Respect is organising a selection meeting for its candidates for the London Assembly elections that are set for 1 May. The meeting is at 7.30pm, Thursday 31 January, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square (nearest tube Holborn).
Rioting began in Kenya after sitting president Mwai Kibaki was declared winner in presidential elections on 27 December. Opposition leader Raila Odinga challenged the result, accusing the ruling party of ballot rigging.
Salvinder Dhillon has stood for Respect in Ealing Southall and Southall Green in west London, coming second to Labour in last year’s local elections. He is a Respect candidate for the London assembly.
Left wing activists in the Amicus section of the Unite union are putting themselves forward to be nominated by branches for next year’s national executive elections.
Donald Tusk's neoliberal Civic Platform won the Polish parliamentary elections last Sunday comprehensively defeating the right-wing populist Law and Justice party of prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski – whose twin brother is the country's president.
Last Sunday’s elections to the upper house of the Japanese parliament were a huge defeat for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the right wing prime minister Shinzo Abe. Elections were held for 121 seats – half of the upper house. The LDP only won 37 seats, while the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) gained a majority with 60 seats.
There's a case for saying that the two by-elections on Thursday last week weren’t particularly good news for any of the three major parties. The biggest loser was David Cameron with the Tories pushed into third place in both Sedgefield and Southall.
