SAN FRANCISCO — Auditors hand-picked by Facebook to examine its policies said that the company had not done enough to protect people on the platform from discriminatory posts and ads and that its decisions to leave up President Donald Trump’s inflammatory posts were “significant setbacks for civil rights.”
The 89-page audit put Facebook in an awkward position as the presidential campaign heats up. The report gave fuel to the company’s detractors, who said the site had allowed hate speech and misinformation to flourish. The audit also placed the social network in the spotlight for an issue it had worked hard to avoid since the 2016 election: that it may once again be negatively influencing American voters.
Now Facebook has to decide whether its approach to hateful speech and noxious content — which was to leave it alone in the name of free expression — remains tenable. And that decision puts pressure on Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, who has repeatedly said that his company was not an arbiter of truth and that it would not police politicians’ posts.
“Many in the civil rights community have become disheartened, frustrated and angry after years of engagement where they implored the company to do more to advance equality and fight discrimination, while also safeguarding free expression,” wrote the auditors, Laura Murphy and Megan Cacace, who are civil rights experts and lawyers.
The audit, which was the culmination of 2 years of examination of the social network, was another signal of how power by the largest tech companies is increasingly under scrutiny. Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon are all facing questions over how they are wielding their influence and what effects it has had. Later this month, the chief executives of all four companies are set to testify in front of Congress.
But the report was especially devastating for Facebook because its executives had pointed to it as a sign that the company was seriously grappling with the content of its site.
In the audit, Facebook was repeatedly faulted for prioritizing free expression on its platform over nondiscrimination and for not having a robust infrastructure to handle civil rights. The report homed in on three posts by Trump in May, which the audit said contained hateful and violent speech or which harmed voters. Facebook left those posts untouched, over objections by the auditors, the report said.
In doing so, the social network set a “terrible precedent” that others could copy and that could affect the November election, the report said. The move cheated the billions of other people who use Facebook out of equal treatment, giving powerful political leaders a special exemption to make false and divisive statements, it said.
“Facebook has made policy and enforcement choices that leave our election exposed to interference by the President and others who seek to use misinformation to sow confusion and suppress voting,” Murphy and Cacace wrote.
They added that they “would have liked to see the company go further to address civil rights concerns in a host of areas.”
In a post Wednesday about the audit, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said the report was “the beginning of the journey, not the end.” She added, “What has become increasingly clear is that we have a long way to go. As hard as it has been to have our shortcomings exposed by experts, it has undoubtedly been a really important process for our company.”
Sandberg said Facebook was already taking steps to address its shortcomings, including banning ads with fear-mongering statements and prohibiting the spread of disinformation around the 2020 census. The company said it would also hire more civil rights experts, create a role for a senior vice president of civil rights leadership and direct voters to a “voting information center” that has accurate information.
Facebook’s difficulties have been compounded by civil rights groups organizing a campaign, “Stop Hate for Profit,” to urge its advertisers to boycott the platform. More than 300 advertisers, including Coca-Cola and North Face, have agreed to pause their spending on the site.
On Tuesday, civil rights leaders met with Zuckerberg and Sandberg with 10 demands, including appointing a civil rights executive. But attendees said the Facebook executives did not agree to many of their requests and instead spouted “spin.” Zuckerberg said that while the company would make some changes to its processes, it would not do so because of external pressure or threat of financial loss, said one person who attended the meeting.
“I don’t know if Mark appreciates that hateful speech has harmful results and that Facebook groups have real-world consequences,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League and one of the leaders of the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign.
Civil rights groups including Free Press and Color of Change also met Wednesday with nearly 300 ad agency and brand marketing leaders about Facebook. In the session, they said the new audit report exposed holes in the company’s content policies and enforcement practices, according to attendees.
The audit “has laid bare what we already know: Facebook is a platform plagued by civil rights shortcomings,” said Vanita Gupta, chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Facebook has an enormous impact on our civil rights — by facilitating hate speech and violence, voter and census disinformation, and algorithmic bias, and by shortchanging diversity and inclusion.”
In the report, the auditors credited Facebook for making progress on some issues over the past 2 years, including increasing the hiring of some in-house civil rights experts and creating an ad system that would no longer allow advertisers running housing, employment and credit ads in the United States to target users based on gender, age or ZIP code. Zuckerberg had also personally committed to building products that “advance racial justice,” the report said.
But Facebook had been too willing to let politicians out of abiding by its rules, allowing them to spread misinformation, harmful rhetoric and even calls to violence, the report said.
The auditors said their concerns had increased over the past 9 months because of decisions made by Zuckerberg and Nick Clegg, Facebook’s global head of policy and communications.
Last fall, Zuckerberg delivered a speech at Georgetown University about his commitment to protecting free speech at all costs. Since then, the report noted, Facebook had refused to take down inflammatory posts from Trump and had permitted untruthful political ads to be circulated.
“Elevating free expression is a good thing, but it should apply to everyone,” the auditors wrote. “When it means that powerful politicians do not have to abide by the same rules that everyone else does, a hierarchy of speech is created that privileges certain voices over less powerful voices.”
-The New York Times Company-
SEOUL, South Korea — President Moon Jae-in’s governing party in South Korea won a landslide in parliamentary elections Wednesday, as he leveraged his surging popularity over his country’s largely successful battle against the coronavirus to increase his political sway.
With more than 99 percent of the votes counted, Moon’s left-leaning Democratic Party had won 163 seats in the 300-member National Assembly, according to the National Election Commission on Thursday morning. A satellite party the Democrats created for Wednesday’s elections won 17 seats. Together, the 2 groups took three-fifths of all seats, giving Moon the largest majority of seats in three decades.
