Elections, Elections, Elections

[Markus Becker]

double

Edited May 14, 2017 by Markus Becker

[Markus Becker]

Frensh parliamentary​ elections round #2:

 

The traditional parties get annihilated.Conservatives​ 125 seats, Socialists 49, Marcon's party 355 out of 577.

[TonyE]

Still, predictions had them at 400+.

[sunday]

 

The PM of NRW was Hannelore Kraft of the SPD. ... And the Left stands at 4.8%. Oh yes!

 

Like my avatar more...

[Stuart Galbraith]

A French politician without scandal? Obviously he is not really French. Which brings up disturbing echos from the past...

[Panzermann]

 

A French politician without scandal? Obviously he is not really French. Which brings up disturbing echos from the past...

 

 

when has a belgian ever ruled france?

[Panzermann]

Frensh parliamentary​ elections round #2:

 

The traditional parties get annihilated.Conservatives​ 125 seats, Socialists 49, Marcon's party 355 out of 577.

Not to forget Front National with a whopping 8 seats. Macron was really able to suck in votes from everywhere.

 

PS crushed thanks to Hollande (the most colourless french president ever), The republicains too. the protest voters moved to en marche with the FN steam rolled. Anger is a fickle thing.

 

So now with a comfortable parliamentary support MAcron will have to make things better in France.

Let's see if he can or if he sees this in a few years

 

[Markus Becker]

 

The PM of NRW was Hannelore Kraft of the SPD. ... And the Left stands at 4.8%. Oh yes!

 

Like my avatar more...

Mee too but with all the treehuggers here, I can't put that on my car.

[Stuart Galbraith]

 

 

A French politician without scandal? Obviously he is not really French. Which brings up disturbing echos from the past...

 

 

when has a belgian ever ruled france?

 

 

I was more refering to Macron looking stunningly like Tintin.

[mnm]

If you please from 00:59 till 01:05 .

 

[Colin]

There never was a Schulz train except in the delusional fever dreams of the SPD media machine.

Interesting that the Linskpartei might get into NRW parliament.

CDU is Conservative and SPD is Socialist correct? Which of the smaller parties will help whom?

[Markus Becker]

 

There never was a Schulz train except in the delusional fever dreams of the SPD media machine.

Interesting that the Linskpartei might get into NRW parliament.

CDU is Conservative and SPD is Socialist correct? Which of the smaller parties will help whom?

 

 

The latter is right, the former used to be the case. The Liberals and Greens will enter a coalition with either of them.

[Ssnake]

CDU is Conservative and SPD is Socialist correct? Which of the smaller parties will help whom?

 

It isn't directly comparable.

The Christian Democratic Union is often associated with conservativism, and to an extent it is, but at the same time it subscribes to the model of a "social-democraticed" society that the SPD fought for the first 80 years of its existence. To that extent it's more liberal than US democrats. At the same time one could argue that the CDU has always represented the mainstream of the German society. In pretty much every election since 1948 it came out as the strongest party (which doesn't guarantee that you will also governing), usually in the 35...45% range, occasionally surging into the absolute majority range.

 

The Social Democratic Party has a 30% internal minority of left wing fruit loops. I suppose you could characterize them as socialists. There's also a 30% group of socially conservatives which somewhat overlaps with a 40...50% group of pragmatists who sorta-kinda understand that "tax the rich" sounds appealing but is actually a stupid move.

Very rarely has the SPD been able to get past the 40% threshold in national elections, typically at 35%, lately closer to 25%.

 

 

The "Linke" party started as the "reformed" leftovers of true East German socialists, which actually split in 60% pargmatists and 40% die-hard commie bastards. In the last 15 years it merged with disenfranchised lefty fruit loops of the SPD's left fringe, and these malcontents managed to take over the party together with the 40% old school commies to gradually squeeze out the pragmatists. As a consequence the leftist party is now effectively unwilling and incapable of forming a government because, well, they are literally far out in the left field.

