Voters wearing masks maintain social distancing while waiting in line at a polling station during parliamentary elections in Seoul last week. Bloomberg
Voters wearing masks maintain social distancing while waiting in line at a polling station during parliamentary elections in Seoul last week. Bloomberg
Voters wearing masks maintain social distancing while waiting in line at a polling station during parliamentary elections in Seoul last week. Bloomberg
Coronavirus: South Korea shows elections are feasible – but change is inevitable
In the short term, Covid-19 will cause great uncertainty for candidates and the public alike. But they will find new and novel ways to campaign and even vote
How do you hold elections when much of the globe is in lockdown? This is a question that has had to be confronted in several different parts of the world very recently. In mid-March, France went to the polls for the first round of local elections for cities, towns and villages; but then President Emmanuel Macron announced restrictions on movement, which meant that the second, conclusive round will not now be held before June at the earliest.
South Korea has just held what is generally considered to be a model for how to conduct a general election during the pandemic. Every person turning up to vote had their temperature taken, had to wear a mask, had their hands sanitised and was then given a clean pair of gloves to wear. Markers were laid out for people to distance socially, with wardens ensuring this was observed. Separate polling stations were set up for coronavirus patients with mild symptoms. Those with more serious symptoms could vote via post, while people who were in quarantine had an hour to vote after the polls had closed for everyone else.
Supporters of parliamentary election candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn of the main opposition United Future Party cheer during his street campaign, April 10, Seoul, South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty
At a cafeteria in Seoul on April 9, employees eat behind protective screens as part of preventative measures at the offices of Hyundai Card credit card company that has implemented reduced working hours and staggered lunch breaks, while South Korea has seen a continued decline in new virus cases. Ed Jones/ AFP
A visitor walks through a field of tulips and rapeseed flowers on Jeju Island, South Korea, 09 April 2020. South Korea on 08 April carried out the destruction of one Jeju's most popular rapeseed flower fields to prevent tourists from flocking to the area amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic EPA
Masks are a common sight on the streets of Seoul, April 10. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty
Supporters of South Korean parliamentary election candidate Lee Nak-yon of the ruling Democratic Party applaud his speech on April 10. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty
People are back on the streets, albeit with masks to protect themselves. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty
Gongpyeong road in downtown Daegu, some 300km southeast of Seoul, South Korea, 10 April, after the city reported zero new Covid-19 cases the day before. The city that has been the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the country is starting to show signs of returning to normal. EPA
Hongdae, an area of western Seoul popular for its vibrant, youthful atmosphere, South Korea, 10 April. EPA
A South Korean patient of Covid-19 arrives to cast her ballot for the parliamentary election at a polling station set up at a quarantine centre in Yongin, April 11. Kim Hong-Ji/ Reuters
Health workers disinfect a street to curb the spread of coronavirus, Daegu, South Korea, 11 April. EPA
Workers drive tractors to upend a rapeseed flower field in Busan, South Korea, 10 April. The flowers were destroyed to prevent tourists from flocking to the area. EPA
By contrast, in America, the vote for the Supreme Court in the state of Wisconsin, which took place earlier this month, was seen as a disaster. The Democratic Party wanted it to be postponed as non-essential businesses had already been ordered to shut down, but the Republican Party lawmakers insisted it go ahead anyway.
Hundreds of thousands of postal votes had to be discounted or did not arrive in time. In the city of Milwaukee, there was such a shortage of polling workers that the city could only run five election stations compared with the 180 it normally has open. Lines were long and the state was able to provide nothing like the safeguards that were insisted upon in South Korea, leading to accusations that citizens were having to risk their lives in order to exercise their right to vote.
This is a dilemma that many others will have to face sooner or later. Singapore is expected to hold elections soon. Americans are due to vote for their next president in November. And even if most countries decide not to delay, it is clear that the nature of these elections is going to be very different.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong might announce holding elections earlier than usual. AP Photo
The US race for the White House effectively lasts almost two years – Senator Bernie Sanders announced his bid for the Democratic nomination in February 2019, for instance – so we have had plenty of time to witness the stark contrast between the rallies and press-fleshing of retail politics as we have always known it, and the new normal.
If the candidates are responsible, there can be no more mass gatherings, no more knocking on doors or meeting-and-greeting. This is bad news for the Democratic presumptive nominee, Joe Biden, whose greatest strength is supposed to be his personal touch. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, gets to speak to the nation every day when he provides his coronavirus updates.
People listen as Democratic presidential candidate, and former vice president, Joe Biden speaks during an event in Ames, Iowa. AFP
With no traditional campaigning going on, exposure in the media – both new and old – will matter all the more. Psephologists have long argued about the extent to which newspapers influence voting behaviour, but there is no doubt that coverage can shape opinion to a certain extent – as the UK's former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, found to his cost after being consistently trashed not only by journals of the right but also by the country's left-leaning Guardian newspaper.
There is the potential while this pandemic remains with us for incumbents to look authoritative and presidential, to strike a “father of the nation” pose. In their very different ways, President Trump and the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have both assumed this mantle, and many think that Singapore’s leader Lee Hsien Loong may be counting on this if he holds polls many months before April 2021 when he legally has to.
