Harris, Trump Locked in Tight Race in Swing States, NYT/Siena Poll Shows

Supporters attend a campaign rally of Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump in Greensboro, North Carolina, US November 2, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Wolfe/File Photo
Supporters attend a campaign rally of Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump in Greensboro, North Carolina, US November 2, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Wolfe/File Photo
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Harris, Trump Locked in Tight Race in Swing States, NYT/Siena Poll Shows

Supporters attend a campaign rally of Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump in Greensboro, North Carolina, US November 2, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Wolfe/File Photo
Supporters attend a campaign rally of Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump in Greensboro, North Carolina, US November 2, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Wolfe/File Photo

Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump remain in a tight race in the country's seven battleground states two days before the US presidential election, according to the final New York Times/Siena College poll.

The opinion poll showed Vice President Harris with marginal leads in Nevada, North Carolina and Wisconsin and former President Trump just ahead in Arizona. The two are in close races in Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania, according to the poll, which surveyed 7,879 likely voters in the seven states from Oct. 24 to Nov. 2.

In all seven states, the matchups were within the poll's 3.5% margin of error, Reuters reported.

About 40% of the respondents had already voted and Harris led among those voters by 8 percentage points, while Trump leads with voters who say they are very likely to vote but have not yet done so, the poll found.

The tied race in Pennsylvania shows Trump gaining momentum in a state Harris had led by four percentage points in all prior New York Times polls, the outlet said.

Both candidates are campaigning in battleground states this weekend, with Trump set to appear in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia on Sunday, while Harris will campaign in Michigan.



Türkiye Ousts 3 Elected Pro-Kurdish Mayors from Office and Replaces Them with State Officials

People walk in downtown Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, November 1, 2024. (Reuters)
People walk in downtown Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, November 1, 2024. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Ousts 3 Elected Pro-Kurdish Mayors from Office and Replaces Them with State Officials

People walk in downtown Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, November 1, 2024. (Reuters)
People walk in downtown Diyarbakir, southeastern Türkiye, November 1, 2024. (Reuters)

Türkiye on Monday removed three elected pro-Kurdish mayors from office over terrorism-related charges and replaced them with state-appointed officials, the Interior Ministry said.

The move, which comes days after the arrest and ouster from office of a mayor from the country's main opposition party for his alleged links to a banned Kurdish armed group, is seen as a hardening of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government’s policies toward the opposition.

It also raises questions about the prospects of a tentative new peace effort to end a 40-year conflict between the group and the state that has led to tens of thousands of deaths.

The mayors of the mainly Kurdish-populated provincial capitals of Mardin and Batman, as well as the district mayor for Halfeti, in Sanliurfa province, were ousted from office over their past convictions or ongoing trials and investigations for links to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, according to an Interior Ministry statement.

The mayors are members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, which is the third-largest party represented in Parliament. They were elected to office in local elections in March.

Last month, the leader of the far-right nationalist party that’s allied with Erdogan had raised the possibility that the PKK's imprisoned leader could be granted parole if he renounces violence and disbands his organization. His comments had sparked discussion and speculation about a potential peace effort.

Ozgur Ozel, the leader of Türkiye’s main opposition party, CHP, branded the mayors' removal from office as a “a coup” and accused Erdogan of seizing “municipalities” he could not win in the elections.

Politicians and members of Türkiye’s pro-Kurdish movement have frequently been targeted over alleged links to the PKK, which is considered a terror organization by Türkiye, the US and the European Union.

Legislators have been stripped of their parliamentary seats and mayors removed from office. Several lawmakers as well as thousands of party members have been jailed on terror-related charges since 2016.

“We will not step back from our struggle for democracy, peace and freedom,” Ahmet Turk, the ousted mayor of Mardin, wrote on the social platform X. “We will not allow the usurpation of the people’s will.”