President-elect - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Senegal’s youth want jobs from Faye, investors wary of radical ideas

SENEGAL'S President-elect Bassirou Diomaye Faye rode to victory in Sunday's poll on a wave of protest votes against the West African country's current leader, fuelled by discontent that infrastructure-fuelled growth has failed to benefit all. While the young people who formed the backbone of Faye's support base want jobs and more even wealth distribution, investors expressed hope that pledges to create a new currency and renegotiate energy contracts won't be followed through. During outgoing President Macky Sall's 12 years in power, economic growth averaged almost 5%, boosted by spending on roads, railways, ports and airports, while Senegal had a reputation for being…

Nov

2023

By CARIELLE DOE

Car ploughs into supporters of Liberia’s president-elect killing two

NEWS

A car ploughed into a crowd celebrating the election victory of Liberia's president-elect Joseph Boakai in the capital Monrovia, killing two people and injuring around 18 others, two hospital staff said. It was not immediately clear if the incident, which took place outside Boakai's party headquarters, was deliberate or an accident. A video of the aftermath shared on Facebook showed badly injured people sprawled over the road and pavement outside the Unity Party office. Boakai, 78, a former vice president, narrowly defeated President George Weah in the Nov. 14 presidential run-off, securing 50.64% of the votes cast, according to the…

Apr

2023

By The African Mirror

NIGERIA: The court battle to save the elections

NEWS

NIGERIA'S ruling party has asked the Appeals Court to dismiss a petition by third-placed candidate Peter Obi who is challenging the victory of president-elect Bola Tinubu following a disputed election in February, court documents showed. Labour Party's Peter Obi, who came third in the election, and second-placed opposition People's Democratic Party's (PDP) Atiku Abubakar last month separately challenged the results in court. The two candidates said the results were fraudulent, citing Tinubu, his ruling All Progressives Congress Party (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as respondents. The APC said in a countersuit on Tuesday that Obi's petition should be dismissed on several…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Tinubu is Nigeria’s president-elect after disputed election

NEWS

FELIX ONUAH and MACDONALD DZIRUTWE NIGERIA'S ruling party candidate, Bola Tinubu, was declared president-elect of Africa's most populous nation in the early hours of Wednesday after a weekend election that the main opposition parties have disputed. Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state, will take over leadership of a country grappling with Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, armed attacks, killings and kidnappings, conflict between livestock herders and farmers, cash, fuel and power shortages, and perennial corruption that opponents say Buhari's party has failed to stamp out, despite promises to do so. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Tinubu garnered…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Biden plans ‘roughly a dozen’ Day One executive actions -aide

WORLD

TREVOR HUNNICUT U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will cap a busy day of inauguration pageantry by using the powers of his new office to push policy changes on housing, student loans, climate change and immigration, according to a top aide. Biden, who campaigned on a raft of promises to undo President Donald Trump's legacy even before the novel coronavirus pandemic walloped the nation, will unveil "roughly a dozen" previously promised executive actions on Wednesday, incoming Biden chief of staff Ron Klain said in a memo distributed to reporters. The actions to be taken on Wednesday include rejoining the Paris climate accords,…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

OPERATION DUMP TRUMP

WORLD

SUSAN CORNWELL, PATRICIA ZENGERLE and DIONA CHIACU U.S. House of Representatives Democrats plan a vote today to urge Vice President Mike Pence to take steps to remove President Donald Trump from office after his supporters' deadly storming of the Capitol, before attempting to impeach him again. The plan, spelled out by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a letter to members on Sunday evening, came as Washington struggles to decide what to do about the Republican president in the 10 days before Democratic President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20. Officials have opened at least 25 domestic terrorism investigations…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

‘We will not take it any more,’ Trump tells supporters as Congress meets to certify Biden win

WORLD

JONATHAN LANDAY OUTGOING U.S. President Donald Trump addressed thousands of supporters, including members of far-right groups, at a rally in Washington protesting the meeting of Congress to confirm his election loss to President-elect Joe Biden in November. Trump, who has spent much of his time since the November 3 election trying to overturn the results, falsely said he won as he spoke on an outdoor stage framing the White House, which Biden is due to move into in two weeks. Crowds gathered at the "Save America March" wore Trump-approved red baseball caps and cheered as Trump repeated the groundless conspiracy…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

U.S. Senator Cruz leads long-shot Republican bid to overturn Biden’s victory

WORLD

JASON LANGE and TIMOTHY GARDNER U.S. Senator Ted Cruz will spearhead a drive by nearly a dozen Republican senators to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's victory when Electoral College results are tallied in Congress on January 6 – a largely symbolic move that has virtually no chance of preventing Biden from taking office. Cruz's effort is in defiance of Senate Republican leaders, who have argued that the Senate's role in certifying the election is largely ceremonial and had been looking to avoid an extended debate on the floor about the outcome. In a statement, Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas, and…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Biden, Trump celebrate Thanksgiving quietly at home as U.S. pandemic rages

WORLD

SIMON LEWIS and JEFF MASON DEMOCRATIC President-elect Joe Biden and sitting Republican President Donald Trump, like millions of Americans, were celebrating Thanksgiving quietly at home on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic raged across the United States. Biden was spending the holiday in the small seaside town of Rehoboth, Delaware, where he and his wife Jill have a vacation home. The Bidens are hosting daughter Ashley Biden and her husband Dr. Howard Krein for the holiday meal. The former vice president, appearing with his wife Jill in a video message posted to his Twitter account on Thanksgiving, said his family typically…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Biden to name first Cabinet picks, plans scaled-down inauguration

WORLD

DOINA CHIACU U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will announce the first of his Cabinet appointments on Tuesday and is planning for a scaled-down inauguration due to the coronavirus pandemic, aides have said, as he lays the foundation for his new administration despite President Donald Trump's refusal to concede. Since Biden, a Democrat, was declared the winner of the November 3 election two weeks ago, the Republican president has launched a barrage of lawsuits and mounted a pressure campaign to prevent state officials from certifying their vote totals, suffering another emphatic legal setback on Saturday in Pennsylvania. Ron Klain, Biden's choice as…