There's been quite the political
earthquake in Italy this weekend: the
latest national elections have
up-ended all
expectations, with Silvio Berlusconi's populist right bouncing back to a photo-finish against the forecasted favourite center-left coalition, headed by Pier Luigi Bersani. But it's neither of their results that will cause the real aftershocks - those are the sole honour (and, now, onus) of the most
meteoric of political entities Europe has ever
witnessed: former comic
Beppe Grillo's 5-Star MoVement, formally founded just three years ago, have crowned their national electoral debut by earning over 25% of the popular vote, becoming Italy's leading political force.
[more inside]
posted by progosk
on Feb 25, 2013 -
71 comments
However long it takes for a real victory to be certified—no matter what happens on Election Day, it will be too early to unfurl a "Mission Accomplished" banner—the once ragtag march of lovers has acquired an air of inevitability. Edith Eyde's prophecy is almost fulfilled: gays are more or less regular folk. All the same, many who came out during the Stonewall era are wondering what will be lost as the community sheds its pariah status. They are baffled by the latter-day cult of marriage and the military—emblems of Eisenhower's America that the Stonewall generation joyfully rejected. The gay world is confronting a question with which Jews, African-Americans, and other marginalized groups have long been familiar: the price of assimilation.
—
Love on the March by Alex Ross.
[more inside]
posted by Kattullus
on Nov 7, 2012 -
60 comments
My Fair Election crowd-sources pollwatching: "We hope that this information will be used by citizens, journalists, and election officials to identify the worst polling places and work to fix them. We hope that officials in charge of polling places with long lines or otherwise operate poorly will be embarrassed, held to account, and so motivated to do a better job." (via
Hollie Russon-Gilman and
Archon Fung)
posted by anotherpanacea
on Nov 1, 2012 -
21 comments
Romney is perhaps best known for being a clown and a humanitarian, but long before his involvement in presidential politics, Romney was an LSD-fueled comedian. Here's
a snippet.
(No, not that Romney; the other one.) [more inside]
posted by twoleftfeet
on Sep 28, 2012 -
32 comments
Last year, The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU's Law School released a
report (
pdf) detailing new, more restrictive state laws that affect voting rights and are likely to impact the outcome of the 2012 elections. The restrictions "fall most heavily on young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities." On August 3rd, 2012,
they updated their analysis with a
pdf of passed and pending State government legislation. Their conclusion: after a century in which the United States "expanded the franchise and knocked down myriad barriers to full electoral participation... that momentum [has] abruptly shifted."
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on Aug 17, 2012 -
47 comments
"I was upset because the political consultants and staff were talking about voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting. It had been one of those days,'' -
Jim Greer, former state party chair of the Florida G.O.P, in a deposition for his lawsuit against the party. Scott Horton at Harper's
covers the NYT's pox-on-both-your-houses
story on vote suppression
posted by crayz
on Aug 2, 2012 -
50 comments
"
Indeed, in this year when the United States is engaged in a ferocious campaign for the presidency, the question that ought to be asked is: How does the U.S. electoral system compare to Mexico's? I undertook a comprehensive study of the electoral systems in North America, and the good news is that the United States came in third. The bad news is that there are only three countries in North America." ___With Mexico in the aftermath of yesterday's federal and state elections, Robert A. Pastor observes
8 things the U.S. election system could learn from Mexico's.
posted by CrazyLemonade
on Jul 2, 2012 -
43 comments
After
a year without Mubarak, Egypt is about to get a much longer reprieve: the 84-year-old former president has been
sentenced to life in prison for his role in the deaths of protestors during last year's popular uprising. The former Interior Minister—though not his aides—will also be cooling his heels in a Cairo jail. The effects of this news on
national elections, with runoffs to be held in just a few weeks, remains to be seen.
posted by whitewall
on Jun 2, 2012 -
10 comments
Anatomy of a Stump Speech. The NY Times has been killing it of late with interactive features. This one is particularly good -- an annotated breakdown of the text and video of Republican stump speeches by four candidates.