 

 

Then we have "Bündnis 90/Die Grünen" which, as the name suggests, were a merger of East German rebels (a civil liberties platform) who kept dreaming of some middle road between capitalism and socialism, and a motley assortment of West German anti-military, anti-nuclear, anti-war, anti-capitalism protest groups that grudgingly agreed on a common platform based on "all of the above" plus environmentalism and feminism (lately expanded to "gender activism"). They usually form up with the SPD, but there are cases where they form a government with the CDU, much to the dismay of the anti-everything fraction that would rather team up with the fruit loops of the SPD left and, of course, the commies from the Linkspartei.

 

 

Next, the AfD which started as an anti-Euro conservative party that has been drifting towards right-wing extremism every since and which most people now see as actual xenophobic extremists. And there's lots of reasons to share that view. They may not be as far out in the right field as the commes are on the left, but their drift motion hasn't settled yet, so who knows.

 

 

Finally there's the FDP, a somewhat libertarian, pro-business party that was nearly dead but has recently come back to life. They used to go with the CDU, but it's questionable if they are ready for a government job at the national level yet.

[Marek Tucan]

 

 

 

I for one support this. The street artists and sellers get stale after few years, the streets and squares of Paris need a new form of public entertainment.Well, a renaissance of one. Pour encourager les autres.

[TonyE]

Duce is back! Duce! Duce! Duce!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-26/berlusconi-stages-comeback-in-italy-s-mayoral-elections

[BansheeOne]

Legalised brothels, flat tax and a repeal of 400 laws: Here's what Italy's political parties are promising ahead of this week's election

 

Will Martin, Business Insider UK

7h

• Italy's general election is now less than a week away, with the result still hugely unclear.
• 2018's election has largely been focused on the core issue of immigration, while taxation and social reforms are also high on the agenda.
• Business Insider took a look at some of the more off the wall policies being pledged by Italy's major parties ahead of the vote.

LONDON – With Italy's general election now less than a week away, the outcome is no less clear than it has been in the months leading up to the vote.

 

The centre-left coalition of Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party, the populist Five Star Movement, and the right wing bloc comprising Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and the far-right Lega Nord could all end up running the Italian government in the coming weeks, but what do they stand for?

 

2018's election has largely been focused on the core issue of immigration, while taxation and social reforms are also high on the agenda.

 

"The narrative of the main parties and the interest of voters is mainly focused on immigration policies and on the improvement of the welfare and tax regime," Giovanni Montalti, an analyst at Swiss bank UBS said in a recent note.

 

Obviously, all the parties have positions on a wide spectrum of issues, from the economy, to immigration, to the EU, but Business Insider decided to pick out some of the major policies of the four major parties with a chance to win big next Sunday.

 

[...]

 

http://www.businessinsider.de/main-issues-in-italian-general-election-2018-2?r=UK&IR=T

[TonyE]

Duce is back! Duce! Duce! Duce!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-26/berlusconi-stages-comeback-in-italy-s-mayoral-elections

 

Duce! Duce! Duce!

Duce! Duce! Duce!

Duce! Duce! Duce!

[Simon Tan]

BungaBungaTime.

[TonyE]

....and the italian elections are on today.

[Panzermann]

....and the italian elections are on today.

 

the polling stations close at 2300. Oh well, the italians do it late into the night I guess.

 

The tea leaf readers talk of a stalemate in parliament. So.... Germany took half a year. So Italy needs three years to cobble together a government?

 

And berlusconi might turn out to be the kingmaker in a hung parliament.

[Ssnake]

As the king of bunga bunga, which mummy would be more qualified to handle a well hung parliament?

[Panzermann]

prediction from 23:35

 

Movimento 5 Strele: 31%

Partito Democratico: 21,5%

Lega Nord: 14,5%

Forza Italia: 14%

Fratelli d'Italia: 4,5%

Liberi e Uguali: 4%

piu Europa: 3%

Noi con l'Italia: 1,5%

other: 6%

 

http://www.quirinale.it/elementi/Continua.aspx?tipo=Comunicato&key=3431

 

official election site: http://dait.interno.gov.it/elezioni

 

 

3/8th of the seats are being directly elected and 5/8th are elected proportionally. The new law first applied this election was necessary, because the law before the current had effectively been binned by the constitutional court. Why nad how is complicated of course, becaus eItaly.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Panzermann

[TonyE]

Why nad how is complicated of course, becaus eItaly.

