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world news Diasabra 25 Juni 2022

UK Conservatives lose 2 elections in blow to Boris Johnson

(AP) — British Prime Minister jitters among restive Conservatives brilliant results,” Johnson said at a signed after being caught looking at
Boris Johnson suffered a double who already worry the ebullient but news conference in Kigali. “We’ve pornography in the House of Com-
blow as voters rejected his Con- erratic and divisive Johnson is no got to listen, we’ve got to learn. … mons chamber.
servative Party in two special longer an electoral asset. When people are finding it tough,
parliamentary elections domi- they send messages to politicians, Even with the defeats, which erode
nated by questions about his Party chairman Oliver Dowden re- and politicians have got to respond.” his already shaky authority among
leadership and ethics. signed, saying “our supporters are his own lawmakers, Johnson his
distressed and disappointed by re- Johnson won a big majority in a party holds a large majority in Par-
He was further wounded when cent events, and I share their feel- 2019 general election by keeping the liament. But Conservatives are in-
the party’s chairman quit after the ings.” Conservatives’ traditional voters — creasingly concerned that the quali-
results came out early Friday, say- affluent, older and concentrated in ties that led them to make Johnson
ing Conservatives “cannot carry on “We cannot carry on with business southern England — and winning their leader — including a populist
with business as usual,” and a for- as usual,” said Dowden, previously new ones in poorer, post-industrial ability to bend the rules and get away
mer party leader said the country a staunch Johnson loyalist. northern towns where many resi- with it — may now be a liability.
needed “new leadership.” dents felt overlooked by govern-
“I will, as always, remain loyal to ments for decades. Ethics allegations have buffeted the
The centrist Liberal Democrats the Conservative Party,” he said, prime minister for months, culmi-
overturned a big Conservative ma- without offering an endorsement of Thursday’s elections brought defeat nating in a scandal over parties held
jority to win the rural southwest Johnson. on both fronts. Rural Tiverton and in government buildings while mil-
England seat of Tiverton and Honi- Honiton has voted Conservative lions of others were banned from
ton, while the main opposition La- Former Conservative leader Mi- for generations, while Wakefield is meeting friends and family during
bour Party reclaimed Wakefield in chael Howard, who like Johnson a northern district that the Tories coronavirus lockdowns.
northern England from Johnson’s was a strong backer of Britain’s exit won in 2019 from Labour.
Tories. from the European Union, urged Johnson was one of 83 people fined
the party to remove him as leader. Labour’s widely expected victory in by police for attending the parties,
The contests, triggered by the resig- Wakefield — whose previous Con- making him the first prime minister
nations of Conservative lawmakers “The party, and more importantly servative legislator resigned after be- found to have broken the law while
hit by sex scandals, offered voters the country, would be better off un- ing convicted of sexual assault — is in office. A civil servant’s report on
the chance to give their verdict on der new leadership,” Howard told a boost to a party that has been out the “partygate” scandal said Johnson
the prime minister just weeks after the BBC. of office nationally since 2010. must bear responsibility for “fail-
41% of his own MPs voted to oust ures of leadership and judgment”
him. The prime minister was 4,000 miles Labour leader Keir Starmer said it that created a culture of rule-break-
(6,400 kilometers) away at a Com- showed the party “is back on the ing in government.
“The people of Tiverton and monwealth summit in Rwanda as side of working people, winning
Honiton have spoken for Britain,” the drama unfolded. seats where we lost before, and He survived a no-confidence vote
said the area’s newly elected Lib- ready for government.” by his own party this month but was
eral Democrat lawmaker, Richard The electoral tests came as Britain left weakened after 41% of Conser-
Foord. “They sent a loud and clear faces the worst cost-of-living crisis Pollsters had said the Tiverton and vative lawmakers voted to remove
message: It’s time for Boris Johnson in a generation, with Russia’s war Honiton race was tight, but the him.
to go, and go now.” in Ukraine squeezing supplies of Liberal Democrats overturned a
energy and food staples at a time of 24,000-vote Conservative majority Under party rules, Johnson can’t
Defeat in either district would have soaring consumer demand while to win by more than 6,000 votes. face another such vote for a year, but
been a setback for the prime min- the coronavirus pandemic recedes. The election was called when the Friday’s defeats will increase pres-
ister’s party. Losing both increases “I’m not going to pretend these are district’s Conservative lawmaker re- sure to change that.

Auschwitz Museum says it’s a target of Russian propaganda

(AP) — The Auschwitz- the photographs are simply a
Birkenau museum alleged manipulation,” the museum
Friday that it was the tar- said, describing the images
get of “primitive” propa- as “primitive and gross pro-
ganda spread by Russian paganda.” When Russia in-
state agencies on social vaded Ukraine on Feb. 24,
media. President Vladimir Putin said
the goal was to “denazify” the
The museum said that social neighboring country, whose
media posts falsely claim to democratically elected presi-
show anti-Russian stickers dent is Jewish and lost family
placed around the memo- members in the Holocaust.
rial at the former site of the
Auschwitz death camp site in “The use of the Auschwitz-
southern Poland, an area un- Birkenau Memorial for pro-
der German occupation dur- paganda that lends credence
ing World War II. to alleged Russophobia and
strengthens theories about
“Russia and Russians,” the The images were tweeted by at the places depicted in the the need for denazification of
stickers appearing in fake im- official Russian sites, includ- Several online posts claimed images, and that security Ukraine should be opposed
ages say, “the only gas you ing the Russian Arms Con- the stickers went up on June cameras did not capture any- by all thinking people world-
and your country deserve is trol Delegation in Vienna 22, which is the anniversary one affixing anything to the wide,” it added.
Zykon B.” That is a refer- and retweeted by the Russian of Nazi Germany’s invasion locations on or before June
ence to the gas the Germans Ministry of Foreign Affairs. of the Soviet Union in 1941. 22. It said an analysis showed More than 1.1 million peo-
used in the mass murder of They appeared intended to The Soviet Union’s army lib- the photos were manipulated ple, most of them Jews, were
Jews and others at the camp, portray Russians as targets of erated Auschwitz in 1945. and the stickers added digi- murdered by the Nazis and
which operated during 1940- vicious Russophobia. Some tally. their collaborators at Aus-
1945. posts claimed the stickers The Auschwitz Museum said chwitz.
were the work of Ukrainians. no such stickers were found “Everything indicates that