Introducing the 52nd edition of The PEP Weekly Digest, where we present to you the most recent updates and news on the global political stage.

Recent and upcoming elections influence the worldwide political landscape in eight nations, slated between May 19, 2024 and June 09, 2024. These elections hold significant importance, as they will determine the direction and governance of each respective country’s future.

One noteworthy event has occurred in Afghanistan, the Taliban dismissed Qalandar Ebad from the Ministry of Public Health and appointed Maulawi Noor Jalal, a former aide to the Ministry of Interior, as his successor. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, stated that based on a decree by Mullah Hibatullah, the governors of the group in Samangan and Faryab have also been relocated. Qalandar Ebad, the former Taliban’s Minister of Public Health, is a physician. He was appointed as the interim head of this ministry after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. However, Noor Jalal is a cleric and was introduced as the administrative deputy of the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior in the summer of 2021. The Taliban spokesperson did not provide any explanation regarding the dismissal of Ebad. Mujahid wrote in a note on X social media platform on Tuesday, that Abdul Ahad Fazli, the former governor of the group in Samangan, has been appointed as the new governor of the Taliban in Faryab. According to a decree by Hibatullah Akhundzada, Mohammad Shoaib Resalat, the former governor of the Taliban in Faryab, has been appointed as the governor of the group in Samangan. Mujahid also wrote that Rahmatullah Najib, the former administrative deputy of the Taliban intelligence, has been appointed as the administrative deputy of the Ministry of Interior of the group. As per the Taliban’s leader’s decree, Mohammad Sadiq Inqilabi, the former district governor of the Taliban in the Grishk district of Helmand province, has been appointed as the deputy governor of the group in Kandahar, and Hayatullah Mubarak, the former deputy governor of the Taliban in Kandahar, has been dismissed and assigned as the governor of Grishk district, Helmand province. Hibatullah has been appointing most members of the group to key government positions. The lack of professionalism among Taliban members has also been repeatedly criticised.

Shifting our focus to Chad, Prime Minister and Opposition leader Succes Masra has tendered his resignation after interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby was confirmed as a winner of the May 6 presidential election. Masra, a staunch opponent of the junta, which seized power in April 2021, was appointed prime minister of the transitional government in January, four months ahead of the poll, in a move to appease the opposition. In March, his candidacy was cleared for the presidential election to return the country to constitutional rule. The oil-producing country is the first of a string of coup-hit states in West and Central Africa’s Sahel region to attempt such a return. Before the official announcement of preliminary results Masra claimed victory, alleging that electoral fraud was being planned.

In Tunisia, the Tunisian Presidency on late Saturday night announced a partial cabinet reshuffle involving the interior and social affairs ministries. According to the announcement, President Kais Saied has appointed the governor of Ariana Province Khaled Nouri as the new interior minister to replace Kamel Feki. Saied also sacked Malek Ezzahi, the social affairs minister, and appointed the former CEO of the National Health Insurance Fund Kamel Al Madouri as the new minister. Sofien Ben Sadok, magistrate and member of the monitoring committee of the technical telecommunications agency at the Ministry of Communication Technologies, has been appointed secretary of state for the Interior Ministry. The new members of government were sworn in before the president, in the presence of Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani. The announcement did not specify the reason for the dismissals.

In the realm of regulatory affairs, the European Council adopted on May 30 a package of new anti-money-laundering rules that will protect EU citizens and the EU’s financial system against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The new and stricter rules will strengthen our systems in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. A new agency based in Frankfurt will supervise the work of actors involved. This will ensure that fraudsters, organised crime and terrorists will have no space left for legitimising their proceeds through the financial system. Vincent Van Peteghem, Belgian minister for finance With the new package, all rules applying to the private sector will be transferred to a new directly applicable regulation, while a directive will deal with the organisation of national competent authorities fighting against money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

Shifting our attention to legal advancements, in India, Senior Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan was sentenced by a court on Thursday to 10 years of imprisonment in a case of alleged property grab in the Dongarpur area of Rampur district in 2016. The FIR in the matter was registered in 2019, three years after the alleged crime took place. The court also sentenced Khan’s associate Barkat Ali, a contractor, to seven years of imprisonment in the case.