Geographic political divides in countries

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The dominant geographical division in England is the Severn-Wash line (ie; an imaginary line drawn from the mouth of the Severn, up to the Wash on the North Sea coast). England north of that line is, generally, industrial, blue collar, socially conservative and Labour voting, while England south of that line is affluent, white collar and Tory voting. There are o/c various other divisions within each half, but they tend to be based more along class or ethnic lines than anything strictly geographical (geology features quite strongly though).
O/c Northern England is rather different to the more affluent Midlands, and rural areas like East Anglia (which is just weird) or the South West (which has a large LibDem vote; a mix of traditional Liberals and regional protest voters) are not especially similer to the South East.
But as a general guide, North/South works pretty well.

Wales is more regionally divided than England (largely due to geography; you won't find much flat land in Wales) and, in a political sense, the main regions are:

1. North East Wales: is a mixture of industrial (old and new), seaside and rural areas. Hardly anyone speaks Welsh there. Overall leans Labour (and has done since the '60's or so).
Labour are (suprise, suprise) strongest in the industrial areas, but have a decent vote in the more decayed seaside resorts (such as Rhyl) and in a lot of the rural settlements (in national elections anyway; locally they are Indie or, sometimes, Plaid. Until the '80's the Liberals did very well in them). The Tories are strongest in the more upmarket seaside resorts and in some rural areas (while being very weak in others. I suspect religious geography may come into that).

2. North West Wales: is a very rural area and is strongly Welsh speaking. It is a traditional stronghold of both Calvinism and Nationalism and is forever associated with David Lloyd George.
Plaid are strongest in agricultural areas (especially the Lleyn peninsula and S./E. Meirionnydd) but can poll well in most places, while Labour is strongest in the old slate quarrying communities and the University city of Bangor (and in this part of the world, Labour tends to have a soft-Nationalist lean to it). Ynys Môn (Anglesey) is o/c a case apart with some genuinely strange politics to it's name.
The other parties don't matter a great deal, but the Tories do best in what affluent and anglicised areas there are, while the LibDems are a mere shadow (not even that really) of what the Liberals used to be.

3. Mid Wales: is another very rural area. Unlike the North West, Mid Wales is strongly English speaking, and it's traditional Liberalism (the big "L" kind, certainly NOT the little "l" kind) has somehow managed to last out the 20th century. There is also a strong Tory vote (especially in Radnorshire), while Labour and Plaid are of little importance (Montgomery is the only constituency in Wales to have never had a Labour M.P).

4. West Wales: again... is a rural area, but is politically very mixed. The LibDems are strongest in Ceredigion (both in the University/resort town of Aberystwyth and in some agricultural areas), while Plaid is strongest in a Welsh speaking rural area centered on Carmarthenshire (but extending into southern Ceredigion), which was the first constituency to elect a Plaid M.P (back in the '60's). The Tories are strongest in parts of anglicised Pembrokeshire ("Little England, beyond Wales"), while Labour does best in areas with coastal industries (such as Pembroke Dock) and in an agricultural area inbetween Carmarthen and Pembroke.

5. The Valleys: is a very, very industrial area, based around a large (and largely former) coalfield north of Cardiff. It is socially conservative (almost to the degree that North West Wales is) and strongly Labour (to the point that the only people Labour have had trouble with at Westminster level since the '20's have been various Independent Labour groupings... and the Communists for a few years). Tory candidates here are expected to pay their deposits out of their own pockets. Some don't get it back either.
Plaid are a factor (of sorts) in local (and Assembly level in '99 only) politics and in the western fringes of the area.
Swansea is, for the most part, politically like the Valleys... with the exception of parts of the western half of the city, which are much more like Cardiff than anywhere else.

6. South Coast: not an entirely accurate name but... anyway, this area is centered around Cardiff (a socially mixed (and by Welsh standards affluent) city that grew up as a port, but is now an administrative and service centre and is politically fairly mixed...
Labour is strongest in various coastal industrial towns and cities (the largest of which is Newport) and the working class parts of Cardiff (ie; the south and west of the city). The LibDems are strongest in the centre of Cardiff (which is actually middle class and suburban for the most part. It also has a Uni or two), while the Tories are strong in the northern suburbs of Cardiff and in the various commuter towns and villages west (ie; Vale of Glamorgan) and east (ie; eastern Monmouthshire) of Cardiff. Plaid are a somewhat surreal element in local politics, but that is it.
Needless to say, sod all people here can actually speak Welsh, but amusingly a lot of people in Cardiff lied about this to the last Census.

Do please note that these rough regions do not correspond very well with electoral or administrative boundaries.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

but definitely economically right.

4 of the 7 electoral districts in which SLD polled more than 50% of the vote in 2001 were on Poland's western border. The other three were Lodz, Bydgoszcz and Sosnowiec (where they were over 60% IIRC). Last year Sosnowiec was the only above 20%, but I think all those nearing that number were in the west of Poland.