International

Putin’s top candidates won’t take parliament seats

AFP

Candidates who topped the electoral lists of Russia’s ruling party in this month’s legislative elections will not take their seats in parliament, officials said on Wednesday.

The announcement prompted opposition figures to accuse the Kremlin of duping voters, on top of allegations of widespread electoral fraud.

On Wednesday, the Central Election Commission said four of the five candidates who headed the list of President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party would not be serving as deputies.

“They are not on a list of lawmakers,” a commission spokeswoman told AFP.

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The ruling party turned to popular figures including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, 71, and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, 66, to head its list, as pre-election polls saw its support as low as 30 percent.

The figures asked to take part in the campaign also included a popular doctor in charge of Moscow’s main Covid-19 hospital, who has become a symbol of Russia’s fight against the coronavirus.

The doctor, Denis Protsenko, initially refused the nomination, but after a call from President Vladimir Putin, the 45-year-old took part in the campaign.

Of the five, only the children’s rights ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova will take up a seat in parliament’s lower house, the State Duma.

Activist Elena Shmelyova, who heads a popular children’s centre, will also give up her mandate.

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The team of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said it was “clear from the very beginning” that prominent figures were on the unpopular United Russia election list only to boost support and “cheat voters.”

“United Russia is spinning voters a line to remain in power,” Navalny’s team said on Telegram.

United Russia claimed a two-thirds majority in the lower house after a massive crackdown on the opposition. Kremlin critics have accused the authorities of mass voter fraud.

Official results gave United Russia 49.8 percent of the vote, down from 54.2 percent in the last parliamentary election in 2016.

Critics say online voting, new limits on election observers and the polls being spread over three days — a move officials said was to reduce coronavirus risks — all presented opportunities for fraud.

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International

Chile declares state of catastrophe as wildfires rage in Ñuble and Biobío

Wildland firefighting crews are battling 19 forest fires across the country, 12 of them concentrated in the Ñuble and Biobío regions, located about 500 kilometers south of Santiago.

“In light of the severe fires currently underway, I have decided to declare a state of catastrophe in the regions of Ñuble and Biobío. All resources are now available,” the president announced in a post on X.

Authorities have not yet released an official report on possible casualties or damage to homes.

According to images broadcast by local television, the fires have reached populated areas, particularly in the municipalities of Penco and Lirquén, in the Biobío region, which together are home to nearly 60,000 people. Burned vehicles were also reported on several streets.

“The Penco area and the entire Lirquén sector are the most critical zones and where the largest number of evacuations have taken place. We estimate that around 20,000 people have been evacuated,” said Alicia Cebrián, director of the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service (Senapred), in an interview with Mega TV.

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In recent years, forest fires have had a severe impact on the country, especially in the central-southern regions.

On February 2, 2024, multiple wildfires broke out simultaneously around the city of Viña del Mar, located 110 kilometers northwest of Santiago. Those fires resulted in 138 deaths, according to updated figures from the public prosecutor’s office, and left approximately 16,000 people affected, based on official data.

International

Former South Korean President Yoon sentenced to five years in prison

Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for obstruction of justice and other charges, concluding the first in a series of trials stemming from his failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024.

The sentence is shorter than the 10-year prison term sought by prosecutors against the 65-year-old conservative former leader, whose move against Parliament triggered a major political crisis that ultimately led to his removal from office.

Yoon, a former prosecutor, is still facing seven additional trials. One of them, on charges of insurrection, could potentially result in the death penalty.

On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court ruled on one of the multiple secondary cases linked to the affair, which plunged the country into months of mass protests and political instability.

International

U.S. deportation flight returns venezuelans to Caracas after Maduro’s ouster

A new flight carrying 231 Venezuelans deported from the United States arrived on Friday at the airport serving Caracas, marking the first such arrival since the military operation that ousted and captured President Nicolás Maduro.

On January 3, U.S. forces bombed the Venezuelan capital during an incursion in which Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured. Both are now facing narcotrafficking charges in New York.

This was the first U.S.-flagged aircraft transporting migrants to land in Venezuela since the military action ordered by President Donald Trump, who has stated that he is now in charge of the country.

The aircraft departed from Phoenix, Arizona, and landed at Maiquetía International Airport, which serves the Venezuelan capital, at around 10:30 a.m. local time (14:30 GMT), according to AFP reporters on the ground.

The deportees arrived in Venezuela under a repatriation program that remained in place even during the height of the crisis between the two countries, when Maduro was still in power. U.S. planes carrying undocumented Venezuelan migrants continued to arrive throughout last year, despite the military deployment ordered by Trump.