Elections

Turkey Votes Whether to Give Erdoğan the Keys to the Constitution

By Leyla Kravitz

A Prime Minister Aims to Become President, and Then Concentrate Power in His New Job ISTANBUL — Turkey’s voters are likely this month to elect Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to a new job as the country’s president, putting him on a path to re-write the constitution and forge a more centralized, presidential government. After […]

Egypt High Elections Committee Secretariat-General Announced

By EgyptSource

The President of the High Elections Committee (HEC) and the head of the Cairo Court of Appeals, Chancellor Ayman Abbas, issued a decision on Tuesday to form a secretariat general, comprised of 28 members representing the judiciary, public prosecutors, and various ministries and stakeholders in the electoral process for Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary elections.

US Ambassador James Dobbins Briefs Atlantic Council on Afghan Crisis

As Afghanistan undergoes a critical stage of its political transition, Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins visited the Atlantic Council on July 11 to provide an off-the-record analysis of the current impasse over the country’s election results. The dispute over the results between the two candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, stems from […]

Kerry’s Visit to Kabul Will Be Critical to Defusing Afghanistan’s Election Crisis

Zalmay Khalilzad, David Sedney Analyze Hopes for Resolving a Dangerous Dispute This weekend’s visit to Afghanistan by Secretary of State John Kerry will be a critical opportunity to defuse the dispute over Afghanistan’s presidential election that threatens the country’s stability, two former US top officials said. Kerry is to travel to Kabul as presidential candidates […]

Egypt Faces Challenges as it Prepares for Parliamentary Elections

By Yussef Auf

While all eyes were focused in recent weeks on presidential elections and their results, attention should now turn to Egypt’s next vote for the new unicameral parliament, the House of Representatives. The significance of these elections comes from the results of the presidential elections and the events of the last few months. For many reasons […]

Afghanistan: Economic Transition and Transformation

Afghanistan has made enormous progress in reconstruction, development, and lifting per capita income. This progress, including steadily rising per capita income, has occurred despite security challenges and decreasing donor commitments from 2002-2013. Paul Ross, head of the International Monetary Fund’s Afghanistan mission, reported these findings at an Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center discussion on Afghanistan’s […]

Egypt’s Parliamentary Elections Law: A Setback for Democracy

By Khaled Dawoud

Former Egyptian Interim President Adly Mansour had already delivered an emotional farewell speech on June 4, ending nearly one year in office in which he played a largely ceremonial role as he prepared to hand power to the newly elected, former defense minister, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on June 8. However, the next day, Mansour issued […]

Egypt’s New Law for Parliamentary Elections Sets Up a Weak Legislature

By Scott Williamson and Nathan J. Brown

In an uncharacteristically immodest burst of activity, Egypt’s humble and stolid acting president, Adly Mansour, issued a series of last-minute decree-laws before handing authority over to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Some dealt with harassment, preaching, and littering. He still showed caution and restraint in some significant areas—for instance, a set of legislative changes designed to […]

On the Price Egypt Paid, Unacceptable Arrogance, and Major Challenges to Come

By Amr Hamzawy

There is a price to be paid for the absence of democracy and for the way that security practices have dominated the system of rule in Egypt, utterly corrupting political life and subjugating it to the social and party elite such that one must either support these power arrangements, along with their decisions and actions, […]