International

South Africa's ANC Wins a Ballot Fight in Court, Then Threatens Its Coalition Partner Two Weeks Before Local Elections

JOHANNESBURG

A Constitutional Court ruling that put 181 African National Congress candidates back on the ballot has done more than rescue the governing party from a self-inflicted paperwork failure. Two weeks before South Africa's Nov. 4 local government elections, it has opened a rift in the Government of…

Zimbabwe's Ruling Party Locks In Mnangagwa Until 2030 and Moves to Punish Lawmakers Who Skipped the Vote

HARARE 

Three months after President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed a constitutional amendment extending his rule to 2030, Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF has finished the job inside the party itself. At its annual conference in Chinhoyi, which closed on Saturday, the party deferred its elective congress from 2027 to…

Ethiopia Installs a Caretaker Administration in Tigray as Its Military Advance Raises Fears of War With Eritrea

ADDIS ABABA 

Barely two weeks after federal forces captured Mekelle, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government has announced a six-month caretaker administration for Tigray, and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has declared it illegitimate. The political move comes as the military campaign that…

Two Weeks to Go: Trump's Approval Sinks to a Record-Low 31 Percent as Democrats Widen Their Midterm Lead

World Politics 

Overview

Two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, new polling shows President Donald Trump at the lowest point of either of his terms in office and the Democratic Party enjoying its widest advantage of the election cycle. A Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on…

Counting the Ballots Before They Are Cast: Justice Department Sues California as Threatening Letters Hit Election Offices Nationwide

World Politics 

Overview

With the November midterm elections about two and a half weeks away, two separate developments this week have pushed the machinery of American elections to the centre of the political fight. On Thursday, October 15, the Justice Department sued California in…

"Boiling Point": Albania's Student Uprising Against Edi Rama Turns Violent and Spreads Across the Country

World Politics 

Overview

Albania, a small Balkan country of under three million people that has spent more than a decade promising to join the European Union, is facing its most serious domestic crisis in years. Over four days this week, student-led demonstrations in the capital,…