Senegal and Slovakia Elections, Pakistan and Afghan Taliban Clash, Nuclear Energy Gains Favor, and More

The World Next Week

Council on Foreign Relations

Politics, News, News:politics

4.6 • 845 Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Senegal holds its postponed presidential election amid fears of democratic backsliding; Slovakia chooses a new president in voting that could bolster Prime Minister Robert Fico’s illiberal tilt; Pakistan and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan exchange blows after a string of terrorist attacks on Pakistani territory; nuclear energy gets a boost at a first-ever summit in Brussels, Belgium; and the European Union provides Egypt with $8 billion worth of aid. For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The World Next Week at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/senegal-and-slovakia-elections-pakistan-and-afghan-taliban-clash-nuclear-energy-gains

Transcript

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0:00.0	In the coming week, Slovakia and Senegal each hold presidential votes.
0:05.0	Tensions rise between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and more countries are considering energy alternatives at the first nuclear energy summit.
0:12.0	It's March 21st, 2024 in time for the world next week. I'm Bob McMahon.
0:28.0	And I'm Carl Ann Robbins.
0:29.7	Bob, the year of elections rolls on,
0:32.0	and next week, citizens in Senegal and Slovakia get to choose their presidents.
0:36.6	So is this the S week for elections? And back in October, Slovakia get to choose their presidents. So is this the S-week for elections?
0:39.5	And back in October, Slovak's voted in pro-Russia Prime Minister Robert Fizzo,
0:44.3	who promptly cut off all aid to Ukraine.
0:47.4	And progressive incumbent Zuzana Chaputova, I think I got that right,
0:53.4	managed to counterbalance Fizzo in some important areas, but she's decided not to run again.
0:58.5	Is FITZO actually going to be the big winner in this election?
1:01.4	You have seized on the central issue, I think, Carla.
1:05.5	First of all, the polling that we're seeing at this point is showing very close numbers for Peter Pellegrini,
1:12.7	who is expected to be aligned with Fizzo.
1:15.3	He is the current Speaker of the Parliament, and he is a former Prime Minister.
1:20.0	He was a short-time Prime Minister and the better known figure of all the presidential candidates.
1:24.7	But running fairly close with him is Yvonne Kourchuk, who's a former foreign
1:28.5	minister and he's a career diplomat and seen as more sort of aligned with a broader diplomacy
1:35.1	and a Western-oriented diplomacy. And so they are very, very close in polling between 35 and 40
1:42.6	percent of a vote in most recent polls, likely to go to a runoff.
1:47.5	And then the conventional wisdom is that Pellegrini probably has more juice to carry through
	...

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