Politics

3, March 2019

US: Sanders attacks Trump at campaign launch ⁰

At his first rally for the US 2020 presidential bid, Senator Bernie Sanders promised to defeat Donald Trump, calling him “the most dangerous president in modern American history,” in New York City on Saturday, March 2.

Back to his native neighborhood, Sanders was cheered by a crowd at Brooklyn College, where he studied for a year. Greeted with chanting and banners reading his name, the senator criticized Trump’s approach to immigration.

Sanders contrasted his spare upbringing with Trump’s privileged youth as the son of a New York real estate developer.

“I did not come from a family that gave me a $200,000 allowance every year beginning at the age of three.” Sanders said. “I did not have a father who gave me millions of dollars to build luxury skyscrapers, casinos and country clubs,” Sanders added in another dig at Trump.

The first weekend on the campaign trail signaled Sanders’ emphasis on expanding his support among minority voters, who he struggled to connect with during his 2016 campaign.

The twin rallies over the weekend also served as a reminder to Democrats of his ability to generate grassroots enthusiasm. During his 2016 campaign,Sanders frequently held big rallies with thousands of supporters, matching Trump’s ability to capture attention and generate large crowds.

Sanders was an outsider candidate three years ago. But with his massive political network, muscular fundraising capacity and resilient message, he is now a frontrunner. Sanders already has shown his fundraising ability this time around, as the campaign said on Tuesday he had raised about $10 million in the first week. But he also has faced new challenges – three of his top media strategists during the 2016 campaign split with Sanders this week over creative differences.

He promised that his campaign would say “loudly and clearly that the underlying principles of our government will not be greed, hatred and lies.”

On Sunday, Sanders heads to Selma, Alabama, to mark the anniversary of the 1965 clash known as “Bloody Sunday” and will also visit Chicago, where he graduated from college and was active in civil rights protests.

Over the next few weeks, his campaign said, Sanders will travel to states with early nominating contests, including Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada before returning to his hometown of Burlington, Vermont, for a formal campaign launch.

(Source: Agencies)

27, February 2019

Nigeria: Buhari wins re-election in presidential vote ⁰

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari won a second term at the helm of Africa’s largest economy and top oil producer, the electoral commission chairman said on Wednesday, following an election marred by delays, logistical glitches and violence.

He defeated his main opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar, a businessman and former vice president. Buhari secured 56 percent of votes, compared with 41 percent for Atiku, a candidate for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Buhari faces a daunting to-do list, including reviving an economy still struggling to recover from a 2016 recession and quelling a decade-old Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands of people in the northeast, many of them civilians.

Addressing supporters at the campaign headquarters of his All Progressive Congress (APC) party in the capital Abuja, he promised increased efforts to tackle these issues.

“The new administration will intensify its efforts in security, restructuring the economy and fighting corruption,” he said.

The president won by 3.9 million votes, having garnered 15.2 million to Atiku’s 11.3 million. The election turnout was 35.6 percent, the electoral commission said, which compared with 44 percent in the 2015 presidential election.

Buhari: From military leader to elected president

“Muhammadu Buhari of the APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner,” Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told election officials and reporters in the early hours of Wednesday.

A message on Buhari’s Twitter feed late on Tuesday showed him smiling and surrounded by applauding staff at his campaign office.

“I met the very hardworking members of our team, many of them young people, and was briefed on the performance of our party so far in the Presidential Elections. I am very proud of what has been accomplished,” he said on Twitter.

Buhari’s supporters gathered at the party’s headquarters to celebrate, many of them holding flags and dancing.

“As a youth of Nigeria I believe this is the way forward for this country and for my generation and that is why we choose to bring him back for the second time,” said Juwarat Abubakar, a Buhari supporter. Osita Chidoka, a representative of the PDP and its defeated candidate Atiku, repeated the party’s stance that it does not accept the election result.

“We will explore all options including the belief that the legal process in Nigeria is one of the ways to resolve issues,” he said. Buhari’s party has said the opposition was trying to discredit the returns from Saturday’s election.

The accusations have ratcheted up tensions in a country whose six decades of independence have been marked by long periods of military rule, coups and secessionist wars.

