Observers, opposition raise fraud concerns in Kazakh presidential reelection News
Observers, opposition raise fraud concerns in Kazakh presidential reelection

[JURIST] Western elections observers and opposition leaders have raised doubts as to the fairness of the reelection [BBC report] of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev [BBC profile], who won 91 percent of the vote Sunday. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [official website; observations] blamed poor ballot counting, intimidation, multiple voting and ballot stuffing for the result, in which 77 percent of registered voters participated. Opposition candidate Zharmakhan Tuyakbai [campaign website, English version; Aljazeera profile], who received just over 6 percent of the vote, promised to challenge the result [press release], saying "we will take all legal measures to protest the official results of the voting and will press for this election to be declared invalid." AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Indian National Congress founded

The Indian National Congress (INC) was founded on December 28, 1885 in Bombay (now Mumbai), India. In subsequent decades, the so-called Congress Party would advocate for Indian independence from the UK, which was eventually achieved in 1947. The first Prime Minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was elected as a member of the INC. Learn more about the history and founding of the Indian National Congress.

Congress recognized Pledge of Allegiance

On December 28, 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance and encouraged its recitation in schools. The Pledge was supposedly written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus Day. The words “under God” were added by Congress in 1954. The revised version of the Pledge was the subject of litigation before the United States Supreme Court originally brought by Michael Newdow, a parent who unsuccessfully objected to his daughter's school district policy requiring daily recitation of the Pledge. The court ruled that Newdow had no standing.

Nepal ends monarchy, establishes republic

On December 28, 2007, the Kingdom of Nepal's interim parliament ended the country's monarchy and established the Republic of Nepal. Free elections were held on April 10 of the following year to elect a Constituent Assembly.

Learn more about the rise of democracy in Nepal.