The main conservative opposition United Future Party and its own satellite Future Korea Party suffered a crushing defeat, winning 103 seats between them. The remaining seats were taken by independents and candidates from smaller parties.
Pandemic or not, South Koreans proved eager to vote in the election, widely seen as a midterm referendum on Moon, elected to a 5-year term in 2017. The voter turnout was 66.2 percent, the highest for a parliamentary election in 28 years.
Wednesday’s election marked the first time in 16 years that left-leaning parties have secured a parliamentary majority, as South Koreans expressed their support for Moon’s government, which has won plaudits for bringing the epidemic under control.
Their victories could embolden Moon to reinvigorate his stalled diplomacy with North Korea and press ahead with domestic priorities, like reforming state prosecutors’ offices.
In South Korea, elections typically have been decided by regional loyalties, ideological differences over North Korea or issues like the economy and corruption. But this time, “how the government has responded to the coronavirus was the most decisive factor in the president’s approval ratings and in the parliamentary election,” said Park Si-young, head of WinG Korea, a Seoul-based political survey company.
The election in South Korea “tells other world leaders that how they respond to their own crisis could make or break their political fortunes,” said Duyeon Kim, a senior adviser on Northeast Asia and nuclear policy at the International Crisis Group. “Because the pandemic is at the top of everyone’s mind.”
The New York Times (Choe Sang-Hun)
SEOUL - Early voting in South Korea's parliamentary election kicked off on Friday, with coronavirus patients casting ballots at designated stations and candidates adopting new ways of campaigning to limit the risk of contagion.
The National Election Commission (NEC) set up 8 polling stations to be used by more than 3,000 coronavirus patients receiving treatment as well as 900 medical staff at treatment centers in hard-hit areas, including the capital Seoul and Daegu city.
The election itself is on April 15, but officials are hoping that people will take advantage of early voting options to reduce the number of voters crowding polling locations on that day.
There are 3,500 stations for voters to cast their ballots during 2 days of early voting starting on Friday.
Polling stations were disinfected on Thursday ahead of opening, and all voters are required to wear a mask, use sanitizers and wear gloves. Officials conducted temperature checks at the entrance and anyone showing a temperature higher than 37.5 °C was directed to special booths.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in cast his ballot on Friday at a polling station near the presidential office Blue House.
The government is still debating plans to allow for voting by the roughly 46,500 people who have not tested positive but are in self-quarantine.
"Those in self-quarantine should also be ensured their right to vote. The concern is how to minimize the risk of further infection during the voting process," Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip told a briefing earlier.
Experts said the government is looking to allow the quarantined people to vote after the polls close at 6 p.m. on April 15.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 27 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the national tally to 10,450. A total of 7,117 people have recovered from the virus, while 3,125 are still receiving treatment. The national death toll rose by 4 to 208.
Candidates who began the official campaign period earlier in April have been wearing masks and exchanging fist bumps in individual meetings, shunning the usual handshakes and large rallies.
"Since this is a time to maintain social distance due to coronavirus, we are refraining from large rallies as much as possible and also limiting personal contact during campaigns," said Lee Nak-yon, a former prime minister running for the parliament said.
The head of the main opposition United Future Party, Hwang Kyo-ahn, was spotted disinfecting residential areas.
-Reuters-
LAS VEGAS - Manny Pacquiao, roast pig dinners and prayer services: Activists are using every tool possible to get the booming Filipino-American community in Las Vegas to the polls for Saturday's Democratic nomination vote.
Overlooked in the past, Filipinos have rapidly become the western desert state's largest Asian-American community -- almost 200,000 by some estimates, in a state of 3 million people -- forcing candidates to take notice.
For the first time, the Tagalog language will be used on voting cards along with English and Spanish at the Democratic caucuses.
"We're proud that they are recognizing us," said Margie Gonzales, a Filipina community leader. "It means a lot -- it means recognition."
Gonzales, who chairs the county's Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) commission, has also begun training politicians to speak a few Tagalog words.
"When you start knocking on doors, it helps if you greet a Filipino family opening the door in Tagalog," she said. "That's a way to make that person smile -- you feel welcome."
Feeling welcome is key for a minority community in which immigration and xenophobia are major concerns. Like Latinos, Filipino-Americans tend to vote Democrat.
"When Trump talks about not bringing in relatives and things like that, that same thing applies to Asians," said Tick Segerblom, a commissioner for Clark County, where Las Vegas is located. "So Trump has really been a boon as far as organizing Asians."
But traditionally, Filipino-Americans have not voted in large numbers.
To counter that, Gonzales and her fellow activists introduced a tradition commonly found during election campaigns back in the Philippines -- the Kamayan, a large communal feast.
These typically see politicians mingle at long tables covered in banana leaves, with a whole roast pig on the menu.
'SQUEAK OF A MOUSE'
The feasts hosted in Las Vegas by Gonzales so far have not endorsed specific candidates. A grand Kamayan is planned once the Democratic Party settles on a nominee -- but that has not stopped those in the race from reaching out.
Democratic candidate Tulsi Gabbard, who is Hawaiian, has made inroads, as have Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren.
"This is an overlooked and often ignored community and I feel like Elizabeth Warren celebrates our existence and doesn't use us as props," said Filipina campaign volunteer Ninna Diaz, 27.
The community is "definitely taking notice," she added.
More recently, Gonzales has conducted Tagalog language caucus training for campaigns including that of Bernie Sanders.
"The mere fact that a lot of politicians are calling me and other Filipino-American leaders, it shows you that we are becoming important," she said.
"They are paying attention to us, because they know now that we vote."
She added: "Our voice used to be like the squeak of a mouse... But we are getting fired up now."
In a sign of the group's growing visibility, Segerblom and others are leading a campaign to rename a stretch of eastern Las Vegas, which is home to many community restaurants and stores, Little Filipinotown.