Observers from the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union and the United Nations appealed to all parties to await the official results, expected later this week, before filing complaints.

The candidate with the most votes nationwide is declared the winner as long as they have at least one-quarter of the vote in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the capital, Abuja. Otherwise there is a second-round run-off. Buhari secured enough votes to meet both requirements.

Marred by violence

Buhari, 76, took office in 2015 and sought a second term with pledges to fight corruption and overhaul Nigeria’s creaking road and rail network.

Atiku, 72, had said he would aim to double the size of the economy to $900 billion by 2025, privatise the state oil company and expand the role of the private sector.

Voting took place after a week-long delay which the election commission said was due to its inability to get ballots and results sheets to all parts of the country.

The event – Africa’s largest democratic exercise – was also marred by violence with at least 47 people killed since Saturday, according to the Situation Room, a monitoring organisation linking various civil society groups.

Some deaths resulted from clashes between groups allied to the leading parties and the police over the theft of ballot boxes and allegations of vote fraud. Police have not yet provided official casualty figures.

More than 260 people have been killed since the start of the election campaign in October. The toll so far is lower than in earlier elections, but the worst violence occurred previously only after results were announced.

(REUTERS)

25, February 2019

Senegal president’s camp claims re-election, opposition objects ⁰

Senegal’s prime minister has claimed that President Macky Sall was re-elected in a first round vote on Sunday, hours after the opposition suggested that no candidate had won an outright majority.

Prime Minister Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, a Sall ally, claimed at midnight that president had won 13 out of 14 regions with “at least 57 percent” of the vote.

“The results allow us to say that we should congratulate President Macky Sall on his re-election,” he said.

Opposition candidates Ousmane Sonko and Idrissa Seck had said that a second round of voting was possible based on preliminary results.

“At the current state of the vote count, no candidate, I say no candidate, including myself, can claim to have won the presidential election,” Sonko said.

PressTV-Presidential election begins in Senegal

Sall had been favored to win the election on the back of strong economic growth. The 57-year-old had pledged to introduce universal health care and expand education in the West African country.

However, critics have accused Sall of sidelining political opponents.

His strongest rivals, Khalifa Sall and Abdoulaye Wade, were banned from running in the presidential race after being accused of corruption. Both have dismissed the charges as politically motivated.

Senegal has been considered the most stable democracy in the region since it became independent in 1960.

Official results are due by Friday at the latest. If no candidate wins outright, a second round of voting is scheduled to take place on March 24.

Presstv

25, February 2019

Nigeria: Polls close with reports of dozens killed in election violence ⁰

As many as 39 people have died in election-related violence in Nigeria, as the country awaits the results of this weekend’s voting in what is forecast to be its tightest poll since the end of military rule in 1999

Current President Muhummadu Buhari, 76, a former military ruler is seeking a second term on an anti-corruption platform.

He faces off againstbusinessman Atiku Abubakar, 72, a former vice president who has promised to expand the role of the private sector.

The election was held on Saturday, but violence and problems with electronic voting machines meant voting continued in a small number of places before polls closed on Sunday.

The ballot was initially due to take place last week, but was postponed just hours before it was due to begin, with the authorities citing logistics.

The President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari attends a news conference.

PIncumbent President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari

Nigeria’s 73 million eligible voters chose from a pool of more than 70 presidential candidates, although only those from the two main parties — Mr Buhari and Mr Abubakar — are seen as having a chance.

The President last year publicly denied social media claims he died and was replaced by a Sudanese clone, and also courted international controversy in the past by suggesting his wife “belongs in the kitchen”.

The Situation Room — which represents more than 70 civil society groups — gave Sunday’s figure of 39 deaths, citing data from Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence.

In one incident, seven people were killed in a shootout between Nigerian army troops and a gang.PMahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),said an electoral official had been shot dead by unknown people.

The president’s office declined to comment, while the opposition candidate Mr Abubakar condemned the violence in a statement.

“No politician’s ambition is worth the blood of any innocent Nigerian,” he said.

The number of deaths reported by Sunday was below the final death tolls in previous elections in Africa’s most populous country, but in the past most unrest has taken place after results were announced.

