Election Special

The biggest democratic election on the planet got under way this week, with almost a billion people eligible to vote in India’s seven-stage contest which will culminate towards the end of May. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a second term, but faces a challenge from Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Congress party.

A new political board game called The Poll, devised by 27-year-old journalist Abeer Kapoor, has become popular by helping Indians and foreign observers understand the complexities of the process, but does not, Kapoor told CNN, offer lessons about the morality of politics. “We want people to understand … that there are issues and there are promises that are made and we don’t always hold people accountable for that.”

This weekend marked the 100thanniversary of the infamous Amritsar Massacre; an event, Mihir Bose writes in The Guardian, that Britain “cannot be allowed to forget.”

In Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu looks set to mark election to a fifth term as Prime Minister by forming a new coalition government in the Knesset, but according to Haaretz, Israel’s political landscape has fundamentally changed. Oren Liebermann writes for CNN that despite his victory, Bibi “still has everything to lose.”

Turkey is still digesting the big-picture implications – domestic and international – of its recent election results and the surprise defeat for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, previously his electoral heartland. On Wednesday, local media reported that Erdogan’s party had called for electoral authorities to annul Istanbul’s election results due to “irregularities.” The Arab Weekly said such a development would be a “high-risk” move  and could undermine the President’s 16-year hold on power. Meanwhile, Erdogan visited Moscow this week and said his country would continue with the purchase of a Russian air-defense missile system, despite US warnings about the effect on Turkey’s role in Nato.

Finland’s Social Democrats scored a narrow win in parliamentary elections this weekend, leaving their leader, former union chief Antti Rinne poised to become the country’s first left-wing leader since 2003. But polls also showed gains for Finland’s main far-right party.

In Britain, meanwhile, in an as-yet uncalled election, the Telegraph is warning of an “electoral wipe-out” for the Conservatives, particularly among voters under 50. The Independent and other papers reported that the poll is the latest in a series of surveys “which point to a collapse in the Conservative vote, with two other polls this weekend putting support for the party at its lowest in at least five years.”

As Brexit staggers ever onwards, meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s latest political incarnation the Brexit Party launched, but apparently forgot to register their domain name.

Assange snatched

On Thursday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had claimed political asylum almost seven years ago amid a legal battle over a rape allegation in Sweden. Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno said “the patience of Ecuador had reached its limit on the behavior of Mr. Assange” and the 47-year-old Australian was dramatically taken into custody by the Metropolitan Police.

If Sweden now moves to seek his extradition again, UK authorities will have to decide whether to send him there or to the United States, where he is wanted on charges of “conspiracy to commit computer intrusion”.

The arrest – and the likely legal next steps – sparked a debate about the implications for journalists and publishers. James Ball, who had worked with Assange in 2010 on some of the material that prompted the US indictment, argued in The Atlantic that “You Don’t Have to Like Julian Assange to Defend Him.” Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post, on the other hand, writes that Assange “isn’t a journalist or a Daniel Ellsberg. He’s just a ‘cypherpunk’”.

Meanwhile…

Military takes power in Sudan

After months of protests against him, longtime Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir – who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region –  was taken into custody this week by soldiers, bringing to an end his three-decades of rule.

Talks are ongoing between the military and civilian protesters, while thousands of demonstrators remain on the streets of Khartoum. While the outcome of such talks and the military’s role in coming days and weeks remains uncertain, it has emerged how crucial a role women played in the protest movement, inspired by images like this one, of 22-year-old student Alaa Salah.

Trumpworld waits

US Attorney-General William Barr has said he hopes to release the 400-page Mueller Report this coming week. Whether he does or not – and whether such a release turns out to everyone’s satisfaction – remains to be seen, but what Barr has done already has undoubtedly emboldened the President and his allies.

Among the Democrats aiming to take President Trump’s job next year, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg officially announced he is a candidate. He would be the youngest (37), and first openly-gay Chief Executive, and while his campaign is still considered a long shot, Sunday’s declaration speech drew nods of appreciation from political insiders such as David Axelrod, Jennifer Rubin, Lawrence Tribe and Michael McFaul, as well as from Bradley Whitford and George Takei.

Finally…

A small province on your small screen

This week saw the 21stanniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. A genuinely world-changing political and diplomatic accomplishment.

To get an idea of just how much of our future was changed – and how much peace matters – you could do worse than watch the second series of the always wonderful Derry Girls, which ended this week; but with good news of its return…

Meanwhile, the global TV phenomenon that is Game of Thrones held its final season premiere on Friday at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast – a gathering the show’s producers described as a “homecoming.” The Guardian’s Sarah Hughes this week wrote a beautiful, personal account of what the show has meant to her and why she needed, more than most people, to see how it ends.