But Gonzales turned to one of the most visible icons of all -- global boxing superstar and Philippine Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who was in Las Vegas for a fight in 2014.
"We were able to get to his suite -- he posed with us, holding our banner," said Gonzales, who now uses the image to boost voter registration drives.
"It gets the Filipinos excited -- in fact, even non-Filipinos!"
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders is accompanied by his wife Jane O’Meara Sanders and other relatives as he arrives to speak at his New Hampshire primary night rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States on Tuesday. The left-wing senator narrowly edged out moderate rival Pete Buttigieg in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
KABUL - Voting began on Saturday to elect a president for Afghanistan with more than 9 million Afghan registered voters potentially heading to the polls amid fears of violence and fraud.
Tens of thousands of Afghan forces were deployed across 34 provinces to protect voters and polling stations from Taliban attacks.
The hardline insurgent group has threatened voters to stay away from the election or face dire consequences.
About 9.6 million of Afghanistan's 34 million people are registered to vote for one of 14 candidates at around 5,000 polling centers that will be protected by some 100,000 Afghan forces with air support from U.S. forces.
More than 400 polling centers will remain closed because they are situated in areas under Taliban control. Hundreds more in schools, mosques and district centers will be closed because of security concerns.
The voting process is another source of concern. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has come under criticism for issuing contradictory and unclear statements over what processes will be in place to prevent fraud if biometric systems fail during the eight hours of voting.
Four of the 18 candidates registered to contest for the top job dropped out of the race, but their names remain on the biometric voting devices.
The chief contenders are incumbent President Ashraf Ghani and his former deputy Abdullah Abdullah, both of whom came to power in 2014 after a bitterly contested election marred by fraud.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Facebook on Thursday introduced strict criteria for political ads on the social network in Singapore to prevent the spread of misinformation as the city-state gears up for elections.
Faced with criticism the site has been used to manipulate polls, Facebook has been tightening rules on such adverts around the world, from the United States to India.
Those advertising in Singapore about elections and politics on Facebook or its Instagram app will now have to first confirm their identity and location, and disclose who is responsible for the ad, the social network said.
They must also provide information such as a phone number, email or website, said Katie Harbath, Facebook's public policy director.
In addition, the new requirements will apply to those wanting to run ads related to social issues such as immigration and crime -- topics that are hotly debated by Singaporeans on Facebook.
"To enable healthy discourse in Singapore, we've taken steps to reduce the spread of misinformation, help prevent foreign interference in elections, and, more recently, to bring greater transparency and authenticity to advertising," she said.
Speculation has been mounting that Singaporeans could head to the polls soon after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong convened a committee to review electoral boundaries this month, typically the first step towards a vote.
Facebook came under fire from Singapore authorities earlier this year in the run-up to the passage of new legislation to combat "fake news", with the government accusing tech giants of being unable to police themselves.
The law requires social media platforms to carry corrections or remove content the government deems to be false, but activists have warned it could be used to silence critics ahead of the elections.
Facebook is a major investor in Singapore. The firm has its Asia headquarters in the city-state and last year announced plans to build a $1 billion data center there, its first in the region.
The Singapore government has long been accused of clamping down on civil liberties and free speech, and targeting their political opponents.
The People's Action Party, which has ruled Singapore uninterrupted for more than five decades, is not seen as being at risk of losing power at the polls to a divided opposition.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders teamed up with rapper Cardi B Monday to encourage young voters to turn out for the 2020 election.
The unlikely duo met at a nail salon in Detroit to film a campaign video aimed at younger voters -- a fitting spot for Cardi B, who is known for her elaborate manicures in addition to chart-topping hits.
"We (are) working on a way to involve more young people in the political process," Sanders, 77, told CNN before filming began.
"They are voting in large numbers, but not enough numbers."
Democratic polling shows Sanders is the number 2 candidate in a crowded field seeking the party's nomination to defeat Donald Trump, although Sanders has about half the support of the leader Joe Biden.
After the shoot, Cardi B posted a picture on Instagram of her interviewing the Vermont senator in the salon.
"Thank you Senator Bernie Sanders for sitting with me and sharing your plans on how you will change this country," the Grammy-winning artist captioned the image.
She added she had asked her followers to suggest questions for the left-wing Sanders and advised them to "stay tuned to see how he will fight for economic, racial and social justice for all."
According to Sanders, he and the 26-year-old rap superstar discussed a range of issues, including raising the minimum wage, canceling student debt, and climate change.
This is not Cardi B's first foray into the political arena. Earlier this month she was vocal in her support for Sanders, tweeting, "We let him down in 2016," when he lost to Hillary Clinton.
In January, Cardi B, born Belcalis Almanzar, posted a profanity-laced video on Instagram blasting Trump and the US government shutdown.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
PARIS -- The EU elections have been marked by successes for the far right, a surge by the Greens and setbacks for traditional parties across the continent.
AFP selects 5 takeaways as the first results come in across Europe:
FAR RIGHT, POPULISTS ADVANCE
The first results and projections suggested France's euro-skeptic far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen was set to finish top in France, narrowly ahead of the ruling faction of President Emmanuel Macron.
In Italy, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's far-right League was set to win the most votes, and Germany's far-right AfD was set to improve on their 2014 score of 7.1 percent, with exit polls seeing it coming in at 10.5 percent.
But the picture is far from uniform: in Austria the far-right Freedom Party was lagging in third after becoming engulfed in corruption scandal during the campaign.
And the party of Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders looked set to lose all its seats in the European Parliament as results confirmed a win for the social democrats.
Observers doubt the populists' ability to form an effective coalition, with differences on key issues including how close to be to Russia.
