Zionism – Features

Zambia presidential hopefuls to discuss vote rigging fears

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

President of Zambia's opposition

Picture: (AFP/File/Thomas Nsama)

President of Zambia’s opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) Hakainde Hichilema waves after filing his presidential nomination papers in Lusaka last month.

Electoral authorities in Zambia today summoned presidential candidates for an emergency meeting to discuss allegations of vote rigging ahead of this month’s presidential election.
An official said the meeting by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) was called after the opposition rejected the printing of 600,000 extra ballot papers for the October 30 elections.

"The issue of the extra ballot papers will be discussed today (Wednesday) by all the four candidates," said Brown Kasaro, a deputy director of the ECZ.

The presidential polls to replace late president Levy Mwanawasa are being contested by four candidates including acting president Rupiah Banda who is running on the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy(MMD) ticket.

The others are main opposition leader Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front, Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development UPND) and Godfrey Miyanda of the Heritage Party.

The opposition parties have refused to verify the ballots, alleging that the printing of additional papers was meant to rig the vote in favour of Banda.

"We still insist that the extra ballot papers should be destroyed," said Samuel Mukupa of the main opposition group.

The ECZ has defended its decision to print additional ballot papers saying it is a standard practice worldwide, allowing voters to get fresh papers in case of a mistake when voting

Sapa-AFP

Israelis targeting grassroots activists

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

By Mel Frykberg

(source:IPSnews)

East Jerusalem – Israeli authorities are increasingly targeting and intimidating non-violent Palestinian grassroots activists involved in anti-occupation activities who are drawing increased support from the international community.

Several weeks ago masked Israeli soldiers stormed the home of Ehab Jallad from The Jerusalem Popular Committee for the Celebration of Jerusalem as the Capital of Arab Culture for 2009.

"Around 3am the soldiers started kicking and banging on the door and threatened to break it down if I didn’t open immediately. My young daughters were terrified as they didn’t know what was happening," recalls Jallad, a young Palestinian architect from Jerusalem.

Gfm

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

80 VEHICLE GAZA CONVOY
HAS REACHED ISTANBUL… Read More »Gfm

Open letter to president jacob Zuma

January 1, 2013July 25, 2013

Iqbal Jassat
Chairman,
Media Review Network
Cell: 083 594 3749
E-mail: mrn_ij@telkomsa.net

Moulana Ighsaan Hendriks
President of the Muslim Judicial Council
Cape Town
South Africa
Cell: 083 384 6973
E-mail: mediadesk@mjc.org.za

Mr. President

We do not wish to remind you that South Africa is a sovereign state and its security services should not be held to ransom by any foreign government.

We address this open letter to you based on the possibility that you may be meeting Shimon Peres, President of Israel, during your visit to Davos, Switzerland, next week.

We are aware that he is keen to discuss the problem of issuing diplomatic passports to agents of Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security agency, who would be operating from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport.