326 replies to this topic

[TheNewTeddy]

I hope its okay for me to make a thread like this (I was used to how the forum I used to frequent worked)

SNIPSNIPSNIP

http://en.wikipedia....:2012_elections


Edit

Check the most recent page(s) for my calendar of upcoming elections (if any)

Edited by TheNewTeddy, 12 April 2013 - 09:51 AM.

[TheNewTeddy]

Recent Elections:

KUWAIT
http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2012
Numbers are "fuzzy" as there are no official parties. There is a total of 50 seats, and the pro-islamic parties won 34 of those seats, with 14 being affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and 20 being "tribal based" More Liberal parties appear to have won about 6 seats, while pro-government parties have won around 5. The other 5 are difficult to classify I suppose. Again all numbers are fuzzy, but I would tag the election as:
Cons-34 Lib-11 Oth-5



FINLAND - PRESIDENT
http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2012
The first ballot was unexpected.
NCP (Cons) - 37%
Greens - 19%
Centrist - 18%

The Greens were not expected to finish second, and went on to lose the second ballot
Sauli Niinsto - 63% (elected president)
Pekka Haavisto - 37%



KAZAKHSTAN
http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2012
This election was judged to not be free.
Nur Otan - 83 seats
Opposition - 8 seats (democratic)
Opposition - 7 seats (communist)




and
EGYPT
http://en.wikipedia....on,_2011–2012
takes us to the year's start.
Islamic Brotherhood - 235
Al-Nour (Islamist) - 123
New Wafd (Nat Liberal) - 38
Bloc (Left Liberal) - 35
Al-Wasat (Moderate Islamic) - 10
Reform (Liberal) - 9
Revolution (Socialist) - 9
Pro-Mubarak Parties - 18
Others - 21
Appointed Military - 10

Edited by TheNewTeddy, 11 February 2012 - 09:20 AM.

[-TSS-]

I think the French are doing disservice to their system by holding both presidential and parliamentary elections so close to each other. Especially as the presidential elections capture all the attention, the legislative elections a month later are bound to fall flat.

Edited by -TSS-, 11 February 2012 - 09:18 AM.

[TheNewTeddy]

http://www.voanews.c...-139180204.html

The polls have not closed but I'm declaring this over.

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2012

There is a single party that is running all 8 Candidates, and there is no way the incumbent, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, will lose.

So congrats from me to Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow on an election well fabricated and a result well deceived!

Edited by TheNewTeddy, 12 February 2012 - 09:02 AM.

[bud]

good thread

[olpfan1]

Very interested in Russia, France, Iran, Mexico

[TheNewTeddy]

http://welections.wordpress.com/
This guy talks a lot about France. He was born there.

Too much blah-blah and not enough hard numbers for my taste, but I still follow this blog lightly.

[TheNewTeddy]

Current Polling and projections.....

Germany
CDU/CSU - 230 (Black)
S.P.D. - 189 (Red)
Grune - 101 (Green)
Linke - 44 (Red) or (Dark Red)
Piraten - 36 (Orange)

Black-Red is a popular coalition option (30%)
Red-Green is another (22%)
Red-Green however would not have a majority of seats.
Red-Green-Red would work if Die Linke is willing, and normally, they are not.
Red-Green-Orange might work if the Pirates are willing to sit in government, and, if the other parties are willing to have them.
Black-Green would not shock me.

UK
Lab-311
Con-278
SNP-20
LD-12
NI-18 (Northern Ireland Parties)
PC-1
SPKR-1

Hung Parliament, Labour might need a coalition or at least an agreement with the LibDems. Note this uses the old boundaries.



France
First Round (poll averaged)
31.5% Hollande - PS
25.5% Sarkozy - UMP
16.7% LePen - FN
12.8% Bayrou - MoDem
7.7% Melenchon - FDG

All second round polls have Hollande winning by at least 14%


Russia
such as it is...

Putin still commands a gigantic lead in the polls. The most recent poll has him at 52% with his closest opponent, a tie between the Communist and the NAZI, each at 8%


Mexico
No polls to report.

The Conservative PAN, which holds the Presidency, has picked a female candidate; IIRC, the first time a female has run for a major party in Mexico.

The leftist PRD has selected the same candidate as last time, who almost won in 2006.

PRI, who supposedly is "going to win" according to sources, has nominated Enrique Pena.

[August1991]

good thread

It's only good because it means that many people now live (sort of) in places where the government can change peacefully.

Some 40 years ago, in 1970 or so, many people lived with different governments.

-----

What is the definition of "democracy"?

I have a simple answer: A democracy is a place where a government leader hands power to another person peacefully without death.

Japan, China, Russia and Europe, Brazil, the rest of the world, know little of "democracy".

America is a true democracy: Adams surrendered power to Jefferson. Later, Clinton handed power to Bush Jnr. And Bush Jnr handed power to Obama.

So it goes. In America, a true democracy.

---

But what of places where the leader designates the next leader? IMV, this is "democracy".

Edited by August1991, 17 February 2012 - 07:57 PM.

[TheNewTeddy]

Democracy and Freedom go hand in hand.

