Afghanistan officials to investigate voting fraud News
Afghanistan officials to investigate voting fraud

[JURIST] The UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) [official website] announced Sunday that it will investigate allegations of voting fraud in last month’s legislative elections [JURIST report]. The JEMB decision [text] says that the instances of fraud, including ballot stuffing and proxy voting, were isolated, not systematic, and will not affect the integrity of the overall results. JEMB chairman Peter Erben said that the organization will audit the ballot boxes of about four percent of the 26,000 polling stations countrywide. The European Union Election Observation Mission [official website] released a report [text] last week praising the election results overall, but characterized the reported fraud cases as “worrying.” Reuters 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.