- Lisa Nandy has won the endorsement of the Jewish Labour Movement, one of the party’s largest affiliated socialist societies.
- Keir Starmer has been endorsed by most affiliated groups and trade unions, most recently the TSSA transport union.
- Rebecca Long-Bailey, the most left-wing candidate who is seen as outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn’s ideological successor, has also qualified for the third and final voting round by members.
- Emily Thornberry fell short. (more…)
Category: News
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Labour Leadership Election News
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Kramp-Karrenbauer Quits, Throws Race to Succeed Merkel Wide Open
Prime Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer of Saarland attends a session of the Federal Council in Berlin, Germany, July 10, 2015 (Bundesrat/Henning Schacht) Angela Merkel’s heir apparent, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, has unexpectedly quit, throwing the race to succeed the German chancellor wide open.
Kramp-Karrenbauer is stepping down as leader of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a position she has held since 2018. She will remain as defense minister.
Merkel elevated Kramp-Karrenbauer from the prime ministership of Saarland, on the border with France, to national politics in order to prepare her for a run in 2021. Although Kramp-Karrenbauer is socially more conservative than Merkel (she opposed marriage equality), she was seen as likely to defend the chancellor’s centrist legacy.
Merkel has said she will not serve a fifth term. (more…)
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Judicial Reforms Create Parallel Legal System in Poland
Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki gives a speech at the Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw, April 11, 2019 (KPRM/Adam Guz) Poland’s ruling conservative party’s obsession with bending the legal system to its will is creating what the Financial Times calls a parallel legal system: one set of judges are loyal to Małgorzata Gersdorf’s still-independent Supreme Court while another obey the government-friendly Constitutional Tribunal. (more…)
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Democratic Primary News
- Bernie Sanders is now the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to FiveThirtyEight, which takes into account the Iowa caucus results and recent polls. The runner-up: no one. FiveThirtyEight believes there is a one-in-four chance no candidate will have a majority of the delegates by the time Democrats convene in Milwaukee in July. (Those odds will change.)
- Joe Biden‘s support in New Hampshire, which votes on Tuesday, has collapsed from a high of 22-23 percent a month ago to 13 percent.
- Biden did benefit the most in terms of fundraising from the departure of Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris from the race.
- Michael Bloomberg could benefit the most from the inconclusive Iowa caucuses. He is up to an average of 10-11 percent support in national polls, has surpassed Sanders in the endorsement primary, doubled his spending on television commercials and doubled his field staff to more than 2,000 (the biggest of any campaign).
- But Sanders raised the most money in January: $25 million.
- South Carolina Republicans are plotting to vote for Sanders in the February 29 primary.
- California, the biggest state voting on March 3, Super Tuesday, with 415 pledged delegates at stake, is making it easier for non-Democrats to vote. (more…)
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Democratic Primary News
- Bernie Sanders is going into Monday’s Iowa caucuses with an average of 24 percent support in the polls, followed by Joe Biden at 20 percent.
- Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren both poll around 15 percent in the state, which is the minimum needed to qualify for delegates.
- Nationally, Biden still leads with an average of 27 percent support against 23.5 for Sanders.
- Sanders raised the most money in 2019 ($96 million), but billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, who are largely self-funding their campaigns, outspent the other candidates ($388 million combined).
- Bloomberg‘s Super Tuesday strategy may be working. The former New York mayor has moved into fourth place in national polls.
- John Delaney has ended his presidential bid. (more…)
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Labour Leadership Election News
- Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Keir Starmer have won enough nominations from Labour Party affiliates to qualify for the third and final voting round in the contest to succeed Jeremy Corbyn.
- Emily Thornberry is still short.
- Jeff Phillips has withdrawn, saying she is not the candidate to unite Labour, and endorsed Nandy.
- Len McCluskey, the Unite union boss who backs Long-Bailey, has responded to suggestions that centrist lawmakers might quit if the Corbyn loyalist prevails: “Good riddance.” (more…)
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Democratic Primary News
- Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren have been endorsed by The New York Times.
- Warren has also been endorsed by The Des Moines Register, the top newspaper in Iowa.
- Bernie Sanders has once again apologized to a fellow candidate for the tactics of his supporters. In an op-ed that Sanders’ campaign promoted in their newsletter, failed congressional candidate Zephyr Teachout accuses Joe Biden of corruption. Another Sanders ally, Nina Turner, earlier accused Biden of “betraying” black voters. Sanders has apologized, just like he apologized to Warren for instructing supporters to describe her as the candidate of wealthy white liberals. It’s the same pattern NBC described at the time: “Sanders, his supporters and his surrogates go on the attack; Sanders downplays or dismisses the attacks; and the party becomes more divided.”
- Iowa Democrats caucus in a week from now, on February 3. (more…)
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Labour Leadership Election News
- Keir Starmer has been nominated by eleven constituency parties, one trade union (Unison) and one affiliate (environmental group SERA).