A cleaner wearing personal protective equipment disinfects a bus at a terminal in Coatepec, Veracruz state, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. AFP
An Indian traffic officer stands beside a coronavirus-themed globe at a traffic junction as he checks commuters travelling during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown in Hyderabad. AFP
A man uses a sewing machine to assemble a piece of personal protective equipment at a factory in Accra, Ghana. AFP
Graves for Indonesian victims of the coronavirus are seen from the air in Bogor, West Java. AFP
Nepalese sanitation workers in Kathmandu line up after receiving new personal protective equipment. EPA
A nurse arrives to test a resident of the Christalain home for the elderly in Brussels, Belgium. AFP
A 2,500-bed field hospital for victims of the coronavirus has been set up inside Tecnopolis, a science, technology and culture park, in Villa Martelli, Buenos Aires, Argentina. AFP
Healthcare workers of Jacobi Medical Center hold a rally against a new paid sick leave policy by NYC Health + Hospitals that mandates staff who are sick present a doctor's note. AFP
People walk through a market in Bayrampasa, Istanbul, Turkey. AFP
A worker disinfects the floor of a supermarket in Pristina, Kosovo. AFP
A homeless sleeps in front of closed shops in Paris, France. AFP
A policeman patrols Chinatown in Bangkok, Thailand. AFP
A security officer checks the temperature of a porter before taking him to a quarantine centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka. AFP
A pharmacy assistant inside a UK Boots store prepares medicines for a cyclist to deliver to vulnerable people in east London. AFP
A patient infected with the coronavirus is transferred back to intensive care after his condition worsened at the Emile Muller hospital in Mulhouse, France. AFP
An employee demonstrates precautionary measures on the assembly line at the PSA Peugeot Citroen plant in Trnava, Slovakia. AFP
This inevitably sidelines opposition leaders, who are also hampered by the fact that if we are all supposed to be banding together, it is tricky for anyone to criticise too harshly without sounding overly and inappropriately partisan.
South Korea's Moon Jae-in, whose approval ratings only last October were at a record low, appears to have benefited from the greater platform the pandemic has given him. But it helps, of course, that his country looks to have handled the virus more successfully so far than any other. If the US has an outsize number of deaths as 2020 draws to an end, Mr Trump may get the blame instead of the laurels.
Our cartoonist Shadi Ghanim's take on the recent Wisconsin election.
Then there is the question of voting itself. There is the possibility of going 100 per cent postal. But in an age of ever higher internet penetration, and to minimise the risk of infection, it surely makes sense for populations to be able to vote via mobile phones and computers. If much of importance was already being conducted online, we are now having to do even more. Why not elections – which would also benefit from greater speed and, one hopes, accuracy?
Part of me wonders whether casting a ballot electronically can feel as weighty as travelling to a polling station, proving your identity and making your decision in the privacy of the booth. Similarly, as a former teenage party activist, politics without canvassing, personal interaction with voters, the camaraderie of the committed and the long agonies of election night as the results take hours to come in, sounds sterile and lacking in passion by comparison.
A politics without canvassing, personal interaction with voters, the camaraderie of the committed and the long agonies of election night sounds sterile. Reuters
And yet, a more sterile world is just what are all going to have to get used to, for months if not years. If elections are to continue and countries cannot manage the full-service South Korea brought to theirs, e-voting could become the norm. Older people may find it somewhat soulless. But on a more optimistic note, the young may soon find stories of how we used to cast our ballots as quaint – and incomprehensible – as recollections of how we once had to tune television sets and ask the operator to connect an international telephone call.
Coronavirus will force us to adapt again. The good news is that this is something humanity has proved quite good at, even if we grumble as we do it.
Sholto Byrnes is a commentator and consultant in Kuala Lumpur and a corresponding fellow of the Erasmus Forum
Youngest F1 driver (17 years 3 days Japan 2014) Youngest driver to start an F1 race (17 years 166 days – Australia 2015) Youngest F1 driver to score points (17 years 180 days - Malaysia 2015) Youngest driver to lead an F1 race (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016) Youngest driver to set an F1 fastest lap (19 years 44 days – Brazil 2016) Youngest on F1 podium finish (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016) Youngest F1 winner (18 years 228 days – Spain 2016) Youngest multiple F1 race winner (Mexico 2017/18) Youngest F1 driver to win the same race (Mexico 2017/18)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ahmed Raza (Captain), Rohan Mustafa, Jonathan Figy, CP Rizwan, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Usman, Basil Hameed, Zawar Farid, Vriitya Aravind (WK), Waheed Ahmed, Karthik Meiyappan, Zahoor Khan, Darius D'Silva, Chirag Suri
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
THE BIG MATCH
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The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
The Ashes
Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
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What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
Tailors and retailers miss out on back-to-school rush
Tailors and retailers across the city said it was an ominous start to what is usually a busy season for sales.
With many parents opting to continue home learning for their children, the usual rush to buy school uniforms was muted this year.
“So far we have taken about 70 to 80 orders for items like shirts and trousers,” said Vikram Attrai, manager at Stallion Bespoke Tailors in Dubai.
“Last year in the same period we had about 200 orders and lots of demand.
“We custom fit uniform pieces and use materials such as cotton, wool and cashmere.
“Depending on size, a white shirt with logo is priced at about Dh100 to Dh150 and shorts, trousers, skirts and dresses cost between Dh150 to Dh250 a piece.”
A spokesman for Threads, a uniform shop based in Times Square Centre Dubai, said customer footfall had slowed down dramatically over the past few months.
“Now parents have the option to keep children doing online learning they don’t need uniforms so it has quietened down.”
The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees
Tom Sleigh, Graywolf Press
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The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