 

....because Italí.

[BansheeOne]

Il Duce bested by his own ally? That's some election.

 

March 5, 2018 / 5:45 AM / Updated an hour ago

 

Italy faces political gridlock as 5-Star surges in election

Crispian Balmer, Isla Binnie

ROME (Reuters) - Italy faces a prolonged period of political instability after voters delivered a hung parliament in Sunday’s election, spurning traditional parties and flocking to anti-establishment and far-right groups in record numbers.

 

With half the ballot counted, it looked almost certain that none of Italy’s three main factions would be able to rule alone and there was little prospect of a return to mainstream government, giving the European Union a new headache to handle.

 

Scenarios now include the creation of a more euro-skeptic coalition, which would likely challenge EU budget restrictions and be little interested in further European integration, or swift new elections to try to break the deadlock.

 

A rightist alliance including former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (Go Italy!) emerged with the biggest bloc of votes, ahead of the anti-system 5-Star Movement, which saw its support soar to become Italy’s largest single party.

 

Despite overseeing a modest economic recovery, the ruling centre-left coalition came a distant third, hit by widespread anger over persistent poverty, high unemployment and an influx of more than 600,000 migrants over the past four years.

 

The full result is not due until much later on Monday.

 

[...]

 

Berlusconi’s centre-right alliance was seen taking around 37 percent of the vote and in a bitter personal defeat for the billionaire media magnate, his Forza Italia party was overtaken by its ally, the far-right, anti-immigrant League.

 

“My first words: THANK YOU,” League leader Matteo Salvini tweeted. His party, which campaigned on a fiercely anti-migrant ticket, looked set to win more than 17 percent of the vote against just 4 percent at the last national election in 2013.

 

But the biggest winner on Sunday was the 5-Star Movement, which was predicted to have won a third of all votes cast, up from 25 percent last time around, putting it in the driving seat in any future coalition talks.

 

“Nobody will be able to govern without the 5-Star Movement,” said senior party member Riccardo Fraccaro.“We will assume the responsibility to build this government, but in a different way, talking with all the parties about what this country needs.”

 

The ruling centre-left bloc was seen on around 22 percent.

 

“ITALY UNGOVERNABLE”

During two months of election campaigning, party leaders repeatedly ruled out any post-election tie-ups with their rivals. However, Italy has a long history of finding a way out of apparently intractable political stalemate.

 

The 5-Star once rejected talk of any power sharing, but it has since modified its position and says it is willing to discuss common policies but not negotiate over cabinet posts.

 

Led by 31-year-old Luigi Di Maio, the movement was formed in 2009 and has fed off public fury over corruption in the Italian establishment and economic hardship. But some analysts have questioned whether other parties would be able to work with it.

 

“Di Maio wins, Italy ungovernable,” was the front page headline on the first edition of La Stampa newspaper.

 

Parliament will meet for the first time on March 23 and President Sergio Mattarella is not expected to open formal talks on forming a government until early April.

 

Pollster Federico Benini, head of the Winpoll agency, said vote projections suggested that 5-Star and the League would be the largest two parties in parliament and would comfortably have enough seats to govern together if they wanted.

 

They once shared strong anti-euro views. But while the League still says it wants to leave the single currency at the earliest feasible moment, the 5-Star has since softened its tone, saying the time for quitting the euro has passed.

 

Its flagship proposal in the election campaign was a promise to introduce a minimum monthly income of up to 780 euros ($963) for the poor. This so-called “Universal Wage” has helped the party draw massive support in the underdeveloped south.

 

By contrast, Berlusconi and his far-right, populist allies were expected to dominate in the wealthier north, with the centre-left squeezed into a narrow stretch of territory across central Italy, including Tuscany.

 

[...]

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-election/italy-faces-political-gridlock-as-5-star-surges-in-election-idUSKBN1GH0GI

[Stuart Galbraith]

I cant help but think that Italy being ungovernable might end up being just what Italians need.