The populists "achieved the same size of wave, maybe a little better even, than in 2014 but there's no tsunami," Sebastien Maillard, director of the Jacques Delors Institute think tank, told AFP.
He forecast that they would not be able to "disturb democratic life" in the next parliament.
GREEN SURGE
Environmentalist parties performed strongly, reflecting how the issue of climate change has leaped up the agenda as young activists take up the cause.
In Germany, the Greens were on course to knock the center-left SPD, the coalition partner of Chancellor Angela Merkel, from second place.
Exit polls also showed the French green party EEVL led by a former top figure at Greenpeace France making strong gains with a score of 12-12.7 percent compared with 8.9 percent in the last EU elections in 2014.
Through school strikes, civil disobedience and large-scale marches, the movements have succeeded in highlighting how human behavior threatens the future of the planet.
And unlike the euro-skeptic populists, the Greens are not riven by division on a pan-European level.
"The Greens traditionally form a homogeneous and coherent group in the European parliament," said Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
BLOWS FOR LEADERS
Macron had made no secret of the significance he attached to the results and his party's performance was a symbolic blow for the president 2 years into his 5-year mandate.
But his office sought to put a brave face on the indications, saying that the performance was "respectable" after reports indicated that a bad showing could lead to a cabinet reshuffle.
The night was no better for Merkel, as exit polls showed the list of her center-right bloc was due to only garner around 28 percent.
Elsewhere, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he would call snap elections after voters relegated his Syriza party to second place behind the opposition conservative New Democracy party.
However, nationalist and euro-skeptic ruling parties did well: the Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was on course for a big victory while in Poland governing right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) was well ahead.
TURNOUT JUMPS
After fears ahead of the election that voters would stay away, turnout across the European Union excluding Britain was estimated at 51 percent, the highest in 20 years, the EU parliament said.
A variety of issues ranging from immigration, Brexit, the economy to climate change have made these polls the most closely watched EU elections in a generation.
In the first election to the European Parliament in 1979, 62 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot in what were then nine member states.
Since then the number of members has swollen to 28, but turnout has fallen every 5 years, to just over 42 percent in 2014.
BREXIT PARTY SWEEPS BRITAIN
Britain took part in the EU elections despite still being scheduled to leave the bloc by October 31 amid the crisis and confusion over its delayed exit.
The ruling Conservatives of Prime Minister Theresa May -- who announced her resignation last week -- are set to be punished by falling into fourth place.
However the Brexit party of Nigel Farage -- condemned by opponents as part of a line of European populist leaders -- is set to win by far the largest share of the vote with early results showing it winning 31.5 percent of the vote.
Yet in a sign of the extreme polarization in British politics, the pro-EU Liberal Democrats are challenging the main opposition Labor Party for second place.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW DELHI -- Asad Ahmed, one of about 1.2 million young Indians entering the cutthroat job market each month, diligently scribbles notes at a computer class in New Delhi.
While nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a new 5-year term promising to step up his campaign for a "new India", 18-year-old Ahmed is pessimistic about getting a new job.
"There are so many people in Delhi and the competition is intense," said Ahmed, dressed like the other students in a black-and-white uniform at the 3-month community course run in a police station in Old Delhi.
"I know this stint may not be enough for me to get a job but I am trying my best."
Modi came to power in 2014 promising jobs, but delivering on that has been a challenge.
And as soon as the election euphoria settles, Modi's government will have to find ways to boost investment and revive manufacturing to create new jobs.
Like Ahmed, most of the other 60 students at the government-sponsored "skill development" classes at the Old Delhi police station, all from poor families, were also apprehensive.
Nudrat Akram, 19, signed up for the course because her family could not afford to pay for higher education.
"I want a job in the retail sector where I can earn 10,000 rupees ($143) a month," Akram said, as she practised speaking English with pretend customers.
MORE JOBS, MORE DEBT
India's conservative prime minister came to power in 2014 on a pro-business platform, promising to create 10 million jobs a year.
The world's fastest-growing major economy has grown about 7 percent a year since, but jobs have been elusive.
The promise was barely mentioned in Modi's triumphant re-election campaign.
Nearly two-thirds of India's 1.3 billion population are of working age, between 15 and 64, but an increasing number are in the unemployed list.
No official data has been released for more than two years but a recent leaked report -- denied by the government -- put the unemployment rate at a 45-year high of 6.1 percent.
The Center for Monitoring Indian Economy, a private research firm, estimates the jobless rate rose to 7.6 percent in April.
"The economy is going to be a huge problem. The government simply cannot create jobs for millions entering the workforce," said political analyst Parsa Venkateshwar Rao.
"Modi will rely on businesses but they are also struggling so he has a real problem on his hands."
'NOT EASY TO SURVIVE'
Unemployment is particularly dire for women.
A Deloitte consultancy report in March said female labor force participation fell to 26 percent in 2018 from 36 percent in 2005 because of poor education and socio-economic barriers.
The manifesto of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promised a $1.4-trillion infrastructure boost to create jobs if it won the election. It offered metro trains for 50 cities and to double the national highway network.
But analysts say the government, which has drastically increased its debt over the past five years, will have to borrow huge new amounts to pay for the works.
In 2015, Modi launched a Skill India program aiming to train 500 million people by 2022. But the results have been mixed.
According to 2018 data, only a quarter of people who joined the scheme found jobs.
"The Skill India mission has not had as much success as say the highway program," said economist Arvind Virmani.
"The real crisis is about job skills and basic education."
India's rural jobs guarantee program offers work to about 70 million people at a minimum wage for 100 days a year, but there is no equivalent for the growing numbers of urban youth.
Experts say the government must consider an urban employment guarantee scheme in order to reap the true benefit of its economic growth.
