International Elections
Jake:
Questions about differant countries. Any help is much appreciated.
1) What parties do the states in Germany lean towards. All I know is the CSU runs only in Germany.
2) On the democrat-centrist-republican line where do the German parties fit in. Also, what are some approximate political compass scores.
3) What type of election system does Canada use. Single memebr, proportional, or mixed.
4) Same as question two about Canadian parties.
Thanks
2952-0-0:
3. It's first past the post for all 308 seats but we should be changing it to some form of proportional representation in the next few years.
4. Liberals-centrist, has been in power since 1993 and lost their majority in the June 2004 election (now having to flirt with the NDP for bills to pass)
Conservatives-extremist right wing, merged from the Canadian Alliance (really really right wing) and Progressive Conservatives (almost libertarian) in December 2003, hoped to win in June 2004, made gains but still lost
NDP-socialist
Bloc Quebecois-regionalist/separatist for Quebec
One Independent, an ex-Conservative who lost his district's Conservative nomination
And there's the Green Party (won 4.3% in June), the Marijuana Party, the Communists, etc... though they aren't on the radar screen
Check out http://www.elections.ca/
minionofmidas:
Quote from: Jake on December 31, 2004, 06:07:25 PM
Questions about differant countries. Any help is much appreciated.
1) What parties do the states in Germany lean towards. All I know is the CSU runs only in Germany.
2) On the democrat-centrist-republican line where do the German parties fit in. Also, what are some approximate political compass scores.
1) I think you meant Bavaria when you wrote Germany the second time. :) The CSU runs only in Bavaria, while the CDU does not run in Bavaria.
In Bundestag elections, Bavaria leans strongly Union, and Baden-Württemberg also had a CDU/FDP majority even at the last two elections. Rheinland-Pfalz went narrowly Red-Green in 1998, narrowly Black-Yellow in 2002. All the other states had left-wing majorities recently (although the CDU was the strongest party in Saxony.)
The PDS gets about 15-20% in the East, somewhat over 1% in the West. It's strongest in East Berlin, where it polls 30%+.
Green Party's strongholds are major cities, especially ones with major universities.
CDU - quite conservative socially (ie, opposed to civil unions, split on abortion, VERY restrictive on immigration), torn between ultra-conservative and more populist positions economically.
FDP - economically ultra-conservative, socially at least officially quite liberal (although as long as they governed with the CDU you wouldn't have noticed it much)
SPD - anything between centrist, center-left, and old-left (ie, Al-ish :) )
Officially socially liberal although the average SPD voter really isn't that very liberal. The average Eastern SPD voter is probably much more liberal socially than the average Western one.
Greens - Socially very liberal, economically left or centrist.
PDS - by their programme, far left on everything. By who votes for them, a mix of very left-wing, mostly young people, diehard GDR fans, nad a vast mass of poor populist, but pacifist, Easterners (when polls on positions break down by party and East/West, you will usually see PDS voters occupying the middle position between Eastern CDU and SPD voters...)
Filuwaúrdjan:
A bit more info on the NDP is needed:
They tend to vary a lot by province...
BC: They vary a lot, tending to be very leftwing on most things in the Vancouver and Victoria Metro's, while being more populist in the Interior and the rest of Vancouver island. Across BC the NDP is effectively a working class party (an attempt to appeal to Vancouver Yuppies flopped miserably this year) and has historically had difficulty appealing to Asian voters (outside East Vancouver o/c), although a recent by-election indicates that things may be a changing.
In the Prairies (and also Northern Ontario) they tend to be somewhat populist (especially on gun control) because their base up there is mostly poor rural and urban ethnic voters... the Saskatchewan NDP is also fiscally conservative (a legacy of Tommy Douglas. Who was Scottish). They do a lot better at Provincial level here than Federally (where NDP candidates are associated with the socially liberal positions of the Federal NDP leadership).
Ontario Dippers also vary a lot... in Northern Ontario they tend to be like Prairie Dippers, in Toronto and Ottawa they've been doing well with Yuppies of late, but in most of Ontario they're base is in blue collar Auto/Factory/Steel cities/towns. The once mighty Provincial NDP collapsed in the '90's but appears to be undergoing a revival.
The Quebec NDP appears to be an urban myth.
In Newfies, the NDP have periodic strength with poor fishermen, and more solid support from Iron miners in Labrador and the working class parts of St. Johns. They tend to be much more socially conservative than the Federal party.
The P.E.I NDP appears to be an urban myth.
Nova Scotia Dippers tend to be socially moderate and big (no... huge) on Regional Development. They're traditionally strong in Metro Halifax and Industrial Cape Breton... they appear to be making inroads in rural areas (they have a provincial seat in the Annapolis Valley) and have been official opposition (to both Liberal and PC Governments) for a while now.
In New Brunswick they do well in the working class parts of Saint John and Frederickton. Until recently that was it, but at Federal level they've made major inroads into the traditionally Liberal Acadian vote and there's hopes it might cross into Provincial poltics.
Jake:
Thanks
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