Election Videos: Politics and Election Videos // Current

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New Demonstrations In Iran Bring New Wave of Violence

The quiet enforced on Tehran's streets by the post-election crackdown was shattered Thursday in dramatic clashes between... more

korourke
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Palin Resignation Garners Kudos from Republican base

71% say they'd vote for Sarah in 2012.

Progresshiv
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Who's Pulling the Strings in Iran?

What have western governments been doing to foment insurrection in Iran?

Progresshiv
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Senior Iranian clerics reject re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:Qom assembly calls for release of p

Deepening splits among Iran's clergy came to the surface today , with a senior clerical group calling Mahmoud... more

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Drugs, economy weigh on Mexico's election

Drug violence, an economic downturn and recent cases of political malfeasance weigh heavily on Mexico's midterm congressional elections Sunday, a vote that could decide the future of President Felipe Calderon's anti-crime and economic policies.

Calderon's National Action Party, PAN, hopes its nationwide crackdown on drug cartels will win it a bigger share of the 500-seat lower house of Congress, where it currently holds 206 spots. But polls suggest the gains will go to the former longtime ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI, which now has 106 seats.

The PAN ran a bruising campaign in which it practically accused the PRI of tolerating drug trafficking. That angered PRI members, and if the party and its allies win enough seats to form a majority, it could block Calderon's efforts to reform police forces and give more police powers to 45,000 soldiers deployed to fight well-armed drug gangs.

"I'm upset because they've promised so much that they haven't delivered. The economy is getting worse, violence is growing," Daniela del Angel, 29, resident of the capital, told Reuters.

The election should not hurt Calderon's war against drug cartels. More than 12,300 people have died since Calderon sent the army against drug gangs in 2006 but Congress has not has played a major role in the fight.

Calderon has lacked a majority in Congress since taking office in 2006, but now more than ever needs backing from opposition deputies to approve reforms.

The vote for 565 mayors and six governorships — including the northern border states of Nuevo Leon and Sonora — is seen as a referendum on an economy that shrank 8.2 percent in the first quarter and is expected to contract 5.5 percent for the year as a whole.

The economic crisis has been compounded by a drop in money sent home by Mexicans working abroad and by a decrease in oil income from the slump in world petroleum prices. Those are Mexico's two biggest sources of foreign currency.

Many activists and intellectuals have urged voters to annul their vote or deface their ballot in protest against the largely government-funded political parties that have done little to break Mexico out of the doldrums. But many more Mexicans — perhaps as many as 70 percent of the 77.5 million registered voters — are likely to simply stay away from the polls.Drug violence, an economic downturn and recent cases of political malfeasance weigh heavily on Mexico's midterm congressional... more