At the Delhi classes, 18-year-old Sehar, who uses one name, is worried about helping her poor family, including 4 younger sisters.
Her father, who works at a hospital, is the only earner.
"I am the eldest and I want to help my family, it's not easy to survive in this city."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW DELHI/AYODHYA - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi scored a dramatic election victory on Thursday, putting his Hindu nationalist party on course to increase its majority on a mandate of business-friendly policies and a tough stand on national security.
His re-election reinforces a global trend of right-wing populists sweeping to victory, from the United States to Brazil and Italy, often after adopting harsh positions on protectionism, immigration and defence.
Official data from the Election Commission showed Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party ahead in 302 of the 542 seats up for grabs, up from the 282 it won in 2014 and more than the 272 seats needed for a majority in the lower house of parliament.
That would give his party the first back-to-back majority for a single party since 1984. Votes will be fully counted by Friday morning.
Modi was showered with rose petals by some of the thousands of cheering supporters who waited for hours in a thunderstorm for his arrival at party headquarters on Thursday evening.
"Whatever happened in these elections is in the past, we have to look ahead. We have to take everyone forward, including our staunchest opponents," he said in a televised address.
He was critical of the many people that doubted the BJP could increase its majority.
"The political pundits of India have to leave behind their ideas of the past," he added.
CHALLENGES AWAIT
Modi has slashed red tape in the world's fifth-largest economy, though some overseas firms, including Amazon, Walmart and Mastercard, have complained about policies they say are designed to benefit domestic rivals.
He will face demands to provide jobs for the tens of millions of young people coming on to the market in the next few years and to boost depressed farm incomes.
"The immediate challenges are to address employment, the issue of agricultural income and revive the banking sector," said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Care Ratings in Mumbai.
But making good on his promise of unity will be difficult as the BJP campaign was often divisive, and India's Muslim minority has expressed fears that policies aimed at pleasing the Hindu majority could imperil their livelihoods.
Modi's pledge of a strong stand against a separatist movement in Muslim-majority Kashmir has fuelled tension with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan, although its prime minister, Imran Khan, congratulated Modi on his win.
"Look forward to working with him for peace, progress and prosperity in South Asia," Khan added on Twitter.
Besides a harder line on national security, BJP members will look to Modi for progress on a project to building a Hindu temple on the site of a mosque demolished by Hindu zealots in the northern holy town of Ayodhya in 1992.
"I want Modi to finish terrorism from Kashmir (and) make Pakistan bite the dust again and again," said Shekhar Chahal, a BJP worker from the capital, New Delhi.
"I am confident that Modi will also make the temple in Ayodhya."
The NDA's predicted margin of victory, at 351 seats versus 93 for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, according to broadcaster NDTV, far exceeds survey forecasts in the run-up to the vote.
Among the winners for the BJP was a Hindu ascetic accused of plotting a bomb attack on Muslims.
Most polls indicated a victory for Modi's alliance but expected it to fall short of an overall majority.
(Click HERE https://reut.rs/2VXBoxz for graphic of live updates of election results)
SECURITY SWING
Modi was under pressure when he began campaigning, losing three state elections in December amid rising anger over farm prices and unemployment.
However, campaigning shifted towards India's relationship with Pakistan after a suicide bomber killed 40 Indian police in February in the Himalayan region of Kashmir claimed by both countries.
Modi ordered an air strike on what India said was a militant training camp on the Pakistani side of the border, a tough response that benefited the right-wing BJP, analysts said.
While Pakistan has signalled a willingness to open talks with India, it also displayed its military might, with the test of a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of up to 1,500 miles (2,400 km).
The BJP has also capitalised the star power of Modi, a frenetic campaigner, as well as its superior financial resources.
It outspent Congress by six times on Facebook and Google advertising, data showed, and by as much as 20 times overall, sources told Reuters this month.
The main opposition Congress party was ahead in just 52 seats, but its leader Rahul Gandhi, twice defeated in general elections by Modi, refused to rule out resigning as party chief in a brief televised news conference.
Gandhi, whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather all served as prime minister, lost to the BJP candidate in the northern constituency of Amethi the family has held almost continuously for the last four decades.
But he was leading in the southern constituency from which he is also running for parliament.
"The Congress party has not been able to improve at all," said Rahul Verma, a fellow at the centre for Policy Research in New Delhi.
"One big story is the emerging challenge for the Congress to remain a national alternative to the BJP. That now is under question."
STRONG LEADER
In the populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends the largest number of lawmakers to parliament, the BJP was leading in 60 of the 80 seats in the fray, out in front of a powerful alliance of caste-based parties campaigning to improve rural conditions.
"After the air strike on Pakistan, almost all these important issues started fading and farmers decided to cast their ballot for the BJP," said Raghubar Das, 55, who grows rice and wheat on the outskirts of Ayodhya, which many devout Hindus believe to be the birthplace of the God-king Rama.
"Mind you, they didn't vote for the BJP, they voted for Modi. Everyone loves a strong a leader."
The party also won seats in several states where it has long struggled, including West Bengal, where it took on the Trinamool Congress, a powerful regional party. Data showed it leading in 19 of 42 seats, surpassing the two it won in 2014, data showed.
Investors welcomed Modi's victory, hoping his government will push through reforms.
Indian stocks surged more than 5 percent this week to hit record highs on Thursday, but the euphoria fizzled quickly, with stocks and the rupee ending the day weaker, as the focus returned to a faltering economy.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW DELHI -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to return to power with an even bigger majority in parliament after a mammoth general election that ended on Sunday, exit polls showed, a far better showing than expected in recent weeks.
Modi faced criticism early on in the campaign for failing to create jobs and for weak farm prices, and analysts as well as politicians said the election race was tightening with the main opposition Congress party gaining ground.