- Rebecca Long-Bailey has won the support of Momentum, although the far-left pressure group founded to support outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn only gave its roughly 40,000 members the choice between endorsing and not endorsing her.
- Long-Bailey has also been nominated by three local parties and one affiliated trade union.
- Lisa Nandy has been nominated by one trade union.
- Jess Phillips and Emily Thornberry have yet to receive any nominations. (more…)
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Democratic Primary News
- Cory Booker has dropped out of the presidential contest.
- Bernie Sanders is criticized for going negative. His campaign has accused Joe Biden of “betraying” black voters (Biden is the first choice of many black voters) and Elizabeth Warren of being the candidate of wealthy white liberals. NBC reports it’s bringing back memories of 2016: “Sanders, his supporters and his surrogates go on the attack; Sanders downplays or dismisses the attacks; and the party becomes more divided.”
- Biden still leads in the endorsement primary, but it’s slow going. Only a third of Democratic governors, senators and representatives have endorsed a candidate. Party leaders may be waiting to see what happens in the first few primaries before making up their minds. Or perhaps this will be like the Republican primary of 2016, when “the” party collectively decided not to decide.
- Michael Bloomberg has said that, even if he loses, his campaign — the biggest and most expensive of the Democratic candidates — will remain in place to help defeat Donald Trump. He has also shot down criticism, notably from Warren, that he’s trying to buy the nomination, saying, “Do you want me to spend more or less?” (more…)
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Five Candidates Qualify to Succeed Corbyn as Labour Leader
Five candidates have qualified for the second round of the Labour leadership election in the United Kingdom: Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy, Jess Phillips and Emily Thornberry won the required 10 percent support from lawmakers to make it into the next nominating round.
- Clive Lewis pulled out after receiving only five endorsements. Some of his supporters switched to Thornberry, who received 23 endorsements, only one more than needed.
- Keir Starmer won the most endorsements by far (89), including from former leader Ed Miliband.
- Starmer is also backed by Unison, the largest trade union with 1.4 million members.
- Rebecca Long-Bailey is expected to win the endorsement of Unite, the second largest union with 1.2 million members and led Len McCluskey, an ally of outgoing Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
- Long-Bailey has the support of Corbyn loyalists in Parliament, including Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.
- All the leadership candidates last week voted down the withdrawal agreement that regulates Britain’s exit from the EU. It nevertheless passed the House of Commons with 330 votes in favor and 231 against. (more…)
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Democratic Primary News
- Julián Castro, Barack Obama’s housing secretary, has ended his presidential bid.
- Bernie Sanders out-fundraised the other candidates in the final quarter of last year, bringing in $34.5 million against $22.7 million for Joe Biden. President Donald Trump raised $46 million for his reelection campaign in the same period.
- Trump’s airstrike against Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in Iraq has divided Democrats. Only Sanders and Andrew Yang opposed it outright. (more…)
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Electoral Commission Sidesteps Courts to Ban Catalan Leaders
Spain’s electoral commission is trying to sidestep the courts in order to ban Catalan separatist leaders from office.
The commission ordered Catalan president Quim Torra to step down on Friday, although he is appealing a similar ban from office by the Catalan High Court.
It also barred separatist party leader Oriol Junqueras from taking his seat in the European Parliament, despite the European Court of Justice ruling that he must. (more…)
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Sánchez Close to Forming Coalition Government in Spain
Spanish party leaders Pablo Iglesias and Pedro Sánchez speak in Madrid, February 5, 2016 (PSOE) Spain’s Pedro Sánchez is closing in on a deal with Catalan separatists to remain in power.
The caretaker prime minister has the support of the far left to form a new government, but he also needs the backing of regional parties, who hold the balance of power in Congress.
Sánchez’ Socialist Party does not have a majority of its own. (more…)
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Conservatives Projected to Win Majority in British Election
British foreign secretary Boris Johnson answers questions from reporters at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, June 18, 2018 (UN/Jean-Marc Ferré) Boris Johnson could win a 28-seat majority in parliamentary elections on Thursday, according to one projection that correctly forecast the outcome of the last election.
YouGov, which accurately predicted no party would win a majority in 2017, gives the Conservatives 339 out of 650 seats, up 22, with 43 percent support.
Other polls show similar support for the ruling party: 42 to 45 percent.
YouGov’s 34 percent for Labour is on the high end. Other polls giving the second party in the range of 32-33 percent. That could give Jeremy Corbyn 231 seats in Parliament, down 31. (more…)
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Democratic Primary News
- California senator Kamala Harris has ended her presidential bid.
- Support for Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren has fallen from a high of 26 percent to under 15 percent since she announced her Medicare-for-all plan.
- Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is officially in the race and trying an unconventional strategy: bypassing the first four primary states.
- Former vice president Joe Biden remains at the top of the field with 25 to 30 percent support. (more…)