Tag Archives: Vote

Iranian Lawmakers Approve Nuclear Deal

The Iranian Parliament has given its approval to the deal Tehran reached with world powers over its nuclear program, state media reported.

The deal was passed with 161 votes in favor, 59 against and 13 abstentions, the official IRNA news agency said. Debate over the legislation was so intense that physical fights broke out among lawmakers, and some hard-line opponents of the deal cried when the bill passed.

The deal, which has been widely praised by some and completely criticized by many, including politicians in the United States and especially Israel, regards Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Government international sanctions on Iran will be lifted in return for restrictions on its nuclear program. This agreement has been hard fought in order to prevent Iran from being able to develop an atomic bomb.

The bill now goes before the Guardian Council for review. The 12-member clerical body, which is charged with interpreting the country’s constitution. This body could approve or reject it as well as revise and send back to the parliament for reconsideration.

The final say on all matters of state, including the nuclear deal, rests with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has vowed that the historic agreement won’t change his government’s stance toward the United States. Khamenei has made many threats to the United States and Israel even during the negotiations and continues to do so.  

Under the agreement, Iran is expected to start work on rolling back its nuclear program from 18 October – labelled as adoption day – which includes taking out thousands of centrifuges at its enrichment facilities and pulling out its heavy-water reactor and filling it with concrete.

Greece Passes Austerity Measures

The Greek parliament overwhelmingly passed austerity measures that are extremely unpopular with the Greek citizens by a vote of 229 to 64.

The measures approved by the Parliament include raising taxes and cutting pensions.  The measure passed because of the votes of the opposition parties as the prime minister’s ruling Syriza party mostly voted against the measure.

Syriza had ran for parliament on a platform of not accepting any more austerity measures.  Party Speaker Zoe Constantopoulou said the deal was “social genocide.”

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the deal was the best he could get from the European Union and the country’s creditors.

The vote brought immediate action from the European Central Bank (ECB) which increased emergency funding for Greek banks by 900 million Euro for one week.

ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank’s total exposure to Greece totals 130 billion Euro.

“It’s uncontroversial that debt relief is necessary and I think that nobody has ever disputed that,” Mr Draghi told the BBC.  “The issue is what is the best form of debt relief within our framework, within our legal institutional framework. I think we should focus on this point in the coming weeks.”

France Explains Vote For Palestinian Statehood

France is explaining the controversial decision to vote in favor of Palestinian statehood at the U.N. Security Council.

France’s ambassador to Israel said his nation was backing the resolution because they wanted to encourage Israel and the Palestinians to resume their peace negotiations.

Ambassador Patrick Maisonnave had been summoned to the Israel Foreign Ministry after the vote because of Israel’s “deep disappointment” with the actions of the French government.  Israel had previously said they would reject any resolution from the U.N. that put a timetable on the statehood for Palestine.

France had objected to the wording of the resolution and had tried to push a more moderately worded document that was rejected before the vote on the Palestinian measure.

The measure failed in the Security Council by one vote.  Palestine’s response was to try and obtain statehood at the International Criminal Court so they could continue their campaign against Israel.

UN Security Council Rejects Palestinian Statehood Resolution

Palestinian leaders were shocked Tuesday when their resolution for Palestinian statehood was rejected by the U.N. Security Council by an 8-2 vote with 5 nations abstaining.

The measure needed 9 “yes” votes for the measure to pass.

The resolution would have created a 12 month timetable for negotiations for a final peace deal with Israel.  The measure would also require Israel to pull out of the West Bank within three years and declare that East Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state.

Palestinian leaders had told press sources before the vote they had the nine votes required to pass the measure and force the United States to use their veto as a permanent member to stop the action.  However, Nigeria and Rwanda, which the Palestinians expected to support them, abstained from the vote at the last minute.

Only the U.S. and Australia voted no on the measure.  The five nations that abstained from the vote (effectively helping stop passage) were the U.K., Lithuania, South Korea, Nigeria and Rwanda.

France, China, Russia, Argentina, Chad, Chile, Jordan and Luxembourg voted in favor.

Israeli officials were furious French officials who voted in favor of the measure despite claiming they had serious issues with the wording of the resolution.  France had tried to push forward what they termed a “more moderate resolution” that did not include the timetables and other demands on Israel made by the Palestinians and their supporters.

State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters that many countries agreed with the U.S. that the measure was “unconstructive and poorly timed.”

“We think it sets arbitrary deadlines for reaching a peace agreement and for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank, and those are more likely to curtail useful negotiations than to bring them to a successful conclusion,” Rathke said. “Further, we think that the resolution fails to account for Israel’s legitimate security needs.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of the vote if the Security Council did not reject the resolution, “we will.”  He added that direct negotiations and not imposed conditions are the only way to reach a long lasting peace in the region.