But he rallied his Hindu nationalist base and turned the campaign into a fight for national security after tensions rose with Pakistan and attacked his main rival for being soft on the country's arch foe.
Modi's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is projected to win anything between 339-365 seats in the 545-member lower house of parliament with the Congress party-led opposition alliance at a distant 77 to 108, India Today Axis exit poll showed.
To rule, a party needs to win 272 seats. Modi's alliance won 336 seats in the 2014 election. The exit polls showed that he not only held to this base in the northern Hindi belt but also breached the east where regional groups traditionally held sway.
Only the south largely resisted the Hindu nationalist surge, except for Karnataka, home to software capital Bengaluru.
Counting of votes recorded in hundreds of thousands of computerized machines will begin early on Thursday and results are expected by noon.
According to another poll released by Todays Chanakya, Modi's alliance is likely to get around 350 seats. One poll by Neta Newsx, though, forecast Modi's group falling 30 seats short.
Exit polls, though, have a mixed record in a country with an electorate of 900 million people - around two-thirds of whom voted in the seven-phase election. They have often gotten the number of seats wrong, but the broad direction has generally been correct, analysts say.
With 3 out of 4 of the polls indicating a clear majority for Modi's alliance, Indian equity markets are expected to rally sharply on Monday, while the Indian rupee is also likely to strengthen versus the US dollar, according to market participants.
A clear win would mean Modi can carry out reforms investors expect to make India an easier place for doing business, they said.
"I expect a positive reaction from markets on both the rupee and equities," said Sajal Gupta, head of forex and rates at Indian brokerage firm Edelweiss Securities.
"Equity indices should have a rally of maybe 250-300 points," said Gupta, adding the Indian rupee may test the 69 level against the US dollar before retreating.
HINDU HARDLINE FEARS
But a big win for Modi would fan fears that Hindu hardliner groups would be further emboldened to pursue partisan programs such as punishing Muslims for the slaughter of cows, considered sacred by Hindus, rewriting school textbooks to reduce India's Muslim history and attack liberals.
Critics say Modi sought to win votes by stoking fear among the Hindu majority of the potential dangers posed by the country's Muslims and Pakistan, and promoted a Hindu-first India.
But his supporters say Modi and his allies are simply restoring Hinduism to its rightful place at the core of Indian society. Muslims make up about 14 percent of India's 1.3 billion population.
"The massive crowds and response at every rally of Prime Minister Modi were a clear indicator of their approval for his leadership, the performance of the past five years and the vision for the future," Nalin Kohli, a spokesman of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party said.
Dilip Agrawal, 46, who runs a mill in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, said he had voted for Modi, despite the difficulties faced by farmers.
"He is doing so much for our country, our national security. Of course farmers want better rates than they are getting, that's only natural. Only a strong leader can meet our aspirations, and Modi is that leader."
GANDHI LOSS
The Congress pary led by Rahul Gandhi, the fourth generation scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that ruled India for decades following independence, focused on Modi's failure to deliver on the promises he made to transform the economy and turn India into a manufacturing hub.
Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha dismissed the poll projections, saying that an alliance led by his party would defeat the BJP when votes are counted on May 23.
"Many of the pollsters, if not all of the pollsters, have got it wrong," he said, adding that a polarized atmosphere and fear had kept voters from telling pollsters about their actual allegiance.
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal state and a bitter opponent of Modi, said the fight was not over.
"I don't trust exit poll gossip," she said on Twitter. "I appeal to all opposition parties to be united, strong and bold. We will fight this battle together."
Voting began on April 11 and ended on Sunday in the world's biggest democratic exercise.
Although Modi's party is poised to lose seats in northern Uttar Pradesh, which elects the most lawmakers out of all Indian states, the party's return to power will be on the back of a strong showing in other northern heartland regions and two eastern provinces, CVoter's polling showed.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK - Former US Vice President Joe Biden has expanded his lead over a wide field of candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination by 5 percentage points since he entered the race in late April, according to a monthly Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The poll released on Wednesday found 29% of Democrats and independents said they would vote for Biden in the state nominating contests that begin next year. That is up from 24% who said so in a poll that ran in late April, days before Biden announced his bid.
Biden led the field among all major demographic groups except Millennials (ages 18-37), who favored US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont over Biden 18% to 16%.
Biden, 76, remains in the strongest position for the top of the ticket despite questions about his age and centrist positions. He also has faced criticism over his unwanted touching of women and his treatment of law professor Anita Hill three decades ago during Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearing.
The monthly survey showed 29% of women who identify as Democrats and independents said they backed Biden, up 4 points from last month.
And among registered Democrats, those who supported other candidates still listed Biden as a top alternative if their choice dropped out of the race, according to the poll.
"That means that there is not a significant anti-Biden block of voters split between the other candidates," said Chris Jackson, a polling expert at Ipsos.
"At this moment, Joe Biden is a clear front-runner in the Democratic primary," Jackson added.
The Democratic nominee will likely face Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.
Besides Biden, 13% of Democrats and independents said they would vote for Sanders. None of the other candidates received more than 6% support in the poll.
With more than a month until the candidates square off in the first televised debates and 18 months before the 2020 presidential election, the American public appears to be selecting candidates they know best.
Less than 20% of Democrats said they were familiar with many of the candidates, including U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Montana Governor Steve Bullock, Washington Governor Jay Inslee and Wayne Messam, mayor of Miramar, Florida. In comparison, more than 84% said they were familiar with Biden and Sanders.
However, Biden probably is not leading on name recognition alone, said Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
"It's not valuable if people know you but don't like you," Kondik said. "We saw that for (former Florida Governor) Jeb Bush in 2015. He had good name ID - everyone knew his family name - but he wasn't polling as well as Biden is now because Republicans didn't like him."
