Word: platforms
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Thailand's largely Muslim south, Abhisit will have a tougher time convincing the rural masses that he feels their pain. Thailand's agrarian northeast, in particular, was the voting bloc that delivered a huge mandate to Prime Minister Thaksin in 2001, after he campaigned on an avowedly populist platform. Indeed, on Aug. 19, 62% of northeastern Thais voted against the draft constitution, a rejection not only of the charter but of the generals who ousted the man they still consider their champion. "Bridging this [urban-rural] divide is Abhisit's biggest challenge," says Chaiwat Satha-Anand, a political scientist...
That may be, but the reshuffle might not help his government hold onto power. The most recent opinion polls suggest that the opposition Civic Platform, a center-right grouping ostensibly more friendly toward Europe and business interests, would take first place in an election with more than 30% of the vote, vs. 17-24% for the Kaczynskis' conservative Law and Justice Party, which has dropped 10 points in 12 months. Many in Europe have greeted that prospect with relief, but it would be foolish to count the twins out. And even if the Civic Platform wins, it may not produce...
...More than 20% of the electorate say they are undecided about whom to vote for, and disillusionment with Poland's political circus is so rampant that voter turnout is expected to be less than 50%, making the shape of the next government hard to predict. If the opposition Civic Platform wins, it will probably need a coalition partner. But given the souring of relations between the parties, no one knows which party that will be. Analysts like Piotr Kaczynski (no relation) at the independent Institute of Public Affairs in Warsaw say that Jaroslaw is unlikely to stay on as Prime...
...government led by the Civic Platform is unlikely to be the tonic that the Kaczynskis' critics expect. Founded in 2001 by ex-Solidarity trade-union dissidents and academics, the party's leaders may be more sophisticated than their Law and Justice rivals, but their basic principles are similar. (The Kaczynskis were also Solidarity members.) The Law and Justice Party, for example, has been criticized for its vigorous pursuit of the policy of "lustration," which requires officials and professionals who had dealings with the former communist secret police to confess their collaboration or lose their jobs. But the Civic Platform...
...homemade bomb in a No. 4 subway train as it pulled into a busy station in lower Manhattan. The firebomb, built from a mayonnaise jar, a kitchen timer and batteries, hurt more than 40 people. Passengers spilled, screaming, out of the train, some rolling on the platform to try to put out the flames, others beating back the fire with their coats...