Elections: International

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will easily win leadership elections in the ruling Kadima party to replace embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, poll results showed on Thursday.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim rejoined Malaysia's Parliament on Thursday, resurrecting his mission to become prime minister a decade after he was charged with sodomy and his career written off.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered election officials to add an English translation to Spanish-only ballots for November elections.

DENVER, Aug 26 (OneWorld) - There will be efforts to disenfranchise African Americans and other minorities in the upcoming presidential elections, but advocacy groups are already on the ground helping ensure that every eligible American who wants to vote, gets to vote.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - As Canada's political parties gear up for a possible snap election, a prominent think tank urged federal and provincial governments on Wednesday to use their budget surpluses to continue cutting business taxes.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave fresh signs on Wednesday of triggering a general election soon.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Government forces killed at least 44 militants in clashes in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, and the stock exchange took drastic action to stop steady losses stemming from increased violence and political uncertainty.

TORONTO - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper signaled Tuesday he might call an early election, a move that would head off opposition efforts to topple his minority government.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's leading opposition figure, Anwar Ibrahim, cleared a major hurdle in his race to win power when an Islamist party endorsed him on Wednesday as leader of an anti-government alliance.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 26 (OneWorld) - As citizens across the United States gear up for a historic and highly competitive set of national, state, and local elections this November, a federal government policy is keeping voter registration groups away from thousands of elderly and disabled military veterans.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Declaring the Canadian Parliament to be at an impasse, Prime Minister Stephen Harper signaled on Tuesday that he could trigger an election campaign as early as next week.

HARARE (Reuters) - Opposition parliamentarians jeered and booed Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe as he reopened parliament on Tuesday in spite of their protests, but he said he was still hopeful for a power-sharing deal.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Conservative government, seeking to take the abortion debate off the table as it heads toward an election campaign, possibly as early as September 5, said on Monday it would strengthen penalties for violent attacks on pregnant women.

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's main opposition party won the top job in parliament Monday, scoring a surprise victory that could give President Robert Mugabe's foes leverage in power-sharing talks.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A prominent Puerto Rican senator who was targeted in a federal raid said Sunday he will continue a bid for re-election, rejecting calls from his party's leader to drop out of the race.

ALOFI, Niue (Reuters) - South Pacific leaders warned Fiji's post-coup government on Wednesday it could be suspended from a regional forum if it failed to hold democratic elections in early 2009.

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.

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.

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.