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English throughout the United States on May 10 and 13. It gathered responses from 1,132 Democrats and independents and has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of 3 percentage points.
Respondents were asked to pick from 23 potential Democratic nominees, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is expected to announce his plans this week. The poll did not include 89-year-old Mike Gravel, a former U.S. senator from Alaska, who is running.
For more on the candidates running for the Democratic nomination, see:
https://tmsnrt.rs/2LeoO8z
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Joe Biden, a moderate who has made his appeal to working-class voters that deserted the Democrats in 2016 a key part of his political identity, launched a bid for the White House on Thursday as the party's instant frontrunner.
Biden announced the third presidential bid of his career by video on YouTube and other social media. He is expected to make his first public appearance as a candidate on Monday at an event in Pittsburgh featuring union members, a key constituency.
Biden, 76, had been wrestling for months over whether to run. His candidacy will face numerous questions, including whether he is too old and too centrist for a Democratic Party yearning for fresh faces and increasingly propelled by its more vocal liberal wing.
Still, he starts as the leader of the pack in opinion polls of a Democratic field that now will total 20 contenders seeking the chance to challenge President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee, in November 2020.
Critics say his standing in polls is largely a function of name recognition for the former U.S. senator from Delaware, whose more than four decades in public service includes eight years as President Barack Obama's No. 2 in the White House.
As speculation about his bid mounted, Biden faced new questions about his longtime propensity for touching and kissing strangers at political events, with several women coming forward to say he had made them feel uncomfortable.
Biden struggled in his response to the concerns, at times joking about his behavior. But ultimately, he apologized and said he recognized standards for personal conduct had evolved in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Trump and his allies seized on the flap, attempting to weaken perhaps his top rival before Biden entered the race.
Even so, Biden was determined to push forward, arguing his background, experience and resume best positioned him to take on Trump next year.
In a speech to union members in April, Biden called Trump a "tragedy in two acts."
"This country can’t afford more years of a president looking to settle personal scores," he said.
Biden's candidacy will offer early hints about whether Democrats are more interested in finding a centrist who can win over the white working-class voters who went for Trump in 2016, or someone who can fire up the party's diverse progressive wing, such as Senators Kamala Harris of California, Bernie Sanders of Vermont or Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Biden's long history in the Senate, where he was a leading voice on foreign policy, will give liberal activists plenty to criticize. As Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, he angered women's rights activists with his handling of sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas during the justice's 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
He also has been criticized for his ties to the financial industry, which is prominent in his home state of Delaware, and for his authorship of a 1994 crime act that led to increased incarceration rates.
Biden has been one of the party's more aggressive Trump critics. Last year, he said he would "beat the hell" out of Trump if the two were in high school because of the way the president has talked about women. That prompted Trump to call him "Crazy Joe Biden" and claim on Twitter that Biden would "go down fast and hard, crying all the way" if they fought.
Biden later lamented the exchange, saying "I shouldn't get down in the mosh pit with this guy."
Known for his verbal gaffes on the campaign trail, Biden failed to gain traction with voters during his previous runs in 1988 and 2008.
He dropped his 1988 bid amid allegations he plagiarized some of his stump oratory and early academic work. But his experience and strong debate performances in 2008 impressed Obama enough that he tapped Biden as his running mate.
Biden decided against a 2016 presidential bid after a lengthy public period of indecision as he wrestled with doubts about whether he and his family were ready for a grueling campaign while mourning his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in May 2015. His son had urged him to run.
Biden faced some of the same family considerations this time around, as he is still coping with Beau's death while his other son, Hunter, has gone through a divorce amid a reported relationship with Beau's widow.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
KIEV -- A comedian with no political experience won a landslide victory in Ukraine's presidential election on Sunday, drawing congratulations from global leaders while dealing a stunning rebuke to his country's political establishment.
Volodymyr Zelensky, whose only previous political role was playing the president in a TV show, trounced incumbent Petro Poroshenko by taking 73 percent of the vote, according to exit polls.
Poroshenko garnered just 25.5 percent, losing to the 41-year-old comedian and actor across the country.
It was an extraordinary outcome to a campaign that started as a joke but struck a chord with voters frustrated by social injustice, corruption and a war with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine that has claimed some 13,000 lives.
The star of the TV series "Servant of the People" will now take the helm of a country of 45 million people beset by challenges and having run on the vaguest of political platforms.
"I will never let you down," Zelensky told jubilant supporters at his campaign headquarters where he was showered with glittering confetti.
"I can tell all post-Soviet countries: 'Look at us! Everything is possible!'" he declared.
The remark appeared aimed at neighboring Russia, where Vladimir Putin has been in power for 20 years and many followed the Ukrainian election with keen interest.
Congratulations poured in from Europe and beyond, with French President Emmanuel Macron and Poland's Andrzej Duda congratulating the Ukrainian president-elect by phone.
"You will now truly be the Servant of the People," said British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt on Twitter, pledging London's support.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and President of the European Council Donald Tusk said they looked forward to continuing support and cooperation.
"We congratulate President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky," the US embassy in Ukraine said on Twitter.
'DEMOCRACY TEST'
On the streets of the capital Kiev, some Ukrainians expressed guarded optimism about their new leader.
"Ukraine has passed the democracy test," said Mykola, a 66-year-old pensioner. "I hope it will be the people and not the elite who will live better."
Zelensky took 87 percent of the vote in eastern Ukraine and defeated Poroshenko even in the west, where the incumbent traditionally enjoyed strong support.
Poroshenko, 53, said the results were clear and enough reason to "call my opponent and congratulate him".
"I will leave office but I want to firmly stress -- I will not quit politics," Poroshenko said in a speech at his campaign headquarters, where supporters clapped, cried and chanted "thank you" to the outgoing leader.