Freedom is meaningless without the freedom to screw up and make a mistake.

Democracy therefore must allow a person to vote for the "wrong" party. Without that option, you have no Democracy.

In Canada, the UK, France, Germany, etc, you can vote for Libertarians, Communists, RacistNaziLikes, etc, and all get equal access to the media and the political system.

In Russia, Libertarians and Liberals do not get equal access to the media or the system, and thus, Russia IMO is a partial Democracy, not a full one.

In China or Turkmenistan, only the establishment party and ideology is permitted, and thus China is not a Democracy at all IMO.

[-TSS-]

Regarding the Senegalese presidential election, wasn't there some uproar about the incumbent circumventing the constitution and seeking a third term even though the constitution allows only two terms?

[dre]

In Canada, the UK, France, Germany, etc, you can vote for Libertarians, Communists, RacistNaziLikes, etc, and all get equal access to the media and the political system.

The problem is when the entire political class becomes the problem that voters need to consider at election time. In a way some of the countries you mention are actually more vulnerable because the people falsely believe they are in charge.

For example... among ordinary people there is a lot of disagreement on the direction we are headed in... with the world increasingly run by a career political class full of technocrats and bankers. But theres no such debate amongst our political class, so how can voters weigh in on some of these bigger issues.

I understand we can keep going to the polls and voting on the various culture war issues and sub issues that we have been tricked into thinking are important. But what about the big picture stuff... the general direction the world is heading in (both political and economic globalism, the trend towards electronically recording citizens, the consolidation of economic and political power by money printing central banks and unelected technocrats).

Who do I vote for if I want real economic and monetary reform? Who do I vote for if I want to end all these massive unfunded mandates?

THeres nobody. All the viable parties are basically the same on the REAL important issues. They all want to spend money they dont have, they all want to fight wars we cant afford, they all want trade real property later for debt now.

At least people in Saudi Arabia know theyre not free! That knowledge is actually a bit of freedom in itself. Canadians get up and vote based on a bunch of ancillary issues (gay marriage, gun registries, abortion, religion, etc), that have almost no importance what-so-ever while the real issues of our day are not even really discussed, they truly believe this puts them in the drivers seat.


My question again is what can voters do when it is the entire political class itself that becomes the biggest problem facing them? Who do you vote for then?

[Bonam]

The problem is when the entire political class becomes the problem that voters need to consider at election time. In a way some of the countries you mention are actually more vulnerable because the people falsely believe they are in charge.

For example... among ordinary people there is a lot of disagreement on the direction we are headed in... with the world increasingly run by a career political class full of technocrats and bankers. But theres no such debate amongst our political class, so how can voters weigh in on some of these bigger issues.

I understand we can keep going to the polls and voting on the various culture war issues and sub issues that we have been tricked into thinking are important.

It's not really a trick. A lot of people really do think that whether or not someone else should be allowed to marry or have an abortion is the most important issue to base their vote on. You can't cure stupid.

My question again is what can voters do when it is the entire political class itself that becomes the biggest problem facing them? Who do you vote for then?

If and when the leaders of a nation become sufficiently harmful and antithetical to the lives of the majority of the population, you get a revolution. Until then, you live your life as best you can. You vote for the least of the available evils.

Realistically though, you cannot deny that "the economy" (which encompasses most of the issues you mention) is consistently one of the most important issues in elections in Western democracies. Things like the Republican primary bring out the full idiocy of people trying to win the race for presidency by claiming to want to restrict gays and abortions and thump the bible more than the other guy, but when it comes to the actual elections, the economy and issues surrounding it will be king.

[TheNewTeddy]

Between 1900 and 1940 there was a great shift in what Left and Right meant for the political spectrum.

Prior to this, Left was allowing women the vote, allowing non-property owners to vote, allowing non-Christians to vote even, while Right was standing up for the powers that existed.

After this, Left was for Socialism, redistribution of wealth, giving money to the poor, larger governments with larger supports, so on and so forth.



Left and Right is changing again. The old left-right argument is over. We found a balance that works. There is a new left-right argument out there.

In the old Left, the Green Party of Canada is moderate and somewhat centrist. In the new Left, the Greens are firmly left-wing. The new Left is about a Global unity of ideology, doing for others, working for the world and the community, thinking universally, ignoring national boundaries, and so forth. The new Right is perfectly exemplified by the things Harper stands for. His stances on Kyoto, Abestos, the Environment at large, the Gun Registry, etc, are all firmly in the new right, even if they fit the old right as well.



Our system is changing. Look at Canadian elections and UK elections for example. From 1960 to 1990 both countries had instances where we only had 3 parties in the chamber. Compare this to elections in both countries from both 1930's and today, and you'll see the growth in parties and ideologies, etc. Our entire worldwide political system is changing, and that is why there is so much apparent chaos. The Tea Party VS Occupy debates are not just last vestiges of the old system; they are the founding sparks of the new system, and this will be the new left-right debate.

[TheNewTeddy]

Yemeni voters have voted, but the results are not yet available.

Still, I'd like to congratulate the winner, Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi, who captured infinity more percent votes than his opponent in the race, who has failed to exist.