Elections

Norway’s Labour Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere has claimed victory in Monday’s legislative elections, which also saw a record surge in support for the anti-immigration populist Progress Party.

“We did it,” the 65-year-old leader Stoere exclaimed at an election night rally after Labour came out on top, with about 28 percent of votes, which enabled him to remain in power with the support of four other left-wing parties.

Rapturous cheering erupted in Oslo on Monday night as Labour supporters gathered to celebrate a closely fought campaign in which the future of a wealth tax that dates to the late 19th century has been a central issue.

Addressing the crowd, Stoere thanked his supporters and said the victory showed that it was possible for Social Democratic parties to win elections, even with right-wing forces on the rise in Europe, according to the broadcaster VG.

The right-wing Progress Party saw its best result ever in a national election, coming in second place. Addressing supporters, Progress Party leader Sylvi Listhaug was pleased with her party’s result but lamented what she called “four tough years ahead for people and businesses”.

Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg apologised for the dismal performance of her party, which fell to third place in parliament.

Sovereign fund’s investment in Israel

About 4.3 million people in the Scandinavian nation were eligible to vote for the new 169-member parliament, or Storting. With almost all votes now counted, centre-left parties have won just more than the 85 seats needed to form a majority.

Final results are expected on Tuesday. They are likely to be followed by weeks of negotiations to build a coalition and agree on Cabinet positions before King Harald can swear in a new government.

Stoere’s second term in office comes after a fiercely contested election, surviving internal party strife, Cabinet scandals and an attempted leadership coup to cling to power.

His Labour Party has faced turbulent years, marked by soaring inflation, rising interest rates and a string of ministerial resignations over tax evasion, ethics breaches and undisclosed share trades.

The election campaign in Norway – a country of 5.6 million people and among the richest per capita in the world – has revolved around the cost of living, inequality, public services and how much citizens should pay in tax.

However, a debate over the country’s $2 trillion sovereign fund’s investments in Israel took centre stage at the beginning of the campaign. Since then, the fund has divested from at least 11 companies following media reports that it owned a stake in a jet engine company that provides maintenance for Israeli fighter jets.

The fund had divested from just two Israeli companies before that.

Norway’s wealth fund also divested from Caterpillar on ethics grounds over the use of the company’s products, bulldozers in particular, by Israeli authorities in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Wealth tax

The wealth tax, in particular, has divided the political landscape. In recent years, dozens of wealthy Norwegians have relocated to Switzerland to escape it, sparking heated debate between the two main blocs over whether to scrap the levy.

Labour campaigned to retain the wealth tax, while the Conservatives wanted it reduced, and the Progress Party, which advocates for stricter immigration controls, wants it scrapped.

In early 2025, Stoere reshaped his cabinet to shore up his authority, naming former NATO Secretary-General and former Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as finance minister.

A longtime ally and personal friend, Stoltenberg’s return was widely seen as pivotal in stabilising Stoere’s leadership and boosting Labour’s international credibility.

The reshuffle also saw the rural-based Centre Party expelled from government, signalling a more streamlined Labour operation.

Economic pain, however, continues to haunt Stoere’s government. Inflation peaked at 7.5 percent in 2022 and interest rates reached levels not seen since 2008, though both have since eased, giving households some relief.

Despite his victory, Stoere faces a fragmented parliament. He will now rely on the support of four smaller left-leaning parties, making the task of governing far more complex.

The Buenos Aires provincial election is a test of Milei’s popularity ahead of upcoming congressional polls next month.

The party of Argentina’s libertarian president, Javier Milei, has suffered a crushing defeat in local elections in the capital, Buenos Aires, even before he completes two years in office, in the most significant act of frustration with his deep-cutting economic austerity policies.

The results, announced on Sunday, put the candidate for Milei’s recently formed La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party, or Liberty Advances, Diego Valenzuela, who captured 34 percent, far behind Gabriel Katopodis, the Peronist left-wing challenger who received 47.4 percent.

LLA won just two of the eight electoral districts of the Buenos Aires province.

Milei conceded that his right-wing party’s crushing 13-point loss to his rivals represented “a clear defeat”.

“We suffered a setback, and we must accept it responsibly,” he said after the results came in. “If we’ve made political mistakes, we’re going to internalise them, we’re going to process them, we’re going to modify our actions,” he added.

In a post on X, Argentina’s former Peronist president, Cristina Kirchner, said, “Did you see Milei? … Get out of your bubble, brother … things are getting heavy.”

However, the 54-year-old economist pledged not to retreat “1 millimetre” from his agenda to aggressively roll back the Argentinian state and cut public spending. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he said.

