Republican Congressman Paul Ryan elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives
On Oct. 29, 2015, United States Congressman for Wisconsin’s first congressional district Paul Ryan was elected as the 54th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. 236 Republican members of the House of Representatives voted in favour of Ryan’s appointment. Nine House Republicans voted against Ryan.
As Ryan took office, he praised former Speaker John Boehner for his time in the House. In a speech addressing both Democratic and Republican members of the House, Ryan emphasized the need for bipartisanship.
“We are not solving problems,” said Ryan. “We are adding to them. And I am not interested in laying blame. We are not settling scores. We are wiping the slate clean.”
Ryan later encouraged the sharing of ideas with both the House and the American people.
“We will not always agree – not all of us, not all of the time,” said Ryan. “But we should not hide our disagreements. We should embrace them. We have nothing to fear from honest differences honestly stated. If you have ideas, let’s hear them.”
Turkey votes Justice and Development Party into majority
On Nov. 1, 2015, citizens of Turkey went to polls, voting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) back into power as Turkey’s ruling majority. President Erdogan’s party succeeded in gaining 49 per cent of the vote, enough to form a majority government without the need for a coalition.
This is the second Turkish federal election in under a year. In June, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), a Kurdish-dominated group, won enough votes to enter parliament for the first time in history. The AKP subsequently lost its 13-year ruling majority, with Erdogan stalling and blocking coalitions negotiations.
“It’s an unfortunate result, AKP’s strategy of weakening the nationalist party and collecting the centre-right votes under its roof has worked,” said Sarphan Uzunoglu, an HDP official, in an interview with the Globe and Mail, on Nov. 1, 2015. “Erdogan knew the rules of the game: Whenever you start losing points, you stir up nationalist sentiment.”
—Compiled by Sameer Chhabra