Abdelaziz Bouteflika won fourth time as the President of Algeria

1.    Abdelaziz Bouteflika won fourth time as the President of Algeria

i. Abdelaziz Bouteflika won the Presidency for the fourth time consecutively in Algeria on 18 April 2014. He belongs to National Liberation Front party.

ii. He won the presidential election with a huge 81 percent of the vote. In 2008, he won the elections with 90 percent of the vote.

iii. Ali Benflis, main opponent, received 12.18 percent of the total votes casted. Other opponents Abdelaziz Belaid and Louisa Hanoune received 3.03 percent and 1.37 percent of the votes respectively.

iv. Voters turnout stood at 51.3 percent of the registered voters which went down from the 75 percent in 2009. 

v. In 1999, Bouteflika took office when Algeria was still in a civil war between the military and Islamist militants and restored some economic stability. In 2012, he surpassed Houari Boumedienne as the longest-serving President of Algeria.

vi. The president is elected for five years term by the people in Algeria. The presidentship was limited to two terms in the original constitution. However, the constitution was amended in 2008 to remove the term limits.

2.    SEBI issues detailed corporate governance norms

i. SEBI came out with detailed corporate governance norms for listed companies providing for stricter disclosures and protection of investor rights, including equitable treatment for minority and foreign shareholders.

ii. The new rules, which would be effective from 1st October, require companies to get shareholders' approval for related party transactions, establish whistle blower mechanism, elaborate disclosures on pay packages and have at least a woman director on their boards. 

iii. Sebi's norms issued on Thursday are aligned with the new Companies Act and is aimed to encourage companies to "adopt best practices on corporate governance".

iv. The capital market regulator has amended clauses -- 35B and 49 -- of the listing agreement. 

Main Points:

i. Now, under changed 35B norms, listed companies are required to provide the option of facility of e-voting to shareholders on all resolutions proposed to be passed at general meetings. 

ii. Under clause 49, pertaining to corporate governance, listed entities have to get shareholders' nod for related party transactions. It would be effective prospectively from 1st October onwards. 

iii. "All existing material related party contracts or arrangements as on the date of this circular which are likely to continue beyond March 31, 2015 shall be placed for approval of the shareholders in the first general meeting subsequent to October 1, 2014," SEBI said in the circular on Thursday. 

iv. The new norms also restrict the total tenure of an independent director to two terms of five years. 

v. If a person has already served as an independent director for five years or more in a listed company till the date new norms come into effect, he would be eligible for appointment for one more term of five years only. 

3.    IFFCO gets approval to set up $ 1.6 bn urea plant in Canada

i. Leading fertiliser cooperative IFFCO on Saturday said its subsidiary received permission from the provincial government of Quebec to set up a $ 1.6 billion urea plant.

ii. A decision in this regard was taken on March 26 by the cabinet of the Canadian province and was notified in today’s edition of the official gazette of Quebec, the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd (IFFCO) said in a statement.

iii. The proposed facility will have a production capacity of up to 1.6 million tonnes of urea and 7,60,000 tonnes of diesel diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), it said.

iv. The estimated project cost of $ 1.6 billion is based on the most recent feasibility study.

v. In January 2013, IFFCO’s Canadian subsidiary acquired the land for the plant. The site is at Bncour Port and Industrial Park, which provides access via land, rail and water to markets across North America.