Author Topic: World Elections 2015  (Read 7939 times)

Jubal

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World Elections 2015
« on: January 08, 2015, 02:18:01 PM »
This is for discussion of elections in parts of the world where we're very much lacking in local correspondents. :)

First up for this year, Sri Lanka's Presidential Election.

Quote
Millions of Sri Lankans have voted in an unexpectedly close election that pits President Mahinda Rajapaksa against one of his former allies.

Mr Rajapaksa, in office since 2005, called the election two years early with analysts predicting an easy win.

But many voters have since rallied behind the challenger, former health minister Maithripala Sirisena.

There were armed policemen at every polling station because of concerns the vote would not be peaceful and free.

Mr Rajapaksa rode a wave of popularity after the civil war ended in 2009 but he now faces claims of cronyism.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-30715792

It's not obvious how this one will turn out - I just hope Rajapaksa accepts the result if he loses...
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Glaurung

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2015, 07:43:38 AM »
I just hope Rajapaksa accepts the result if he loses...
The BBC is currently reporting that he has. The full results aren't in yet, but Rajapaka has already conceded, and tweeted that he hopes for a peaceful transition of power.

Jubal

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2015, 11:45:09 AM »
Yes - it does actually look like people are going to be somewhat grown-up about the whole thing, which is always a pleasant surprise in politics anywhere.
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Glaurung

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2015, 05:44:53 PM »
Today's election is a general election in Greece, called at short notice after the Greek parliament was unable to agree on who should be the next President. Voting has now ended, and exit polls suggest that the far-left party Syriza has the largest single slice of the vote: 35% - 39%. It's not yet clear whether this will give them a majority of seats in the parliament.

There's more coverage on BBC News, or, no doubt, many other places.

TTG4

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2015, 06:19:27 PM »
It sure will be interesting! Whatever happened to Golden Dawn? They used to be huge?

Jubal

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2015, 08:21:08 PM »
They were never huge; they got a lot of hype just because a) they entered parliament and b) even Marine Le Pen considers them too racist to work with. But they've never had support much above, say, 5-10%. Which is a terrifying amount in itself for a party of literal nazis, but they've never been likely to win an election.
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TTG4

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2015, 10:08:20 PM »
BBC have pretty much called it for Syriza, suggest they may be as few as 150 seats short of a majority. Golden Dawn in joint third with a centrist group called The River. Full results expected 8am GMT
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-30975663

Jubal

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2015, 12:22:59 AM »
Yup - it's a 300 seat chamber and it looks like Syriza will have 149 of 'em.

So, possible allies?

- New Democracy are the opposition, and they won't work with Golden Dawn, so those two are out.
- PASOK is possible but perhaps unlikely as the party is tainted with the bailout
- To Potami might be a good bet but would pull the coalition hard to the centre and wouldn't accept deals that might mean breaking with Europe
- The KKE aren't generally much a fan of coalitions from what I've heard
- Independent Greeks are perhaps the obvious bet as they're also anti-austerity - but their right wing stances on other issues will clash with SYRIZA wanting a strongly left of centre platform.
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Glaurung

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #8 on: January 26, 2015, 12:32:01 PM »
BBC News is now reporting that Syriza has formed a coalition with Greek Independents. I'll be interested to see how this works - another general election in the near future wouldn't surprise me.

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #9 on: January 26, 2015, 12:39:22 PM »
I'm not sure - looking at the Independent Greeks, it seems like they should be able to work with Syriza as long as they never mention social policy at all. That may be more plausible than it would normally be at present, given the nature of the current crisis...
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TTG4

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #10 on: January 26, 2015, 08:17:09 PM »
Also, isn't there a point that on something that their coalition partners disagree with, they only need to gain 2 non-government votes to pass legislation?

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #11 on: January 26, 2015, 08:52:12 PM »
Also true - I imagine that PASOK will reliably vote with the government on many social issues.
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Glaurung

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #12 on: January 26, 2015, 09:02:00 PM »
Also, isn't there a point that on something that their coalition partners disagree with, they only need to gain 2 non-government votes to pass legislation?
Yes - Syriza have 149 seats; in a 300-seat parliament, they only need 151 votes get legislation passed. So if the Independent Greeks don't vote with them, then some of the KKE (communists) or maybe Pasok (socialists) would. It's not a very stable basis for a government, though, having the junior coalition partner voting against the government.

For those interested, an updated BBC News article has a diagram with the party numbers for the current and previous parliaments about 2/3 of the way down.

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #13 on: January 28, 2015, 12:00:56 AM »
A story twist for gaming fans:
http://www.pcgamer.com/valves-former-economist-is-now-greeces-finance-minister/

Yup, the new finance minister in Greece was formerly employed by Valve. Make what you will of what that means for their new economic policy.
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TTG4

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Re: World Elections 2015
« Reply #14 on: January 29, 2015, 09:46:58 PM »
A story twist for gaming fans:
http://www.pcgamer.com/valves-former-economist-is-now-greeces-finance-minister/

Yup, the new finance minister in Greece was formerly employed by Valve. Make what you will of what that means for their new economic policy.

I think they'll be steaming ahead! (Sorry)