P Nigerian election observers watch votes being counted

What’s at stake?

A credible and relatively calm poll would open a new chapter in the chequered political history of Nigeria, where nearly six decades of independence have been tarnished by military coups, endemic corruption and secessionist movements.

“From Tuesday onwards we should have a substantial number of results,” said Festus Okoye, an election commission official.

The contest between Mr Buhari and Mr Abubakar, commonly called “Atiku”, hinges on revamping an economy struggling to recover from its first recession in 25 years, which it slipped into in 2016 and emerged from in 2017.

P Electoral officials compile voting results

Nearly a quarter of the workforce is unemployed, while the cost of living has also risen rapidly.

Mr Buhari has focused his campaign on rooting out corruption, but critics say there have not been any significant convictions in his first term.

Mr Abubakar has said he would aim to double the size of the economy to $900 billion by 2025.

Reuters

25, February 2019

Cameroon Slowly Moving To A War Zone ⁰

In recent years, Cameroon – a peaceful country in Central Africa ruled by President Paul Biya – has transitioned from a tranquil harbor to a site of horror. The Cameroonian army has been battling with Boko Haram militants on the northern border alongside security forces from Nigeria, Niger, and Chad. The conflict has registered over 20,000 dead and 2.4 million people displaced. The former French colony has also been struggling with a secessionist uprising in the English- speaking Northwest and Southwest Regions since 2016, with hundreds of deaths over the course of the confrontation. Furthermore, clashes with rebels from the Central African Republic in Bertoua and a very tense political atmosphere have plunged the country into an unending crisis.

Many of these crises are attributed to the unlawful arrest of Professor Maurice Kamto, the main opposition leader in Cameroon, after his organization of peaceful protests in the towns of Douala and Yaoundé on 28 January, 2019. Kamto was arrested at the home of a leading supporter, Albert Dzongang, before Dzongang and other supporters such as Christian Penda Ekoka, Alain Fogue, and Celetine Djamen were also arrested for participating in the organization of these peaceful protests.

It was clear from the evidence Kamto brought forward to the Constitutional Council before the announcement of the winner of the 2018 presidential election in Cameroon that Paul Biya supporters affected the results of the election in favour of his party, the ruling Cameroon People Democratic Movement (CPDM).

While protests went viral in Cameroon under Kanto’s leadership of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameron (MRC), some fifty protesters opposed to Biya broke into the country’s Paris embassy, vandalizing portraits of him. The demonstrators filmed themselves invading the empty offices in the French Capital’s 16th district around 7: 00 PM on Saturday, broadcasting the protest live on Facebook. However, French law enforcement agents forced them out of the building and onto the street two hours later, where they continued their protest outside the embassy. Daniel Essissima, one of the protesters, stated: “The Cameroon administrators are taking Cameroonians for idiots… …They cannot bring people to rock-bottom like this. In the anglophone regions the army is killing people; in Douala, they are firing with real bullets.”

Because the attack on the Cameroonian Embassy in Paris took place on the same day as the protest organized in Cameroon, the Cameroonian authorities have since linked both demonstrations without providing any proof of this conclusion. Kamto vehemently denies these claims, separating himself from any violent attack perpetrated at Cameroon’s diplomatic mission abroad.

Following Kamto’s arrest, around 300 people gathered outside Dzongang’s house, and on Saturday 117 people were arrested during protest marches in several towns. Kamto has continued to claim he was the rightful winner of last October’s presidential election, which saw veteran leader Paul Biya win a seventh consecutive presidential term. The MRC has blasted this election as an “electoral hold-up.” Paul Biya has been ruling Cameroon since 1982 with the support of the army, government administrations, and the CPDM.

International Condemnation of Kamto’s Arrest

Last month, human rights groups condemned Kamto’s arrest and called for his immediate release, orders which fell on deaf ears. The European Union this month accused Cameroon of a “disproportionate use of force” in dispersing the protests. “Finding a solution to the challenges faced by the country can only be achieved through dialogue in a calm and inclusive atmosphere where fundamental rights and the rule of law are respected,” stated EU spokesman Maja Kocijancic. Amnesty International said the arrest of Kamto and his staff “signals an escalating crackdown on opposition leaders, human rights defenders and activists in Cameroon.” Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa director Samira Daoud claimed that “instead of taking steps towards improving the country’s human rights record, we are witnessing the authorities becoming less and less tolerant of criticism. This must stop.”

