Georgian Dream Set to Win Majority – Election Commission
The opposition Georgian Dream coalition was on track to win a solid majority in Georgia’s 150-seat parliament as the count of the October 1 voting neared completion late on Tuesday evening, based on data from Georgia’s Central Election Commission.
With 94.05 percent of the vote counted, billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream had 55.08 percent and President Mikheil Saakashvili’s UNM party had 40.14 percent.
The national vote will determine the winners of 77 seats on a proportional basis.
In the 73 single-mandate races, Ivanishvili’s coalition was on track to win 38 seats compared to 35 for Saakashvili’s party, according to preliminary data.
Voter turnout amounted to 61 percent.
Scandal Behind Chile Mining Vice Minister Resignation
Chile’s Mining Vice Minister Pablo Wagner resigned in the wake of a scandal on a million dollar Lithium mining contract to SQM Co. of Julio Ponce, ex in-law of late dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Wagner led the bid because Minister Hernan de Solminihac chose to remain an observer for his brother, Patricio de Solminihac, is member of the board of directors of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM).
“It is my professional duty to resign”, said Wagner who arrived this Tuesday to La Moneda to meet with government Minister and General Secretary Andres Chadwick.
The Administration of President Sebastian Piñera annulled the contract with SQM in learning of the breach and the Mining Ministry confirmation reminds of several debts with public institutions, a gross impediment to enter the race.
Last September 24th, SQM “won” the concession that ignited an automatic polemic and was declared unconstitutional by Central de Trabajadores del Cobre (copper union) and other social sectors that issued a unanimous cry to annul the bid.
The company’s offers were the juiciest vs the reminder of hopefuls -Korean-Japanese Posco Consortium, made up of Posco Ltd, Mitsui & Co Ltd, Daewoo International Corp and Minera Li Energu Spa- and a second competitor of Chile.
The government began to ready in June the concession of a 20-year Special Op. Contract hoping to rise 350 million USD on 100,000 tons of lithium.
French Court Drops Strauss-Kahn Gang Rape Charges
French court on Tuesday dropped charges accusing ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of gang rape in late 2010 in Washington, the United States, local media reported.
Prosecutor of Lille court, in northern France, decided to take no further investigation into alleged gang rape involving Strauss-Kahn due to insufficient evidence after a witness withdrew her statement, the report said.
In May, Lille court opened a probe to investigate on an incident “that could be described as gang rape” in which Strauss-Kahn could have forced sex with a prostitute with the help of his friends.
The scandal-hit former French finance minister had already been questioned over his alleged involvement in an illegal prostitution ring which supplied women to clients in the city’s luxury Carlton hotel and for abuse of corporate funds.
Being on fire of a judicial investigation over charges of sexual assault and attempted rape on a hotel maid in New York last year, Strauss-Kahn was forced to quit the IMF and to keep a distance to France’s political life.