Word: blocs
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...Faced with such alarming statistics, the European Union, in an attempt to battle the bloc's growing bulge, is mulling drastic changes in the way food products are labeled. The most controversial of the proposals so far is a flashy label backed by health and consumer groups that's based on the colors of a traffic light. Already fixtures in many British supermarkets, the labels use red, yellow and green circles to indicate how healthy products are in four categories: fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt. If a box of cookies is high in sugar, for instance...
...Perry has been courting Hispanic voters in South Texas, Jillson notes, by sending discretionary law-enforcement grants to local sheriffs who are often major players in South Texas politics. The notion that the Hispanic vote is a Democratic bloc is also debatable. A poll commissioned by state legislators across the country who serve on the Board of Hispanic Caucus Chairs, released just before the March 7 primary, indicated that 54% of Texas Hispanics identified themselves as conservative and 23% said they might participate in the Republican primary (Perry got the nod 2-to-1 over Hutchison among that group...
...Allawi currently leads Maliki by about 9,000 votes. While either candidate could yet pull out in front, the result has not only denied any one bloc the ability to form a government on its own, but may also have failed to give any of the contenders a clear mandate to take the lead in post-election coalition negotiations. Meanwhile, the slow vote counting is doing little to inspire confidence, with each announcement of partial results sparking another round of posturing, jockeying, and rumors, one of which held that Maliki had been shot in the leg. All the major coalitions...
...Even if the results are accepted, the current pattern suggests bad news for Maliki. It has been widely suggested that most of the potential coalition partners to whom his bloc would turn would insist that Maliki himself step down and accept an alternative candidate for Prime Minister. A frenzy of negotiations among leaders from all the political blocs is already under way, but it could take weeks - even months - to yield a new government. Accusations of ballot fraud could undermine the legitimacy of any new government and also weaken Maliki, who will remain in charge until one is formed...
...struggle between Iraq's communities and their regional supporters, the design of the country's democratic system may hamper efforts to build a strong government. Iraq's democracy is a parliamentary system based on the principle of proportional representation - voters all over the country simply choose a party or bloc, whose list of candidates is then allocated the number of seats in parliament proportional to its share of the total vote. The Prime Minister is chosen by a parliamentary majority. While the system may be designed to promote consensus, in the absence of consensus it can be a recipe...