International
The ruling party in Georgia gets an absolute majority in the elections
The ruling party Sueño Georgiano has the absolute majority in the parliamentary elections of Georgia by obtaining 54.086% of the votes with 99.6% of the ballot.
This was announced by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) after the manual recount of the results, which then places the opposition blocs Coalition for Change, with 10.8%, and Unity -composed of the United National Movement founded by the imprisoned former Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili, and the Renaissance Strategy party-, with 10.12%.
The other two opposition blocs, Georgia Fuerte and Gajaria for Georgia, achieved 8.78% and 7.76% respectively, so that the four opposition blocs access Parliament by exceeding the 5% threshold.
Worst results in the capital
The results of Sueño Georgiano in Tbilisi, where the ballot has already ended, were worse, since it obtained 45.54% of the votes, while the opposition blocs added 45.8% of the support.
The results of the ruling party abroad were also lower, where 74.62% of the votes were scrutinized, only 17.73% of the votes, giving in to the opposition blocs Coalition for Changes (29.08%) and Unity (20.84%).
For their part, the opposition blocs Georgia Fuerte and Gajaria for Georgia obtained 14.05 and 8.45% respectively.
Almost two hours after the closing of the polling stations, the CEC gave the first ballots, according to which Sueño Georgiano obtained the majority of the votes sufficient to form a single government.
Three of the four opposition blocs – Coalition for Change, Unity and Strong Georgia – declared that they will not recognize the elections and accused Georgian Dream of having usurped power.
Georgian opposition candidates give up their seats in protest after the ruling victory
The first twenty candidates on the list of the pro-European opposition bloc Coalition for Change today resigned their mandates as deputies in protest against the results of Saturday’s parliamentary elections, in which the ruling party Sueño Georgiano won, which the opposition accuses of being related to the Kremlin.
“The elections were falsified and the results are illegitimate. We do not want to legitimize them with the votes that were stolen from the people of Georgia and we renounce the mandates,” said party list leader Nana Malashjia.
The Coalition for Changes bloc was the second most voted political force in these elections, collecting 11.3% of the votes, which gives them the right to 18 seats.
In turn, the United National Movement party, founded by imprisoned former President Mikhail Saakashvili and who is part of the opposition bloc Unidad also announced that it will boycott the Parliament led by Sueño Georgiano.
“Naturally, as we said that we do not recognize the results of the elections, this means that we do not plan to participate in (the sessions of) Parliament. I am sure that there is no doubt about it, when it comes to the Unity bloc,” said the party leader, Tinatin Bokuchava.
The situation reedits what happened in the 2020 parliamentary elections, also rejected by the opposition, which boycotted the work of Parliament and organized massive protests in front of the legislature, some of them violent.
The executive secretary of Sueño Georgiano, Mamuka Midnaradze, proposed to the entire opposition “not to join Parliament.”
“Then a good working environment will be established in Parliament, without sabotage. That they remove all their lists from the Central Electoral Commission. And we will work,” he said.
Georgia President does not recognize election results
The President of Georgia, Salomé Zurabizhvili, today refused to recognize the results of the parliamentary elections held the day before in the Caucasian nation and called on Georgians to protest this Monday in front of Parliament.
“These elections cannot be recognized, I do not recognize them. Recognizing them means recognizing that Russia has entered Georgia. The elections were Russian, they used technologies to justify the falsifications,” he said in a speech offered from the presidential palace.
International
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.
The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.
An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.
Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.
Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.
Internacionales
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.
In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.
Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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