The election for the leadership of Argentina’s wealthiest province is viewed as a litmus test for Milei’s so-called “chainsaw” measures, as 40 percent of the country’s population lives in Buenos Aires, and it accounts for a third of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Argentina will go to the polls at the end of October for congressional midterms, which will be a crucial test of deep political support, with half of the seats in Argentina’s lower house up for grabs and a third of its senate.

Congress is already dominated by opposition parties, and the defeat in Buenos Aires will represent a blow to Milei’s hopes of expanding his influence.

Unemployment figures in Argentina are currently at their highest since 2021, during the COVID pandemic, and Milei’s government has also been caught in a corruption scandal linked to his sister and close aides.

Argentina also saw widespread protests after Milei vetoed a bill aimed at increasing pensions and disability spending. Congress later overturned his veto.

The governor of the southern Chubut province, Nacho Torres, said the vote was a “wake-up call from the citizenry”, while the governor of the northeastern Santa Fe province said voters were giving a “clear warning” to Milei. “People no longer want more shouting; they want facts. We Argentines want to grow and develop with security and in peace,” he added.

While incumbent held on to power, the Polynesian island nation will have a new PM: Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt.

The incumbent Fa’atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party has been confirmed as the winner of the national election in Samoa.

Official results released by the Samoan electoral commission on Friday showed that FAST won 30 out of the 50 seats contested. However, Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa departed the party earlier this year and will be succeeded by new FAST leader Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt.

The main opposition Human Rights Protection Party won 14 seats. Independent candidates took another four.

The Samoa Uniting Party, formed earlier this year by Fiame – known as the “Iron Lady of the Pacific” – won only three seats, including her own. She was expelled from FAST in January amid a factional dispute.

Rising prices had been cited as a key issue for voters in the country of about 220,000 people.

Before the election on August 29, in Apia, the Samoan capital, residents had told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation they were looking forward to political stability and wanted the next government to focus on the economy and jobs.

On Friday, Samoa’s head of state, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, had issued a warrant confirming the names of the new lawmakers who will form Samoa’s next parliament.

Five women have won seats. The Samoa Observer reported that under a 10 percent minimum representation rule, at least six women must sit in parliament, necessitating the creation of an additional seat.

Fiame became Samoa’s first female leader in 2021, winning an election that unseated Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi after 22 years.

She raised the international profile of the nation by hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last year, focused on the effect of climate change in the Pacific.

But after being unable to gain enough support to pass a budget, Fiame asked in June for parliament to be dissolved. She has been serving in the role of acting prime minister since.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

The vote comes a week after Paetongtarn Shinawatra was removed from office amid an ethics scandal.

Thailand’s parliament has elected Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the conservative opposition Bhumjaithai party, as the country’s prime minister.

The vote on Friday means Anutin will replace Paetongtarn Shinawatra of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, who was dismissed by the Constitutional Court last month over an ethics scandal.

Anutin secured victory over Chaikasem Nitisiri, the candidate of the populist Pheu Thai, with the support of the liberal People’s Party.

That backing from the largest party in the 500-seat parliament was premised on a promise from Anutin to call a general election within four months.

While voting and counting were still proceeding, the Bhumjaithai leader was confirmed to have won more than 247 votes, the required majority from the House of Representatives’ 492 active members.

His final total must be certified after voting is completed. He and his government are expected to take office in a few days after obtaining a formal appointment from King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Veteran Anutin’s election deals another blow to the Shinawatra clan, which has been a mainstay of Thai politics for the past two decades.

Their populist movement has long jousted with the pro-military, pro-monarchy establishment, but has been increasingly bedevilled by legal and political setbacks.

The dynasty’s patriarch, Thaksin Shinawatra, flew out of Thailand in the hours ahead of Friday’s vote, bound for Dubai.

Anutin once backed the Pheu Thai coalition, but abandoned it in the summer in apparent outrage over Paetongtarn’s conduct during a border dispute with neighbouring Cambodia.

This is a developing news story. More to follow shortly …

US president is seeking to overhaul country’s electoral system, falsely claiming his 2020 loss was a result of fraud.

United States President Donald Trump has announced plans to sign an executive order requiring voter identification from every voter.

“Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS! I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!!,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.

“Also, No Mail-In Voting, Except For Those That Are Very Ill, And The Far Away Military,” he added.

The announcement comes as Trump seeks to overhaul the electoral system in the US over false claims that his 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden was the result of widespread fraud.

The president and his Republican allies also have made baseless claims about widespread voting by non-citizens, which is illegal and rarely occurs.

For years, he has called for the end of electronic voting machines, pushing instead for the use of paper ballots and hand counts, a process that election officials say is time-consuming, costly and far less accurate than machine counting.

In March this year, Trump signed a sweeping executive order that included requirements for documentary proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections and for all ballots to be received by Election Day.

A judge in April blocked parts of that order, including the proof-of-citizenship requirement, saying that the US Constitution gives the power to regulate federal elections to states and Congress – not the president.