Professor Kamto Post-Arrest

After being taken to the Groupement Special d’Opération (GSO) in Yaoundé, Kamto appeared before judges in the Military tribunal on Friday 1 February, 2019 and charges against him were made known to the public. Kamto is being charged with insurrection, hostility against the fatherland, group rebellion, and public disorder. Just last week, Kamto and fellow party members Albert Dzongang, Clestine Djamen, Christian Penda Ekoka, and Paul Eric Kingue were all transferred to the Principal Prison in Kondengui while investigations are ongoing. This action by the government goes a long way to instill fear and repression in the heart of any group that wants to take to the street for any type of demonstration. Minister Atangana Nji in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization threatened to withdraw the MRC’s party licence, while Minister of Communication Rene Emmanuel said that because Kamto protest disrupted public order and perpetrated various assaults he will face the court’s judgement.

It is very clear that after President Biya and his supporters fixed the election in their favour it will be difficult for the people of Cameroon to express their dissatisfaction, even when their fundamental human rights have been violated by the present administration. The only means by which the Cameroonian people can express gross dissatisfaction, through peaceful streets protests dubbed “white marches,” has been taken away from them and led to unending new forms of crisis.

Source: Organisation For World Peace

24, February 2019

Senegal: Presidential election begins, incumbent tipped to win ⁰

Senegal went to the polls Sunday in an election that incumbent President Macky Sall is tipped to win after his main challengers were banned from running.

His two biggest rivals in the first-round vote in the West African nation — popular former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, the son of the previous president — were disqualified after corruption convictions in trials questioned by rights groups.

People queued in large numbers as the polling station opened at Fatick in the center of the country, where Sall, 56, cast his ballot, as well as at Thies in the west, AFP reporters said.

But the start of voting was delayed at Grand-Yoff, the stronghold of Khalifa Sall.

“I want to get home as soon as possible, I’m frightened there will be violence on election day,” said 25-year-old voter Fatoumata Sall.

“I hope this election goes off peacefully and that tomorrow everyone will be going about their business — that will mean a peaceful vote,” said accountant Lamine Diatta after he cast his ballot in Dakar.

President Sall, a former geologist who first took the presidency in 2012 after beating his former political mentor Wade, campaigned for a second term pitching his “Emerging Senegal” infrastructure project to boost economic growth.

“Victory in the first round is indisputable,” Sall told a recent Dakar campaign rally, seeking to emulate all three of his predecessors by landing a second term — Abdoulaye Wade needed just one round in 2007 to secure his second term.

Often held up as a model of stability in Africa, Senegal has enjoyed strong growth. The Muslim-majority country has largely escaped the militant attacks that destabilized neighbors such as Mali.

Sall made infrastructure a priority, including a new airport, motorways, and a rail link. But basic services, healthcare, and education often remain inadequate, sometimes triggering strikes and protests.

Sall faces competition from four lesser-known rivals who campaigned hard against his plans for a second phase of his project, which critics see as a waste of taxpayers’ money and a potential debt burden.

His rivals are former prime minister Idrissa Seck, Issa Sall of the Unity and Assembly Party (PUR), former justice and foreign minister Madicke Niang, and tax inspector-turned MP Ousman Sonko.

The five-horse race leaves voters with a limited choice compared to 2012, when 14 candidates vied for the top post, and 2007, when 15 battled it out for the presidency.

Preliminary results were expected soon after polling closes at 1800 GMT on Sunday, but will only become official a day or two later.

A man casts his ballot in Senegal’s presidential election at a polling station in Thies, on February 24, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

Some 6.7 million in a population of around 16 million are registered to vote in a country which gained independence from France in 1960.

‘Lack of independence’

A candidate must get more than 50 percent to prevent a second-round runoff.

If no one wins more than half the ballots, a second vote is provisionally scheduled for March 24. The exact timing will be determined by how long it takes to officially proclaim the first-round results, and whether there is a challenge.

