that the nation’s electricity is being rationed to combat daily blackouts. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelans are struggling to understand an announcement that the nation's electricity is being rationed to combat daily blackouts.

Office worker Raquel Mayorca said Monday she didn't know if her lights were off because of another power failure — or whether it was part of the government's plans. She said the power was out on one side of the street, but working on the other.

President Nicolas Maduro said a day earlier that he was instituting a 30-day plan to ration electricity but provided no details.

He called on Venezuelans to be calm, accusing U.S.-backed opponents of launching an attack on the power grid.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido says years of government neglect have left the grid in shambles.

He asked people to take to the streets to overthrow Maduro's government.

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2019-04-01 18:12:14Z
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UK lawmakers discuss halting Brexit after petition hits 6 million - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers debated halting Brexit on Monday after a record six million people signed a petition to revoke the process that set Britain on course to leave the European Union.

Anti-Brexit supporters protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

Britons voted to leave the European Union by 52 percent to 48 percent in 2016, and the following year British Prime Minister Theresa May gave notice of the intent to leave the bloc on March 29, 2019 under Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty.

But May has failed on three occasions to pass her EU Withdrawal Agreement, forcing a delay to Brexit until at least April 12 and leading to some for call for the whole divorce to be cancelled altogether.

The online petition to revoke Article 50 took off after a speech when May said that she was on the side of the British public over Brexit. Its website repeatedly failed as it garnered as many as 2,000 signatures a minute.

“This petition has been supported by an unprecedented number of people, although it’s not surprising because we live in unprecedented times,” Catherine McKinnell, an opposition Labour lawmaker, said as she introduced the debate.

The debate is largely symbolic and did not take place in the main chamber of the House of Commons, where discussions on alternatives to May’s Brexit plan were taking place.

Petitions on the government’s website are debated after they reach 100,000 signatures and the government must respond to all petitions with more than 10,000 names.

“This government will not revoke Article 50. We will honour the result of the 2016 referendum and work with parliament to deliver a deal that ensures we leave the European Union,” the government said in response to the petition.

The revoke petition is the largest parliamentary one ever, beating the 4.15 million signatures for a 2016 petition which called for another EU referendum in the event that neither the remain or leave camps achieved 60 percent of the vote.

More than 1.8 million people signed a petition calling for U.S. President Donald Trump to be prevented from making a state visit to Britain, leading to a debate in parliament in 2017

Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Michael Holden

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-04-01 17:30:00Z
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Brexit: In another round of ‘indicative votes,’ Parliament hopes to break the political stalemate - The Washington Post

LONDON —  After voting “no” so many times, the British Parliament may be ready to vote “aye” on something.

On Monday, Parliament will again try to seize the steering wheel from Prime Minister Theresa May, as the House of Commons stages votes on four proposals on how to exit the European Union.

Among the top options are two that would call for much softer Brexit than May has envisioned.

The two proposals would see Britain remain in closely tied to European trade rules and tariff regimes. One option would essentially mean that Britain would surrender its ability to control European immigration. The other would likely keep Britain from setting off to strike its own independent trade deals.

Trade experts, describing the two options, say they could deliver a kind of “ultra-soft” Brexit, that sees Britain “take back a bit of control.” 

Another popular option may push the government to stage a second referendum to take the questions of how or whether to leave back to the people.

And the fourth essentially seeks to cancel Brexit.

These will be non-binding “indicative votes,” expressing the will of Parliament. An earlier round of votes failed to produce a majority for any of eight proposals last week. But a big shift by the Labour Party and other political maneuvering may change the math on Monday evening.

All this comes amid growing signs that the British prime minister has lost control of Brexit, her party and her cabinet.

The Conservative Party is open revolt. Over the weekend, a bloc of 170 Conservative members, including 10 cabinet ministers, wrote to May demanding that Britain leave the E.U. “with or without a deal,” according to the Sunday Times of London.

Her cabinet, meanwhile, is now staffed by coup plotters and direct competitors. Hardline Brexiteers and those ministers pushing for a softer Brexter are both threatening to resign if they don’t get their way.

The government secretaries have become so unruly that May’s own chief whip, Julian Smith, in a rare on-the-record interview with the BBC, described them as the “worst example of ill-discipline in cabinet in British political history.”

