Somali lawmakers gathered in Mogadishu Sunday to vote in the country's long-overdue presidential election, with 35 candidates vying for the top job in the troubled Horn of Africa nation as it battles an Islamist insurgency and the threat of famine.

Here’s a look at the challenges that await incoming lawmakers in a country where there is little consensus on a roadmap for financial recovery.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday pledged that Turkey would not drive Syrian refugees back to their home country despite pressure from opposition parties. Turkey is today home to more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees who fled after civil war broke out in 2011.

Lebanese expatriates in 48 countries including France and the United Arab Emirates voted Sunday ahead of the May 15 parliamentary elections, state media reported.

The election is expected to be a referendum on the country’s ruling class, which is widely blamed for the economic crisis that has moved more than four out of the country’s five families into poverty.

Expatriates began voting at 7 am (0500 GMT) Beirut time on Friday in nine Arab countries and in Iran, while the rest will vote in 48 other countries on Sunday.

President Emmanuel Macron is the favorite to win re-election in the run-off ballot on Sunday, and there are indications he bolstered his advantage with a combative performance in the one-off election debate against a somewhat defensive far-right challenger Marine Le Pen.

Central Elections Commission chief Hanna Nasser said a number of candidates had been arrested for political reasons.

On Thursday, the US ambassador in Libya, Richard Norland, also expressed fears over an escalation.

The emergence of the new government once again gives Libya two prime ministers, as was the case between unrest-plagued 2014 and 2020.

Libya's prospective prime minister, appointed by the war-torn country's parliament as it seeks to oust interim premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah, said Thursday his cabinet line-up was ready.

Libya faced the challenge of two prime ministers on Thursday after parliament named a rival to the existing unity government's chief Abdulhamid Dbeibah, hours after his convoy was targeted in a shooting. The appointment of a second prime minister threatens to spark a new power struggle in the country.

According to analyst, PLO is loosing its popularity among Palestinian people as many are frustrated over its failures to hold open elections for key positions.

Under PM Costa's watch, Portugal has the highest immunization rate against Covid-19 in Europe, maintained fiscal discipline, increased the minimum wage, and slashed unemployment to the pre-pandemic level.

Iraq's top court on Tuesday confirmed the re-election of Mohammed al-Halbussi as parliament speaker, following appeals against its conduct, paving the way towards the formation of a new government.

A presidential election was due to take place on December 24, followed by legislative polls, but the UN-sponsored electoral process was postponed indefinitely due to political tensions. Those tensions pit a long-standing ally of military strongman Khalifa Haftar against a Tripoli-based interim government formed last year.

Analysts think politically diverse Gen Z voters hold one of the keys to Erdogan's tricky path to presidential re-election.

Abdalla Hamdok, a former UN official and Prime minister of Sudan, resigned just six weeks after being reinstated.

The election, set for December 24, was meant to be the culmination of UN-led efforts to drag Libya out of a decade of conflict.

The poll was meant to take place just over a year after a landmark east-west ceasefire. The delay will be a disappointment to some 2.5 million Libyans who had collected their voter cards, out of a population of 7 million.

Aboul Ghaith pointed to the dangerous juncture that Libya is going through, and said that everyone should join hands and cooperate to achieve Electoral entitlement soon.

The authorities overseeing Libya's first presidential election said earlier this week holding it on Friday as scheduled would be "impossible". The vote was intended to mark a fresh start for North African country, a year after a landmark ceasefire and more than a decade after its 2011 revolt.

The election, intended to go hand-in-hand with parliamentary polls, was part of a United Nations-led peace process.

Lebanon is in the throes of an economic meltdown that has been called by the World Bank as among the planet's worst since the 1850s. The crisis is widely blamed on nepotism and corruption among the country's ruling class.

President Kais Saied recently announced the extension of a suspension until Tunisians vote for a replacement assembly in December 2022. Saied said a nationwide public consultation would take place from January 1.

Libya is to hold its first-ever presidential elections late next week, but the lack of a final list of candidates and bitter political divisions have cast doubt on whether they will take place. Polling was intended to mark a transition towards peace, but many now fear it could instead reignite...

Sudan's top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Sunday denied that military and paramilitary members of the transitional administration could run for the country's July 2023 elections.

Iraq's Shiite Muslim firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr was Tuesday confirmed the biggest winner of last month's parliamentary election that had sparked charges of voter fraud from pro-Iranian factions. Sadr's movement won 73 out of the assembly's 329 seats, the election commission said.

The Netherlands will provide support to the Lebanese media to ensure access to and delivery of reliable information for voters.

Tebboune has vowed to reform state institutions inherited from Bouteflika, who died in September at the age of 84.

The election commission said presidential candidates should have a clean criminal record, with the country’s election law saying that hopefuls ‘must not have been sentenced for a dishonorable crime.’ He is among the 25 whose candidacy was rejected on legal grounds as well as based on information from officials.

Influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, the big winner in initial results from Iraq's election last month, on Thursday called on the "losers" not to disturb the war-scarred country's democratic process. Sadr, who campaigned as a nationalist and critic of Iran, was the big winner with more than 70 of the...

Haftar's announcement comes two days after the candidacy of Seif al-Islam Kadhafi -- the son of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi -- who has been accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Libya's first-ever direct presidential poll, with a first round on December 24, is the climax of a process launched last year by the United Nations to draw a line under years of violence since the revolt that toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

Libya has seen several political and security crises since Muammar Gadaffi was overthrown a decade ago.

The attack came during a period of soaring tensions over the results of the October 10 elections.

Hundreds of supporters of pro-Iran groups clashed with security forces in Iraq's capital on Friday, expressing their fury over last month's election result, AFP journalists and a security source said.

The attack, the first to target the Green Zone since July 29, comes as authorities conduct a recount of votes cast in an Oct.10 parliamentary poll.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani told lawmakers that he had instructed the authorities to give voting rights to those excluded in the recent polls.

Internal documents seem to support the accusations.

A final tally from the ballot, organised to appease youth-led anti-government protests that began in 2019, is expected in the next few weeks, but so far no bloc has a clear mandate.That means the numerous political parties will engage in lengthy negotiations to form alliances and name a new prime...

The UAE has won membership on the UN Human Rights Council for the 2022-2024 term after obtaining 180 votes from countries of the Asia-Pacific group.

Firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr may be Iraq's big election winner but he will still have to haggle with his opponents, linked to armed pro-Iranian groups, to forge a new government. 

The country is emerging from almost two decades of conflict and insurgency since the 2003 US-led invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

The October 2 election is for 30 members of the 45-strong Shura Council, a body with limited powers that was previously appointed by the emir as an advisory chamber.

The 49-year-old Trudeau won the election, but did not get simple majority, which could make things difficult for him, just like they did in 2019. He now stands similarly weakened, with a tough road ahead of him.

The polls were initially scheduled for 2022, but moved forward to June this year, then postponed to October.

Iraq’s populist Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr on Friday reversed his decision to boycott the October elections and said his movement would take part in order to help “end corruption."

President Bashar al-Assad vows to focus on economy after taking the oath of office for a fourth term in Syria Saturday, after bagging 95 percent of the vote in the election.

23 percent turnout seen as a sign of Algerians’ disillusionment with the political class  FLN secures 98 of 407 seats in the parliament  Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Saturday began consultations for the formation of a new government, a statement from his office said, following a parliamentary election marked by...