DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader has won a second term in elections, clinching victory in the first round, according to preliminary results. The hugely popular president vowed unity and impartial leadership as he declared victory after rivals conceded last Sunday night, having secured a sufficiently wide margin to win without needing to go to a second-round face-off.

Abinader’s win appears to be an endorsement of his handling of the economy and tough policies towards migration from neighbouring Haiti.
With just over half of voting centres reporting late on Sunday, Abinader held 58.85 percent of the vote. His closest rival, three-time former President Leonel Fernandez, was sat on 27.29 percent, preliminary data from electoral authorities showed.

While final results were pending, Abinader, 56, had clearly won well over the 50 percent needed to rule out a run-off election. That prompted Fernandez, and another rival, Abel Martinez, to concede. “Today our country shines with its own light,” Abinader told supporters at the headquarters of his Modern Revolutionary Party, pledging to serve as president for all citizens. He called for a country “without distinction, without sectarianism and without party colours”. The re-elected head of state also vowed to push through constitutional reform on the continuity of power that would not rely on the “personal whim” of the president in office. He pledged that he would not run again after completing his second term.

Presidents in the Dominican Republic are restricted to two terms of four years. However, previous reforms have extended presidential mandates.
While opposition parties reported a number of small irregularities, voting in the election largely ran smoothly.
Many of the eight million eligible voters are still troubled by an electoral authority decision to suspend the 2020 municipal elections due to a technical glitch, prompting what appears to be a high voter turnout.

Voters said they felt satisfied with the electoral process, according to Luis Fortuno, an international observer for the election and a former governor of Puerto Rico. “In general the electoral process was carried out correctly, openly and democratically,” Fortuno said.

One of Latin America’s most popular presidents, Abinader had approval ratings at about 70 percent, a CID-Gallup poll showed in September. The election outcome reinforced Abinader’s major policies, which include an anticorruption agenda and a crackdown along the shared border with Haiti and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing the violence-stricken neighbour. Abinader, a US-trained economist of Lebanese descent, was elected during the COVID pandemic in 2020 on promises of restoring trust in the government after several high-profile corruption scandals embroiling public officials in the top tourist destination. Once in office, he began building a 164km (102-mile) concrete wall along the border with Haiti to keep out undocumented migrants. He had more than 250,000 migrants deported in 2023, despite international pressure for the country to welcome more refugees.

Voter Willy Soto, 21, was among the crowd outside Abinader’s campaign headquarters. He voiced approval for the migrant crackdown. While saying he knows “the policies against [Haitians] are very strict”, he told The Associated Press news agency that the steps the president has taken are important in guaranteeing the security of Dominicans like him. “This isn’t a problem that gets resolved one day to the next,” Soto said. “The policies he’s implemented, how he’s cracked down, closed the border and built a wall, I feel like it’s a good initiative to control the problem of Haitian migration.”

Another voter Javier Taveras, 38, told the AFP news agency that he “likes the current position of maintaining sovereignty,” though not “the abuse against our Haitian brothers”. As for the border wall, “I don’t know how effective it is,” he said.

While the migrant policy is popular among Dominicans, it has drawn sharp criticisms from human rights groups that call it racist and a violation of international law.
(Al Jazeera)…[+]

IRAN – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has confirmed that Mohammad Mokhber will take over as interim president following the death of Ebrahim Raisi.

Ali Khamenei, who wields ultimate power in Iran, confirmed that the first vice president will become acting head of the country’s executive branch on Monday, hours after it was confirmed that Raisi had been killed in a helicopter crash. The need to replace the governmental leadership is pressing as Iran remains in the midst of heightened tensions in the Middle East.

Israel’s war in Gaza has prompted lower-level conflicts with Iran-backed groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Last month, Iran and Israel swapped direct strikes at one another.

The appointment of Mokhber, who became vice president in 2021 when Raisi was elected president and is seen as being close to Khamenei, is in line with the constitution. “[Mokhber] is obliged to arrange with the heads of the legislative and judicial branches to elect a new president within a maximum of 50 days,” Khamenei noted, a requirement also set out by the constitution.

The wreckage of the helicopter carrying Raisi, as well as Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other passengers as well as crew, was found yesterday morning after an overnight search in poor weather.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s lead negotiator on its nuclear programme, has been appointed as acting foreign minister following the death of Amirabdollahian.

Khamenei also announced five days of mourning in a statement published by the state news organisation IRNA, adding that he offers his “condolences to the dear people of Iran”.

(Al Jazeera)…[+]

The police on Saturday intercepted more than 3 kilograms of cocaine at a checkpoint located at Stolkertsijver in the Commewijne District. Sources told Times of Suriname that the driver, Hesdy K, and his passenger, Olfuengo P, were arrested on a possession of illegal drugs charge. The suspects were driving in the direction of Albina when they were told to pull over at the police checkpoint. When the police searched the car, they found cocaine pellets in Olfuengo’s bag. The cocaine pellets had a combined weight of 3,106 grams. Olfuengo P told the police that the drugs belongs to him. Both suspects are currently in jail. The investigation is ongoing…[+]

ENGLAND  –  The High Court in London has ruled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has the right to appeal in a final challenge against his extradition to the United States.

Assange’s legal team argued that the judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson should not accept the assurances given by US prosecutors that the WikiLeaks founder could seek to rely upon the rights and protections under the US First Amendment.

His legal team made the case that Assange could be discriminated against on the basis of his nationality, as an Australian-born foreign national.

In a short ruling, the judges said the US submissions were not sufficient, granting Assange permission to a full appeal in relation to the points on freedom of speech and nationality.

A date has not yet been set for the full appeal.

Assange is wanted by US authorities on espionage charges connected to his organization’s publication of thousands of classified documents and diplomatic cables in 2010 and 2011. He faces spending the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.

In March, the court delayed its decision on an extradition as the judges sought a series of assurances, including from the US that it would not seek the death penalty for the 52-year-old Australian citizen.

It has been 12 years since the Australian has lived freely.

Assange has spent the past five years in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison and nearly seven years before that holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in the English capital trying to avoid arrest. He maintains his extradition is politically motivated. (CNN)…[+]

The Capital Offenses Division of the Police Force Suriname (KPS) recently solved the murder of 78-year-old Achmedghan Alimahomed. Reports indicate that 7 suspects have been arrested on armed robbery and murder charges.  Aniel D  and Judah B who were also wanted have also been arrested. Five suspects are denying the charges while two have already confessed. The dead body of Alimahomed was found in his home located in the Twee Kinderenweg on April 8th. His body was in an advanced stage of decomposition while his hands and feet were tied with duct tape. It is not clear what was stolen by the robbers but the entire house was ransacked…[+]