A new system approved by parliament last year despite opposition party challenges requires candidates to demonstrate they have the support of a minimum number of citizens and regions.

Once the new regulations were applied, only seven candidates made the cut, two of whom were then disqualified. Both Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade have claimed their criminal convictions were engineered to rule them out of the race.

Supporters of the convicted men staged demonstrations, while rights group Amnesty International spotlighted “unfair trials” in Senegal, and a “lack of independence” by the judiciary in Khalifa Sall’s case.

Senegal has known two peaceful power transfers in 2000 and 2012, and no coups. But election campaigns are often marred by charges of corruption, disinformation, and sometimes violence.

Recent clashes between supporters of rival parties left two dead at Tambacounda, 420 kilometers east of the capital.

Authorities also reinforced security and legislation, sometimes at the cost of freedom, according to rights groups.

Officials said 8,000 police were on duty in urban areas alongside an undetermined number of civilian security staff. The interior ministry said some 5,000 observers — including 900 from abroad — were monitoring proceedings.

Opposition rallies have recently been banned and pre-trial detention for people suspected of “terrorism” extended from 48 hours to 12 days.

(Source: AFP)

24, February 2019

Sudan appoints new vice president, premier ⁰

Sudan’s Defense Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf has been appointed as the first vice president of the country.

Ibn Auf will take office while remaining as the defense minister, the presidency announced on Saturday, adding that Mohamed Tahir Ayala, the governor of Gezira state, is to be appointed as the new prime minister.

The new appointments came after President Omar al-Bashir declared a one-year nationwide state of emergency on Friday.

Bashir, who has set up a caretaker administration, has replaced all the state governors with military officials.

The country’s dire economic situation has prompted protesters to take part in mass anti-government demonstrations in the past months.

The protests started after food and fuel prices increased and shortages started to plague the country.

The anti-government protesters demand an end to the decades-long rule of Bashir over the country.

Witnesses say police have used live munition to disperse the protesters in some cases.

Earlier this month, Ibn Auf, who previously served as the head of the military intelligence, made an effort to ease tensions by saying that the younger population who participated in the recent protests had “reasonable ambition.”

In November, Bashir said he would support Ayala in the 2020 presidential election if he decided to run.

Presstv

23, February 2019

Security under the spotlight as Nigerians vote in presidential election ⁰

An attack in northeastern Nigeria by suspected Islamist militants just hours before polls were set to open in Nigeria’s presidential election Saturday underscored the challenges confronting Africa’s most populous nation.

Nigerians began voting for a new president Saturday after a week-long delay that has raised political tempers, sparked conspiracy claims and stoked fears of violence, including terrorist attacks and post-electoral unrest.

Just hours before polls were set to open, suspected Islamist attacked a northeastern Nigerian town, forcing residents to flee.

“We have fled, along with our wives and children and hundreds of others,” Ibrahim Gobi, who lives in the town of Geidam in Yobe state, told Reuters by telephone. “We are right now running and hiding in the bushes.”

Around the same time a Reuters witness said blasts were heard in Maiduguri, the capital of the neighbouring state of Borno.

Northeast Nigeria has been hit by the decade-long Boko Haram insurgency with attacks in recent months carried out by offshoot Islamic State in West Africa Province.

Crowded presidential race

Some 120,000 polling stations were due to open across the country, from megacity Lagos and the oil hub Port Harcourt in the south, to ancient Kano in the north and the country’s rural heartlands.

The 2019 presidential campaign has been a crowded one, with 70 challengers running against incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, including the main opposition party candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The election, due to be held a week ago, was postponed around five hours before polling stations were set to open and there are concerns that the delay may hurt turnout. The electoral commission blamed logistical factors for the delay and denied political pressure was behind the decision.

Presidential elections in 2011 and 2015 were also delayed over logistics and security concerns but Buhari on Friday urged Nigerians “to go out and vote”, promising that there would be adequate security for the ballot.

Economy tops campaign agenda

The biggest challenge facing Nigeria’s next leader is revamping an economy struggling to recover from its first recession in 25 years, which it slipped into in 2016 as crude prices crashed and militants attacked energy facilities in the Niger Delta. Crude sales make up 90 percent of foreign exchange earnings.

