Latest Democracy News

Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?

Dec. 12, 2024 11:47 AM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — A nonprofit law group dedicated to protecting the rights of Southern voters of color had more on its plate this year than just the 2024 presidential election. The Southern Coalition for Social Justice supports voter registration drives and monitors election...

Poland to guard major TV stations against hostile purchase attempts by Russia

Dec. 11, 2024 09:46 AM EST

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday that his government will protect major television stations in the country, like the U.S.-owned TVN, against hostile purchases, in a move aimed at protecting from any such attempts by Russia. Tusk stressed...

South Korea's democracy held after a 6-hour power play. What does it say for democracies elsewhere?

Dec. 09, 2024 06:48 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In an era of rising authoritarianism, at the heels of a six-hour martial law decree that unfolded while many South Koreans slept, something noteworthy happened: Democracy held. The past week in Seoul, officials and academics warn, is what a threat to...

Romania's far-right presidential candidate denounces canceled vote at closed polling station

Dec. 08, 2024 09:19 AM EST

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s defiant far-right presidential candidate, Calin Georgescu, on Sunday stood outside a closed polling station to denounce a top court’s unprecedented decision to annul the first round of the vote in which he emerged as the frontrunner. The...

Taiwan reports 14 Chinese warships and 4 balloons near the island

Dec. 07, 2024 23:29 PM EST

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China sent 14 warships, seven military aircraft and four balloons near Taiwan between Saturday and Sunday, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, as Beijing ramps up pressure on the island it claims as its own. China’s military activities come amid...

Polls close in Ghana's general election in the shadow of the worst economic crisis in a generation

Dec. 07, 2024 15:05 PM EST

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Voting closed Saturday evening in most polling centers throughout Ghana, bringing to an end the presidential and legislative elections poised to be a litmus test for democracy in a region shaken by extremist violence and coups. The capital, Accra, was almost a...

Ghanaians go to the polls with the backdrop of the worst economic crisis in a generation

Dec. 07, 2024 00:10 AM EST

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Voters in the west African nation of Ghana will cast their ballots Saturday in a general election poised to be a litmus test for democracy in a region shaken by extremist violence and coups. Some 18.7 million people are registered to vote in presidential and...

Dominican Republic seizes 9.5 tons of cocaine, marking a new record

Dec. 06, 2024 20:18 PM EST

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Authorities in the Dominican Republic announced Friday that they confiscated nearly 9.5 tons of cocaine, the largest drug seizure in the country’s history. The $250 million worth of drugs were found nestled inside a banana shipment that...

Romania's top court annuls first round of presidential vote won by far-right candidate

Dec. 06, 2024 18:40 PM EST

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A top Romanian court on Friday annulled the first round of the country's presidential election, days after allegations emerged that Russia ran a coordinated online campaign to promote the far-right outsider who won the first round. The Constitutional...

Han Kang, winner of the Nobel Literature Prize, is shocked by recent events in South Korea

Dec. 06, 2024 09:29 AM EST

STOCKHOLM (AP) — South Korean author Han Kang, this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, said Friday that she was shocked by this week's martial law announcement in her home country. Han, awarded by the Nobel committee “for her intense poetic prose that confronts...