He also appealed to the international community to help safeguard Ukraine's pro-Western course.
"We realize that the Kremlin might be enjoying the election result," he said.
Observers say Ukraine's new leader may seek to use his outsider status to try to improve ties with Moscow.
Zelensky said he wanted to "reboot" Western-brokered peace talks that have so far failed to end the conflict.
Moscow said the vote result showed Ukrainians wanted "change".
With about eight percent of ballots counted, official results showed Zelensky taking 72 percent of the vote and Poroshenko on 25 percent.
Voter turnout stood at 62 percent.
'TIRED OF LIES'
From Ukrainian-speaking regions in the west of the country to Russian-speaking territories in the war-torn east, many voters said they feared uncertainty but yearned for change.
"We're tired of all the lies," said Marta Semenyuk, 26, who cast her ballot for Zelensky in Kiev.
"I think it just cannot get any worse and I hope he'll live up to his promises," said Larisa, an 18-year-old student from the government-held eastern port city of Mariupol.
Zelensky supporters say only a fresh face can clean up Ukraine's politics and end the separatist conflict.
But others doubt the showman will be able to take on the country's influential oligarchs, negotiate with the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and stand up to Putin.
"People have gone mad," Viktoriya Olomutska, a 39-year-old Poroshenko supporter, said in Kiev. "Cinema and reality are two different things."
Poroshenko had previously mocked his rival's lack of political experience, arguing he was unfit to be a wartime commander-in-chief, and the 2 traded insults during the campaign.
But on Sunday the 2 men were respectful, with Poroshenko offering to coach the political novice and Zelensky saying he might seek Poroshenko's advice.
The outgoing leader came to power after a 2014 pro-Western uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime, triggering Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
His supporters credited him with rebuilding the army and securing an Orthodox Church independent of Russia.
But many feel the country's ruling elite have forgotten the promises of the revolution.
The comic shunned traditional campaign rallies and instead performed comedy gigs and used social media to appeal to voters.
The Ukrainian president has strong powers over defense, security and foreign policy but needs backing from parliament to push through reforms.
Poroshenko's faction has the most seats in the current legislature and new parliamentary polls are due in October
source: news.abs-cbn.com
JAKARTA -- Tens of millions of Indonesians will vote in presidential and parliamentary elections this week after campaigns focused on the economy, but with political Islam looming ever larger in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation.
President Joko Widodo, a former furniture salesman who launched his political career as a small-city mayor, is standing for re-election in a contest with ex-general Prabowo Subianto, whom he narrowly defeated in 2014.
Most opinion polls give Widodo a double-digit lead but the opposition has disputed survey findings. It has also said it has uncovered data irregularities affecting millions on the electoral rolls and has vowed to take legal action or use "people power" if its complaints are not resolved.
Some analysts say an unexpected win for the challenger would probably cause a brief slump in Indonesian markets, while a very close race could elevate the risk of a disputed vote.
"In a scenario in which Widodo wins by an unexpectedly narrow margin, large and prolonged protests in Jakarta would elevate tensions and pressure the currency," said Kevin O'Rourke in the Reformasi Weekly note on Indonesia published last week.
While most polls have put the president ahead, they could not be taken for granted, a senior government official said.
"Absolutely everybody is flying blind because we don't know how far the opinion polls can be respected," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Widodo ended his six-month campaign with a mass rally at Jakarta's main stadium at the weekend, where festive crowds overflowed into a surrounding park and streets.
Running ran out on stage in sneakers, to the cheers of the crowd after an hours-long concert by local bands, he struck an optimistic tone for the future of the world's third-largest democracy.
That was a stark contrast to his opponent, who has repeatedly warned Indonesia is on the verge of collapse.
Prabowo, as he is usually known, held a similarly big rally the previous weekend where supporters, many dressed in Islamic robes, held a mass prayer before a fiery speech about how Indonesia was being pillaged by foreigners and the elite.
QUICK COUNTS
Widodo has touted a record infrastructure drive and deregulation as major successes during his tenure, calling it a first step to tackle inequality and poverty in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
In a televised weekend debate, Widodo and his running mate, Islamic cleric Ma'ruf Amin, said their opponents, neither of whom has served in public office for more than a few months, did not understand managing macrolevel economics.
Widodo, a moderate Muslim from central Java, has had to burnish his Islamic credentials after smear campaigns and hoax stories accused him of being anti-Islam, a communist or too close to China, all politically damaging in Indonesia.
Prabowo, who has close links to some hardline Islamist groups, and his running mate, business tycoon Sandiaga Uno, have pledged to boost the economy by slashing taxes as much as 8 percentage points, and focus on key infrastructure projects.
Nearly 500,000 police and military will fan out across the vast archipelago to safeguard the vote. In Jakarta, the capital, officers will guard polling station to deter voter intimidation or clashes, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said.
More than 192 million will also vote in national and regional legislative elections, being contested by more than 245,000 candidates, in what is being described as the world's biggest single-day election.
Overseas voting is already underway, with thousands lining up outside Indonesian missions in Singapore and Australia.
On Wednesday, polling stations will open at 7 a.m. (2200 GMT Tuesday) in eastern Indonesia and close at 1 p.m. (0600 GMT) on the western side of the country.
Voters will manually punch five separate paper ballots for president and vice president, and legislative candidates.
Unofficial "quick counts", based on vote samples from polling stations, will be released hours after polling ends and the winning presidential candidate is expected to be apparent by late Wednesday.
The General Election Commission is expected to announce an official result in May.
Candidates have 72 hours after the official result to complain to the Constitutional Court. A nine-judge panel has 14 days to reach a decision, which cannot be appealed.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
