International Polity - Current Affairs for November, 2015

India has been re-elected unopposed to the Council of the International Maritime Organisation at its 29th Assembly session under category B in London on 27th November 2015. India has been one of the earliest IMO members having joined as a member state in 1959. The overseas seaborne EXIM trade is expected to quadruple by 2200 MT by 2020 from the current 600 MT.

Conservative opposition candidate Mauricio Macri has won the presidential elections of Argentina with close to 51.5 percent of the vote during the 4th week of November 2015. Macri, the leader of the centre right Cambiemos secured 51.5 percent of the votes while 48.5 percent of the votes went to Centre left Petronist candidate Daniel Scioli who conceded defeat. The winning candidate will create a centre right government after 12 years of leftist government, replacing Christina Fernández de Kircher.

Antonio Costa, whose paternal roots can be traced to Goa and heads the Portugal Socialist Party was named PM and tasked with forming the government on 25th November 2015. Son of accomplished poet and writer Orlando Costa, Antonio has taken charge following weeks of political instability precipitated by inconclusive elections in the previous month. Costa’s anti austerity alliance with Communist and Left Bloc toppled the 11 day commiserative minority government in a massive parliamentary vote earlier in November.

Ongoing blockade has created many hurdles for the Himalayan nations. This doctrine is a set of principles to govern state relations. India has denied imposing the blockade. Nepal is currently trying to resolve issues emanating from the formation of the new Constitution and its consequent implementation.

India has announced that procedures for civil nuclear agreement with Australia for supplying uranium from it had been completed following a meeting between PM Modi and counterpart Malcolm Turnbull on G-20 summit sidelines on 15th November 2015. Australia has close to one third of the recoverable uranium resources in the world and exports close to 7000 tonnes of it per year. India will now be the first nation to purchase uranium from Australia without signing the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.

Britain has signed 6 deals with India on 14th November 2015. This includes the 1.3 billion pound investment by Vodafone. Deals have also been signed by solar voltaic energy generator Lightsource and Intelligent Energy on clean energy as well as King’s College Hospital.

Over 150 persons were killed in shootings and explosions around Paris, many in a popular concert hall where they were held hostage by terrorists, police have said. French president Francois Hollande was attending an international soccer game when explosions also took place outside the national stadium.

The key legislation is for paving the way for visa free travel between the EU and Ukraine. The 450 seater parliament approved the bill through 234 votes in favour. Bill banning discrimination of homosexuals in the workplace had previously been rejected multiple times.

Myanmarese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won the parliamentary seat leading a total sweep by her party to form a first government in the country which is not under military rules. Suu Kyi will not become president however, because of constitutional hurdles created by the previous military junta in Myanmar.Military and its political proxy will not relinquish power lightly. The junta took over Myanmar in a coup in the 1960s. Suu Kyi’s NLD has won 135 seats of 151 lower house seats announced so far. For the upper house, it has won 29 out of 33 seats.

President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended greetings to people and King of Cambodia on the eve of their independence day on November 9, 2015. India and Cambodia are linked by history and a shared cultural heritage. Cambodia is a partner in India’s Act East Policy.

Same Hassan Suluhu, the first female Vice President of Tanzania has been sworn into office alongside John Pombe Magufuli at the swearing-in ceremony held in the country’s economic capital Dar es Salaam on 5th November 2015. The ruling CCM party candidate, Magufuli has won the presidential elections of Tanzania on 29th October 2015 with 58.46 percent of the votes. In 2000, Suluhu had been selected as special seat member for the House of Reps at Zanzibar. In the year 2014, she drafted Tanzania’s new constitution as Vice Chairperson of the CA.

Romanian PM Victor Ponta on 4th November 2015 resigned from his position following a deadly nightclub blaze which left 32 dead and nearly 200 injured. He has been Romania’s PM since 2012 and was recently mired in a corruption scandal.

Maldives government on 4th November 2015 declared a state of emergency for a period of 30 days citing threat to national security. Declaration was made under A253 of the constitution which gives the president the right to declare emergency and suspend citizen rights. Explosives were seized in Male following which the declaration of emergency was made.

Four Indian Canadians were sworn in as Cabinet Ministers on 4th November, as 42-year-old Justin Trudeau took oath as Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister at a grand public ceremony. Harjit Sajjan, (42) was appointed Defence Minister and Navdeep Bains, (38,) got the portfolio of innovation, science and economic development. Amarjeet Sohi was sworn in as Minister for Infrastructure and Sikh lady, Bardish Jhagger, a first-time MP, was sworn in as Minister for Small Business and Tourism.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared victory for his ruling party after results showed it garnering a majority in the parliament. Preliminary results suggest that AKP or Justice Development Party has picked up millions of votes at the expense of the nationalist MHP and pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP. AKP’s vote tally jumped nearly nine percentage points. Turnout for the election was pegged at 87% among 54 million persons eligible to vote at more than 175,000 polling stations.

Australia is removing the titles associated with knights and dames once again. It had earlier done so in 1986. Former PM Tony Abbott had revived the system of knights. Malcolm Turnbull who took over from Abbott in September announced that the Queen had accepted the cabinet recommendation for removing knights and dames from the Order of Australia.

Ex guerrilla commander from Nepal UCPN (Maoist) Nanda Kishor Pun was elected as the new vice president of the country on 31st October 2015, winning 325 out of 547 votes. His rival, Amiya Kumar Yadav (Nepali Congress) garnered 212 votes. Pun succeeds P. Jha who was one of the Madhesi party leaders. Born in Rolpa district, he was chief commander of PLA of Maoist Party during the 10 year insurgency. Pun joined the party in 1990 and commanded numerous battles against Royal Nepal Army.

Pakistan failed to win a re-election to the top human rights body, United Nations Human Rights Council through a secret ballot. They gained just 105 votes in a General Assembly of 193 members. Around 18 members were elected to the council through a secret ballot. Pakistan’s current term in the 47 member Council will expire on December 31. The new members starting a three-year terms from January 1 next year, are Belgium, Burundi, Cd’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Kenya, Panama, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Togo, Slovenia, Switzerland, UAE and Venezuela. India is a UNHCR member and its term will expire in 2017.

Senior leader of Cambodian opposition party, Kem Sokha has been removed from his post as vice president of the parliament in a 68-0 vote whereby PM Hun Sen eliminated his most bitter critic. Vote was a surprise move which was not on the agenda of the National Assembly. Close to 55 lawmakers in the 123 member house protested against the vote and boycotted it.