Elections: International

LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambian Vice President Rupiah Banda, a prominent businessman, has taken over as head of government after the death of President Levy Mwanawasa and will call early elections, officials said on Wednesday.

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Sudan's indicted president denied Wednesday that his regime is orchestrating genocide in the troubled western region of Darfur — and offered hope for an end to the violence and the dawn of reconciliation by promising free and fair elections next year.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Tuesday he would decide in coming weeks whether an election is needed this year to give a new mandate to a Parliament that he has increasingly described as dysfunctional.

KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday he would seek re-election next year in hopes of finishing a job he said he hasn't yet completed.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Liberal leader Stephane Dion said on Tuesday he was considering forcing an election, which would end the minority Conservative government, but timing was important.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's government plans to convene parliament next week despite deadlock in talks to end a post-election political crisis that has worsened the country's economic decline and seen inflation hit 11 million percent.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Tuesday he would decide in coming weeks whether an election is needed to give a new mandate to a Parliament that he has increasingly described as dysfunctional.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Election Commission (EC) deferred a decision on Tuesday on whether to recommend that the ruling People Power Party (PPP) be disbanded for electoral fraud, saying it needed to investigate further.

BAGHDAD - Masked gunmen ambushed a bus carrying election workers in southern Iraq on Monday, killing two of them including an official known for resisting interference by Shiite religious extremists, authorities said.

PERMATANG PAUH, Malaysia - Malaysia's top opposition leader filed nomination papers Saturday for a Parliament by-election that he is expected to win easily — the first step in his bid to bring down the government and become prime minister.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Increasingly expressing frustration, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested on Thursday he may have to force the dissolution of Parliament and trigger an election.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's north-south foes have a lot of work ahead to meet a July 2009 deadline to hold elections under a landmark peace deal, the head of the United Nations mission charged with monitoring the accord said on Thursday.

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Talks between Bolivia's president and opposition governors ended without progress Thursday, stalled by the governors' demand that the central government refund energy profits from their regions as a gesture of good will.

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritania's military rulers canvassed political parties and neighboring states on Wednesday to garner support for a new government to lead the country to presidential elections after last week's coup.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Intimidation of Angola's opposition and meddling in the country's electoral commission threaten chances of a fair vote in the September parliamentary election, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is defending a decision to prevent 272 officials from running in November's local elections.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela has closed registration for candidates running in November's state and local elections — leaving out 272 officials barred from running.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will travel to Canada's far north in late August in a bid to bolster claims to Arctic sovereignty and to paint the opposition as weak on foreign policy and defense issues ahead of a possible election this fall.

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Confirmed in office in a landslide recall election vote, Bolivian President Evo Morales now plans to push through major constitutional reforms early next year that will further antagonize his rightist opponents.

BOGOTA, Colombia - Supporters of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe delivered more than 5 million signatures, hauled in three trucks, to election authorities Monday calling for a referendum on whether he should be allowed to run for a third consecutive term.

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine attack aircraft and artillery bombed Muslim rebel positions for a second day on Monday, raising fears of a humanitarian disaster in the south with nearly 130,000 refugees forced to flee.

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania - The leader of Mauritania's military coup left open the possibility he could run for president, saying for the first time Sunday that junta members had not decided whether they would bar themselves from a promised ballot.

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania - The small clique of army generals who masterminded Mauritania's latest coup say all the right things: they want to end authoritarianism, they want elections, they want real democracy.

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh's interim administration turned down calls for lifting of emergency on Thursday, saying tough measures were necessary to ensure a peaceful election.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom signed and adopted a new constitution Thursday that allows multiparty elections and other democratic reforms after decades of authoritarian rule.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's leading opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim was charged with sodomy and granted bail by a court on Thursday, letting him campaign in a by-election on which he is staking his political future after a 10-year absence.

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania - The general who masterminded Africa's latest coup appeared in public for the first time Thursday, leading a triumphal march on the streets of Mauritania's capital and declaring he is "determined to save democracy" in the Islamic nation.

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Leaders of a military coup in Mauritania promised on Thursday to hold a "free and transparent" presidential election as soon as possible, defying foreign calls to reinstate the country's first freely elected president.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Riot police used tear gas Wednesday as they blocked hundreds of Venezuelans protesting what they call new moves by President Hugo Chavez to concentrate his power. The demonstrators said a blacklist barring key opposition candidates from elections and a series of socialist decrees are destroying what's left of their democracy.