International
The vote count begins in Ireland with the three major parties tied
The vote count in Ireland, after the general elections last Friday, began this Saturday with the three major parties of the country in an apparent technical tie and exploring government pacts waiting to know the final result.
The vote count started at 9:00 a.m. GMT this Saturday, after a voting day in which the majority of the electorate, of almost 3.7 million, divided their first preferences between the leftist Sinn Féin of Mary Lou McDonald, the Christian Democrat Fine Gael of the Prime Minister, Simon Harris, and the centrist Fianna Fáil of Michál Martin.
Results according to a survey at the foot of the ballot box
According to a poll at the ballot box of the public broadcaster RTE and the newspaper ‘The Irish Times’, the three formations obtained 21.1%, 20% and 19.5% of the votes, respectively.
The campaign director of Fianna Fáil, Jack Chambers, said today that it is still early to guess who will win, since it will depend largely on the transfer of votes between candidates, as allowed by the complex Irish electoral system.
The centrist leader insisted, however, that his party does not contemplate a government pact with Sinn Féin, former political arm of the IRA, which indicates that they could reissue the historic coalition of the last legislature with the Fine Gael, in which the Greens also entered, who now obtain 4%.
Chambers highlighted that the aforementioned poll indicates that 35% of voters want their leader, Micheál Martin, to be the next ‘taoiseach’ (prime minister), while McDonald gets 34% and Simon 27%, in line with his drop in popularity during the campaign.
For her part, the nationalist leader has assured that she will seek support in the space of the left, a path that did not work for Sinn Féin after the 2020 elections, when it was the most voted, but remained one seat away from the Fianna Fáil.
In this regard, the leftist People Before Profit-Solidarity (PBP-S) criticized McDonald’s strategy today to ask for transfers of votes from his party to progressive candidates.
Its leader, Richard Boyd Barrett, who obtained 3.1%, maintained that Sinn Féin took too long to offer a “real alternative” of government in the face of the “obvious and historical decline” of centrists and Christian Democrats, rivals since the Civil War (1922-1923) and who have shared power since then.
Forced to look for pacts
With so much equality, the three parties are obliged to seek pacts between themselves and/or with other minority forces, while Harris and Martin have been in favor of re-editing, if needed, the pact of the last legislature.
The three leaders could also look at the independent bloc, which obtains 14.6% of the votes, while formations such as the Labor Party and the Social Democrat receive 5 and 5.8%, respectively, and run as possible partners.
Most likely, according to observers, Martin and Harris will join forces again, although their number of seats will determine who leads the negotiations and who will be the new ‘taoiseach’, a position that could be rotating again.
International
Russia and US to Meet in Istanbul for Diplomatic Talks on April 10
The Kremlin confirmed today a forthcoming meeting with the United States to discuss the normalization of diplomatic relations, which will take place in Istanbul.
“Our participation will be through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” said Dmitry Peskov, the presidential spokesperson, during his daily telephone press conference.
Peskov was responding to a question about who would represent Russia in the new round of negotiations, which is supposedly scheduled for April 10.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the delegations will be led by the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Alexandr Darchiev, and the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Sonata Coulter.
These are the same negotiators who met in late February in Istanbul, where the expert-level negotiation format was the same, according to the source.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said a few days ago that the next meeting would be held in the Turkish city, though he did not confirm a date.
Lavrov, who participated in only one of these meetings, clarified that the upcoming discussions would address the issues still dividing Moscow and Washington diplomatically, referring to the operations of both countries’ embassies.
The Kremlin asserted that Washington has not yet responded to Russia’s security concerns, preventing a ceasefire declaration on land, sea, and air.
Meanwhile, Trump expressed discontent with Russia’s recent attacks, including one last week that killed 20 people in Krivi Rig, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
So far, Russia has rejected a cessation of hostilities and only declared a 30-day ceasefire on March 18 against attacks on energy infrastructure, which was extended by Kyiv a week later.
International
Transgender Student Arrested at Florida Capitol for Using Women’s Restroom Under New State Law
A transgender student was arrested at the Florida Capitol for using a women’s restroom, in violation of a 2023 state law that restricts the use of restrooms in government buildings based on the sex assigned at birth.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), this is the first known arrest for violations of transgender bathroom restrictions in the United States.
Before entering the women’s restroom in March, Marcy Rheintgen warned Capitol officers in Tallahassee, Florida’s capital, that she would be violating the law.
Rheintgen was detained and faces a misdemeanor charge of trespassing, which could carry up to 60 days in jail.
The 20-year-old’s hearing, which has reignited the national debate on transgender rights and the enforcement of similar laws in other states, is scheduled for next May.
“Marcy Rheintgen’s arrest is not about security. It’s about cruelty, humiliation, and the deliberate erosion of human dignity,” stated Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida.
International
Maduro Announces Economic Emergency Decree Amid Growing Tensions with the U.S.
Nicolás Maduro, who swore in for a third term after his disputed reelection in Venezuela, announced on Monday that he will sign a decree for an economic emergency, following a proposal from Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez due to the “delicate moments” and “uncertainty the world is experiencing.”
“Tomorrow I will sign the constitutional economic emergency decree to protect and defend Venezuela’s economy, and I will explain it,” the Chavista leader stated in his weekly program ‘Con Maduro +.’
Maduro recalled that he has used this measure in previous years and explained that this decree allows him to assume “special, constitutional, extraordinary powers” for what he considered “the defense of the Venezuelan economy in its push, in its development.”
In the television segment, the vice president handed Maduro the document with the proposal for him to take the “reins of the economy” to “protect national industry, guarantee the provision of essential goods and services for the population, and ensure that the national economic life continues its course.”
Venezuela is facing a 15% tariff increase from the U.S., in addition to other measures such as a 25% additional tariff on buyers of Venezuelan oil or gas and the termination of licenses for oil companies to operate in the Caribbean nation, such as the U.S. company Chevron and the Spanish company Repsol.
Last Friday, Maduro assured that Venezuela would be “the first country in the world to overcome the tariffs and the trade war declared by (U.S. President, Donald) Trump against the world.”
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