Trump, meanwhile, pledged to also issue an executive order to end the use of mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

The November 3, 2026, elections will be the first nationwide referendum on Trump’s domestic and foreign policies since he returned to power in January. Democrats will be seeking to break the Republicans’ grip on both the House of Representatives and the Senate to block Trump’s domestic agenda.

Former prime minister and the wife of ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol both indicted on separate charges on the same day.

South Korean prosecutors in separate cases have indicted former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo for aiding and abetting former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial law last year, and the ex-president’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, for bribery and other charges.

The charges were laid against Han, 76, on Friday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. Additional charges include perjury and falsifying official documents.

Han had been under investigation by a team of special prosecutors for several weeks, according to media reports.

Former First Lady Kim was also indicted on charges stemming from her alleged participation in a stock manipulation scheme and acceptance of gifts from the controversial Unification Church, among other activities.

Lawyers for Kim have denied the allegations against her and said news reports about some of the gifts she allegedly received were groundless speculation.

Assistant special counsel Park Ji-young told a televised briefing that Han was the highest official who could have blocked Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law.

Park said Han still played an “active” role in Yoon’s martial law declaration by trying to get Yoon’s decree passed through a Cabinet Council meeting as a way to give “procedural legitimacy” to it.

Han has maintained that he conveyed to Yoon that he opposed his martial law plan.

Kim and her ex-president husband have been arrested and are in jail, with Yoon already undergoing trial on charges that include insurrection for his attempt to impose military rule.

His wife had been the subject of numerous high-profile scandals, some dating back more than 15 years, which overshadowed his turbulent presidency and inflicted political damage on him and his conservative People Power Party (PPP).

Yoon was formally impeached in April.

Former Prime Minister Han stepped in twice to serve as acting president during the post-martial law chaos between December and May, but he later resigned to participate in South Korea’s presidential election.

He failed, however, to secure the candidacy for the PPP.

The June 3 election was later won by the liberal Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung, who had livestreamed himself climbing over the walls of South Korea’s National Assembly to vote down the martial law declared by Yoon.

Aug. 28 (UPI) — The chairman of the Surry County Board of Elections in North Carolina resigned Thursday after police arrested him on suspicion of putting drugs in his granddaughters’ ice cream.

In a news release issued Wednesday, the Wilmington Police Department said officers arrested James Yokeley after an investigation into an incident Aug. 8.

The release said earlier this month, Yokeley flagged down patrol officers outside a gas station to alert them that his two minor granddaughters found two hard objects in ice cream they had just purchased at a nearby Dairy Queen. Field tests determined the objects were illegal narcotics.

Medical professionals evaluated the two girls and determined neither had ingested any substances.

Detectives reviewed security video from the Dairy Queen, which allegedly showed Yokeley putting the pills in the ice cream. Police arrested him Tuesday, charging him with felony child abuse, contaminating food with a controlled substance and possession of a Schedule I narcotic.

He was jailed at the New Hanover County Detention Center and released on $100,000 bond.

County Auditor Dave Boliek called for Yokeley’s resignation from the board of elections Thursday, according to WITN-TV in Greenville, N.C. Yokeley sent his resignation letter to Boliek, who appointed him to the position earlier this summer.

“Based on the truth and facts, I remain prayerfully confident that I will be exonerated of all accusations levied against me,” Yokeley said in the letter.

Background

Norway heads to the polls on September 7-8, 2025, in a closely fought general election that could reshape both domestic economic policy, as well as the wider European energy landscape. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store’s Labour Party, in power since 2021, seeks to extend its rule after eight years of Conservative-led governments. Labour governs as a minority with backing from both the Socialist Left and Centre Party.

What Happened?

The election places the centre-left bloc led by the Labour Party against the centre right, dominated by the populist Progress Party and Conservatives.

Inequality and taxation top the list of Nordic voter concerns, followed by cost of living pressures, job security, and food price inflation (5.9% over the past calendar year).

Labour promises stable taxes, though allies push for higher rates on the wealthy; Conservatives and Progress advocate deep tax cuts across all income levels.

The campaign has also been shaped by debates surrounding Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, oil and gas exploration, and power exports to Europe.

Why It Matters:

Norway is Europe’s leading gas supplier, replacing Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The election outcome could determine whether new oil and gas fields are opened or restricted, with consequences for both domestic revenues and Europe’s energy security. In addition, political control over the sovereign wealth fund could reshape debates about Nordic investments, including calls from the Socialist Left to divest from companies with links to Israel’s actions in Gaza. Energy policy and fiscal direction will not only shape Norway’s future but also ripple across the European Union, where stability of gas flows and power exports are closely monitored and viewed as a key commodity.