Smith’s bold statement of unprecedented bad behavior was remarkable not only for what he said — but who said it. 

Chief whips are supposed to be like Victorian children in the extreme, never seen nor heard. They are virtually invisible to the world outside the Palace of Westminster, and their one and only job is to enforce party discipline; in other words, to “whip” their members — via text and WhatsApp group — to vote one way or another.

In his remarks, Smith also said that after the results of the 2017 general election, when the Conservative Party dramatically lost its parliamentary majority, May should have been clear that the result would spell a softer kind of Brexit.

Instead, May made bold speeches and erected red lines.

And yet, May still could get her deal passed. Her supporters say it is likely that the prime minister will try a fourth time to get it through the House of Commons.

Why would lawmakers approve on a fourth vote that which they have rejected three times before? May’s latest threat: If her Conservative members don’t rally round her deal, she will call for a general election.

This appears an empty threat by a weakened party leader. In part because the latest opinion surveys show the opposition Labour Party are polling ahead of the Tories — despite Labour being equally divided between “leavers” and “remainers.” In that environment, it’s hard to see Conservatives helping to provide the two-thirds majority required for a general election.

Last week, May said she would step down if her deal finally, somehow, gets over the finish line, thus allowing someone else to take the reins in the second phase of Brexit negotiations. May could by replaced as leader of the government by her own party without the need for a general election. 

In no time at all, Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary and a favorite to replace May as Conservative leader, dropped his opposition and backed May’s deal.

“We need to get Brexit done, because we have so much more to do, and so much more that unites the Conservative party than divides us,” Johnson wrote in Monday’s Daily Telegraph, which sounded to some like a leadership bid. 

“We have so many achievements to be proud of – and yet every single one is being drowned out in the Brexit cacophony,” Johnson said.

On Monday, Parliament was scheduled to first discuss the more than 6 million citizens who signed an online petition to cancel Brexit, making it the most popular petition ever hosted on Parliament’s website.

On Monday evening, Parliament will renew its attempt to find an alternative to May’s deal.

One soft Brexit option could include a commitment to remain in a “permanent customs union” with the E.U. — such an arrangement allows those within the union to trade freely without tariffs, but sets an external tariff on all goods coming into the bloc. Such a deal would make it hard for Britain to go global and cut its own trade deals abroad, as it would be locked into E.U. tariff regimes. But it could control European immigration. 

Another soft Brexit option is a Norway-style relationship that would involve staying in the E.U. single, or common, market. This path may allow Britain to seek trade deals outside the E.U., but would likely mean that Britain would have to allow for free movement of E.U. citizens into Britain.

When Parliament held similar series of “indicative votes” last week, the closest over the customs union, which only lost by six votes.

Some Conservatives remain deeply opposed to these options, in part because they see it as “Brexit in name only,” crossing all their red lines — preventing Britain from striking new trade deals with countries like the United States and China while keeping the borders wide-open to European migrants.

Steve Baker, a Conservative lawmaker and arch Brexiteer, is one of those adamantly opposed. He told the BBC that joining opposition parties and supporting a vote of no-confidence in the May government was “on the table” if the government were to adopt this option.

Ken Clarke, a veteran Conservative lawmaker who proposed the customs union motion, told the BBC that the option would indeed limit Britain in its ability to agree tariff concessions to non-member E.U. countries. But he pointed out that Britain could strike trade deals on services, which make up about 80 percent of the British economy. He added some Brexiteers espousing the benefits of Global Britain striking new trade deals with countries like America are “getting carried away.” 

The idea that “Donald Trump is going to suddenly open up his market to us with joy because he’s so pleased we’ve damaged the European Union. That is total nonsense,” Clarke said.

Read more

Frexit? Italeave? After watching Brexit, other European countries say: No, thanks.

What is Brexit? Britain’s political drama, explained.

Brits pretend they’re sick of Brexit. But truth is they’re obsessed.

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/brexit-latest-news/2019/04/01/a609fccc-5258-11e9-bdb7-44f948cc0605_story.html

2019-04-01 17:03:45Z
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Indicative Votes: round 2 | Brexit LIVE - The Sun

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPiSOu9OvcA

2019-04-01 14:27:42Z
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Turkey local elections: Setback for Erdogan in big cities - BBC News - Cengiz Adabag News

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2019-04-01 13:43:08Z
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