Enugu elections – PDP sweeps votes in 17 LG polls

Here are a few reasons to pick up a copy of The Guardian on Thursday. Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Thursday.⁣⁣

Supporters of different political parties take to the streets of Morocco in campaign rallies ahead of parliamentary and local elections that will determine the fate of the decade-old ruling Islamist PJD party, even if it does not hold strategic ministries. First elected in 2011, the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) hopes to win a third term this year, having clung on to power at the head of coalitions for the whole intervening decade.

Preliminary results in Morocco show two liberal parties on course to win almost half the seats in parliament. The largest party until now, which claimed election fraud on polling day, saw its support collapse.

Canada’s party leaders held a debate Thursday night ahead of the September 20 vote. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for elections as Kabul fell to the Taliban.

In the run-up to the national elections in exactly three months, rival Libyan politicians seem to be putting a vote seen by many as a chance for peace in acute danger.

This week at United Nations headquarters in New York, Joe Biden sat down with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The meeting came at a time when France, Washington's oldest ally, had recalled ambassadors to both countries – an unprecedented reaction to the blindside of a dropped submarine contract with Canberra and a surprise military alliance that brings in the UK and shuts out Paris.

Following the German elections, DW has collected various reactions from cultural insiders, including filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff and rapper Nura.

On the eve of delayed elections in Ethiopia, some voters in the Somali region say they don't see the point in turning out because of an opposition boycott. Meanwhile in South Africa, the biggest political parties launch their manifestos ahead of local elections. And Tunisia's president names a little-known geologist as the country's first female prime minister-designate.

Mikhail Saakashvili said he returned to Georgia in support of the opposition as local elections get underway this weekend. Current Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, had vowed to arrest Saakashvili if he returned.

Qataris voted for 30 out of the 45-member council that will approve general state policies — but will have no say in the setting of defense, security or economic policy.

Italy is holding municipal elections on October 3 and 4. Voters in 1,000 constituencies are electing their representatives, including in the city of Naples, where an unusual battle is taking place between two members of the Maradona family. The iconic late Argentinian footballer, who played for Napoli from 1984 to 1991, still has a special place in the hearts of Neapolitans. With a brother and son involved in the campaign but on opposite sides, can Diego Maradona be a kingmaker from beyond the grave? Our correspondents report.

The elections, which took place amid a widespread election boycott by anti-government activists, didn't generate much enthusiasm among Iraq's young population.