“Instability is a rising concern but a weak economy is being felt in all sectors and country-wide so we believe it will be the preeminent voter concern,” Benedict Craven, analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit, told AFP.

Buhari’s critics say his much-touted focus on rooting out corruption may be offset by his handling of the economy. Despite the president’s campaign against graft, there have not been any significant convictions in his first term.

Nearly a quarter of the workforce is unemployed, much higher than when Buhari, a former military ruler who was later elected president, took over in 2015. The cost of living has also risen rapidly, with inflation of 11.37 percent in January – just short of a seven-month high reached the previous month.

Buhari is the flagbearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) while Atiku spearheads the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Both candidates have promised to address Nigeria’s economic problems. The pair are both Muslims from the north of the country.

The south has favoured the PDP in the past, while the north is Buhari’s stronghold. The number of eligible voters stands at 72.8 million people. To be declared winner, the candidate with the most votes must have at least one quarter of the vote in two thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the capital. Otherwise there is a runoff.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)

22, February 2019

US: Trump says ‘witch hunt’ must end as Mueller prepares to file report ⁰

US President Donald Trump has condemned an investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into possible collusion between his 2016 election campaign and Russia as a “witch hunt” in a new tweet, calling for it to end amid reports that it is coming to a close.

“Highly respected Senator Richard Burr, head of Senate Intelligence, said, after interviewing over 200 witnesses and studying over 2 million pages of documents, ‘WE HAVE FOUND NO COLLUSION BETWEEN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND RUSSIA.’ The Witch Hunt, so bad for our Country, must end!” Trump tweeted on Friday.

Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said recently that the panel has not found evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential.

According to reports, Mueller could file his report on his investigation with the Department of Justice next week. Trump announced in November that his personal legal team would compile a “major Counter Report” to Mueller’s findings.

Robert Mueller has disputed a report that President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen said Trump directed him to lie to Congress. Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion and has long called for end to the probe. Moscow has also denied any interference in US elections.

“After two years and millions of pages of documents (and a cost of over $30 million) no collusion!” Trump tweeted in December.

In another previous tweet Trump had called the probe the “greatest witch hunt” in the US history. “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history.”

Presstv

22, February 2019

US: Senator Bernie Sanders slams Trump as a ‘demagogue’ ⁰

US Senator Bernie Sanders, who announced he is running for president again in the 2020 elections, has responded to President Trump’s attacks on him, calling him a “demagogue.”

In an interview with CBS News aired Tuesday, the Independent senator from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, said the American people should not believe what Trump says.

“You got a president who is a demagogue, you got a president who is leading us in an authoritarian direction, I would hope that the American people don’t believe too much of what he says,” Sanders said.

Sanders to run for US president again

Sanders, who announced his 2020 election campaign on Tuesday, has been a relentless critic of Trump, and has called him “the most dangerous president in modern American history.”

“We are running against a president who is undermining American democracy as he leads us in an authoritarian direction,” Sanders said in an email to Reuters on Tuesday.

Trump has in turn railed against what he claims is the Democratic Party’s turn to socialism, citing the rising popularity of Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both self-proclaimed democratic socialists.

A spokeswoman for Trump’s 2020 election campaign took a swipe Tuesday at Sanders and the Democratic Party in general, saying Sanders had already won his party’s nomination for president because the rest of the Democratic candidates had adopted his brand of socialism.

“But the American people will reject an agenda of sky-high tax rates, government-run health care and coddling dictators like those in Venezuela,” Trump campaign national press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.

A former mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders won a US House of Representatives seat in 1990, making him the first independent elected to the House in 40 years. In 2006, he won a US Senate seat and in 2018 was voted in for a third six-year term.

Sanders made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2016, losing out to Hillary Clinton, who was in turn defeated by Trump.

His call for universal health care, a $15 minimum wage and free public university education has gained huge strong support among young liberals.

He mounted a fierce challenge to Clinton as he spoke to swelling crowds and garnered passionate support on social media. His 2016 campaign also rejected the use of corporate money and instead relied on small-dollar donations.

Presstv