Everywhere you turn, elections are the new black

From US to Iran and Uganda, there was no escape as polls stole the headlines, writes Rachel Lavin

THE frightening rise of Donald Trump showed no give last week, as the Republican candidate won the Nevada caucus on Tuesday with 45pc of the vote, while Rubio won 23pc and Cruz won 21pc.

“We won with poorly educated,” he enthused in his winning speech. “I love the poorly educated.”

By Wednesday, “I love the poorly educated” was trending on Twitter, bewildering critics everywhere.

In an interview last week, Noam Chomsky attributed Trump’s popularity to “fear, along with the breakdown of society during the neoliberal period. People feel isolated, helpless, victims of powerful forces they do not understand and cannot influence.”

‘Super Tuesday’, a day on which several states hold their primaries, takes place this week and will either deny or confirm Trump’s definitive rise as well as closing the Clinton and Sanders race.

Voting also began in Iran last Friday as 50 million were eligible to vote, with reports of a high turnout.

While President Hassan Rouhani has a poor human rights record, is involved in a proxy war with Saudi Arabia and saw 12,000 electoral candidates disqualified before polling day — with the remaining 6,000 candidates given just a week to campaign — he is considered one of Iran’s more moderate leaders.

Many see the vote as a ‘referendum’ on Rouhani’s policies, with Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons describing the vote as a litmus test for Rouhani’s biggest move — the nuclear deal with the West and the subsequent lifting of economic sanctions.

Meanwhile, in Uganda, elections tallied last week were won by President YK Museveni who has been president of Uganda for 30 years, presiding over a brutal civil war and human rights violations.

Tactics such as arresting the leader of the opposition, police intimidation against opposition supporters and poll workers handing out pre-marked ballot papers, were reportedly used to ensure Museveni retained his presidency.

But with 77pc of Ugandans under 30, young people rose up on social media despite a three-day social media ban. A whopping 15pc of Ugandans with internet access outwitted the internet blackout and documented abuses under the hashtag #Ugandadecides. “The social media blockage has strengthened the online activist movement in Uganda and evoked their inner creativity,” said Daniel Gilbert Bwete, a Ugandan photographer based in Kampala. “It’s sending us to investigate and find out what other alternatives we have with the shrinking political space.”

As for the presidential election in Myanmar, negotiations continue behind the scenes with National League for Democracy’s Aung San Suu Kyi said to be considering compromises with the military government to gain her long-awaited presidential seat.

Suu Kyi is blocked from the presidency by a constitutional clause, written by the military-led government, that dictates that any president must not have immediate family members who are citizens of another country. (Both Aung San Suu Kyi’s sons are UK citizens)

March 17 will mark the final day for nominating the president, meaning Suu Kyi only has two more weeks to cut a deal and claim her rightful presidential seat.

Meanwhile, David Cameron also has a defining, upcoming date with the referendum on the UK’s continued membership of the EU set for June 23. At the heart of the ‘Leave EU’ debate, it seems immigration is the key issue in a year that has seen the refugee crisis bring many EU political relations to breaking point.

Indeed, last week, as Balkan countries effectively sealed their borders with Greece, it seems the Schengen agreement is on the brink of collapse. Furthermore, Greece fell out with Austria last week after it was excluded from a meeting with Balkan leaders, calling it an ‘unfriendly act’ and promptly removed its ambassador from Vienna.

A ‘complete breakdown’ of the bloc’s migration system is possible, claimed the EU commissioner in charge of migration, Dimitry Avramopoulos, warning that “the possibility of a humanitarian crisis of a large scale is very real”.

‘It seems the Schengen agreement is on the brink of collapse’