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Added on the 17/12/2023 08:33:08 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
By the light of a flashlight, electoral agents begin counting ballots as polls closed in Chad's referendum on a new constitution, a vote seen as a key step toward elections and the return of civilian rule promised, which has been postponed, by the ruling military junta. IMAGES
In Bamako, a voter heads to the polling station to have his say in the referendum on the governing junta's constitution. The west African nation has been under military rule since an August 2020 coup. Some 8.4 million citizens are eligible to vote "yes" or "no" on the draft constitution in the first electoral test for leader Colonel Assimi Goita, 40, who has vowed to lead the country back to civilian rule in 2024 elections. IMAGES
Polls open in Uzbekistan's constitutional referendum, kicking off a vote that could allow President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to remain in power until 2040. IMAGES
Polling stations open in Caracas as Venezuela presses ahead with a referendum that it hopes will strengthen its century-old claim to the oil-rich Essequibo territory controlled by neighbouring Guyana. Caracas contends that the Essequibo River to the east of the region is the natural border between the two countries, as declared in 1777 under Spanish rule, and that the United Kingdom wrongly appropriated Venezuelan lands in the 19th century. Guyana, however, asserts that the border was set in the British colonial era and was confirmed in 1899 by a court of arbitration. It says the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's top judicial body, has validated this finding. IMAGES
People line up to vote in Sydney as polling stations open in Australia's historic referendum on rights and recognition for Indigenous citizens, capping a campaign that has exposed deep fissures between the country's white majority and the descendants of its first inhabitants. IMAGES