Stakeholder Reactions:

Socialist Left Party: Urgently demands divestments tied to Israel’s war in Gaza as a condition for backing the Labour Party in the next government if they were to emerge victorious.

Labour Party: Rejected the demand but may face pressure to revisit it post-election depending on both the landscape of the Gaza conflict and overall party productivity in regards to addressing the concerns of the everyday Nordic citizen.

Smaller Parties (Liberals, Greens): Deeply divided on oil exploration, some pushing for expansion with controls to ensure domestic revenue inflows, others calling for tighter restrictions or eventual phase-outs to become a greener economy.

EU observers: Undoubtedly watching closely as Norway debates limiting electricity exports, which would breach single market rules established by the Union.

What’s Next/

Election days: September 7-8, with polls closing September 8th at 1900 GMT.

Results: Early exit polls expected the same evening; final outcome could possibly take until September 9th to be announced.

Likely Scenarios: A continued Labour-led minority government, or a centre-right coalition led by Conservatives or Progress Party.

Wider Implications: Coalition negotiations will decide Norway’s position on tax policy, sovereign wealth fund investments, oil and gas exploration, and electricity exports, with consequences for both domestic voters and European partners.

With information from Reuters

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has installed a right-wing researcher who pushed false claims about the 2020 election to a position in charge of election oversight.

As of Tuesday, a leadership chart for the Department of Homeland Security shows Pennsylvania activist Heather Honey serving as the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity in the Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans.

Honey’s appointment was first reported by the investigative news outlet Democracy Docket on Monday.

Her position has raised eyebrows among critics of the Trump administration due to her involvement in several efforts that resulted in misleading research about the 2020 presidential race.

Trump has pushed the false claim that his loss in the 2020 election was the result of massive fraud, and he has consistently refused to admit defeat.

Since returning to the White House for a second term in January, he has placed loyalists in positions of power, raising fears about the independence of certain offices.

He has also used his false claims of fraudulent elections to place pressure on the country’s electoral system, which is administered largely by state and local officials.

Critics have warned that overtly partisan appointments to posts overseeing elections could diminish confidence in the voting process.

“What I’m concerned about is that it seems like DHS [Department of Homeland Security] is being poised to use the vast power and megaphone of the federal government to spread disinformation rather than combat it,” David Becker, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research, told The Associated Press news agency.

“It’s going to really harm DHS’s credibility overall.”

Who is Heather Honey?

Honey’s appointment in particular has prompted election experts and local officials to speak out, given her prominent role in spreading misinformation about the 2020 election.

For instance, Adrian Fontes, Arizona’s secretary of state and a Democrat, told the news outlet ProPublica in a statement that Honey has a “well-documented history of spreading election lies”.

Honey leads a consulting firm called Haystack Investigations, which was involved in election “audits”, which experts consider flawed, as well as another organisation called Verity Votes, which also purports to conduct election research.

Trump and his supporters have drawn on some of her firms’ conclusions in their efforts to undermine the 2020 election results.

In the key swing state of Pennsylvania, for instance, Honey’s group misrepresented incomplete voter data to falsely allege that the state had more votes than voters in 2020.

Two years later, in 2022, Verity Vote claimed that Pennsylvania sent mail-in ballots to voters who failed to provide appropriate identification.

State officials, however, accused Verity Vote of misrepresenting the “not verified” designation in its voting system.

In public statements, the Pennsylvania Department of State explained that it uses the “not verified” tag to signal to local officials that a voter’s identification needs to be verified. The designation is a “security feature” for voter applications, it said – not an indication that voters could submit ballots without proper ID.

Trump narrowly lost Pennsylvania in the 2020 election, with Democrat Joe Biden edging him out by less than 1 percent.

In Arizona, another critical battleground swing state that Trump lost in 2020, Honey participated in a partisan audit of election results in Maricopa County, a populous area containing the city of Phoenix.

Despite searching for fraud for nearly six months, the audit turned up no evidence that the outcome in Biden’s favour was erroneous. Still, experts say that audit was filled with errors and biased methodology.

In the years since, former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, told The Associated Press that he had received dozens of public records requests related to elections from Honey.

Richer served in the role from 2021 to 2025, and said that such requests occupied “scores of hours of staff time”.

He told The Associated Press he was surprised to hear Honey was in a position of such “authority and responsibility” and said that she was “not a serious auditor”.

Honey is not the first Trump official to face public scrutiny for her role in his administration. Other appointees, like Emil Bove, have faced intense public questions about whether they would prioritise their loyalty to Trump over their commitment to government ethics.

Since his victory in the 2024 election, Trump has also opened investigations into critics and officials who probed his false claims about the 2020 election.

He has said he will do away with things like mail-in ballots and voting machines, demands shared by others who push anti-election conspiracies on the US right.