Politics by country

A draft bill aimed at granting Greeks living abroad full voting rights was on Friday sent to political parties with the aim of a vote being held in Parliament by the end of the month.
Leftist SYRIZA has expressed reservations about the legislation - as has the Communist Party to a lesser extent - while indicating that some amendments should resolve the problem.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said on Nov. 9 that political parties had "made mistakes" in their running of the country, promising electoral reform and other measures as he sought to bring an end to months of protests.

Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals on Nov. 8 upheld life sentences for 19 FETÖ members convicted over holding a presidential aide against his will on the night of the defeated 2016 coup.

"The European perspective of the Western Balkans, which has been the basis of US engagement in the region for more than 20 years, has not changed and will not change", Matthew Palmer, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and US Special Representative for the Western Balkans said.

A parliamentary committee tasked with probing possible political interference in the Novartis investigation was forced to cancel a planned session on Thursday after two leftist SYRIZA MPs who had been barred from the panel turned up and refused to leave. 

The Turkish army will not quit Syria before the troops of other countries leave the war-torn country, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, stressing that Turkey faces security risks as it has borders with this country.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has arrived in Geneva to take part in a leadership meeting on the Western Balkans.

The meeting is organized by the World Economic Forum as an expression of its commitment to serve as a reliable platform for public-private cooperation and for enhancing positive development in the region and beyond.

On September 27, 2019, the Central Electoral Bureau took note of the 14 final candidacies and the electoral signs submitted by political parties, electoral alliances, citizens' organizations belonging to national minorities and independent candidates, and on September 28, the following ballot order was established by registration of the candidates: 1. Klaus- Werner Iohannis, 2.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized French President Emmanuel Macron on Nov. 7 for calling NATO "brain dead", saying the Western military alliance was "indispensable" for European security.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized on Nov. 7 the European Union for its attitude toward Turkey, calling it "far from constructive".