Domestic Politics

Georgians are voting on Saturday (2 October) in local elections to elect 64 mayors and city councils, including the capital, Tbilisi. There are 3,513,884 voters. The vote is being seen as an expression of confidence or otherwise in the ruling Georgian Dream (GD)government that has been in power in Georgia since 2012.

US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, travelled to Saudi Arabia on Monday (27 September) to and later will travel to the UAE to discuss a range of “regional and global challenges”. With Yemen expected to be a key topic in the discussions, the Yemeni PM travelled back to Yemen.

The Communist Party has won municipal elections in Austria's second city, Graz, securing 29% of the vote. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz admitted that he was very surprised by this result. "The fact that the communists can win elections in Austria, albeit regional ones, should make you think," he said.

Germans woke up this morning to a changed political landscape. It is difficult to call it a political earthquake, but change is in the air, and the prospect that by Christmas the country will have a chancellor from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is likely.

A delegation visiting Qatar from the European Parliament praised the country for its progress in labour reforms and also for its humanitarian efforts to help Afghan refugees. The MEPs met Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani and a number of other officials and civil society representatives over the last few days. 

After a long session that lasted eight hours on Monday (20 September), the Lebanese parliament gave a vote of confidence to the new Lebanese cabinet led by prime minister Najib Mikati. The session, in which 100 out of 128 members attended, was long and tiring for many yet nothing dramatic disturbed the proceedings.