"Revisionist history alert: Mr. Gingrich is recasting his tempestuous tenure as House speaker..."
posted by Cool Papa Bell
on Jan 3, 2012 -
26 comments
Waukeshocker! After Tuesday's painfully close, still undecided Supreme Court race between JoAnne Kloppenburg and David Prosser, Republicans warned that partisan election officials in certain municipalities might conveniently find bushels of extra uncounted votes after the fact.
It has come to pass -- but the extra votes were found in deep-red Waukesha County, represnting the entire city of Brookfield, and give GOP favorite David Prosser a probably insurmountable 50.2%/48.8% lead. Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus's policy of storing election returns on a personal computer in her office with no backup
was criticized last August. Nate Silver says
the new numbers look reasonable.
posted by escabeche
on Apr 7, 2011 -
255 comments
On February 18th, Ugandans held Presidential and Parliamentary elections. While the final results are still being tabulated, it appears
Yoweri “Sevo” Museveni has maintained his
position. Museveni, who has held power in Uganda for the past 25 years, is accused of using
intimidation and
corruption in the electoral campaign, and opposition leaders are already calling for
protests and fresh elections. The
official line, however, is that Museveni’s off-the-cuff
rap won over the youth vote after it was it was
remixed and started getting airplay on the radio, in clubs, and as a ringtone.
[more inside]
posted by Panjandrum
on Feb 24, 2011 -
6 comments
It's Election Day in America, and as is so often the case in this
fickle land, the results of the 2010 midterm elections are up in the air. Although President Obama's party is expected to suffer significant losses,
record numbers of districts remain competitive, and even minute errors in polling could mean the difference between
a historic Republican landslide and
an unexpectedly robust Democratic defense. At stake are control of not just the Senate and House, but myriad state and local offices, many of which will play key roles in the dynamics of the 2012 presidential race -- and, more subtly but no less crucially, the once-in-a-decade
congressional redistricting process. Much uncertainty surrounds the behavior of the electorate -- how many will turn out, and how informed will they be? To help move those statistics in the right direction, look inside for voter guides, national and state fact checkers, and an assortment of other resources to keep tabs on as the results roll in.
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Nov 2, 2010 -
858 comments
Ohio McDonald's Restaurant Tells Employees to Vote Republican As the election season is here, we wanted you to know which candidates will help our business grow in the future. As you know, the better our business does it enables us to invest in our people and our restaurants. If the right people are elected we will be able to continue with raises and benefits at or above our present levels. If others are elected we will not. [more inside]
posted by moorooka
on Oct 29, 2010 -
70 comments
DEFIANCE, Ohio - town of 17,000, a longtime stronghold of the United Auto Workers, with a Democratic majority. Why is the Democratic party now doing so badly here? 'The Obama administration’s rescue of General Motors allowed the company to keep running the giant foundry here, a mainstay of the local economy. If the recession drove joblessness here beyond 13 percent, the lengthy extensions of unemployment benefits in the stimulus package enabled struggling workers to keep their homes and keep patronizing local businesses.''Jami L. Young exemplifies the emerging politics. At the age of 31, Ms. Young runs her own insurance agency.''Like many other Defiance residents, she was pleased when Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, used federal stimulus money to build a bridge, helping to temper unemployment that had climbed to 14 percent and, despite improvement this year, remains high. Yet Ms. Young, who says that she supported Mr. Obama in 2008 as “the lesser of two evils,” now says she regrets her vote.'
[more inside]
posted by VikingSword
on Oct 27, 2010 -
132 comments
The Indian government describes their electronic voting machines as '
perfect', but has never permitted an independant evaluation. A team of three academic researchers received access to a machine from an anonymous source, and
demonstrated several
flaws. Concerns are being
expressed in India. At 5:30 this Saturday morning, police
arrested Hari Prasad, one of the research team, at his home, transporting
him to Mumbai.
[more inside]
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed
on Aug 22, 2010 -
31 comments
He's a philosopher; wore a super hero cape to premote civic values; mooned at students and admits he has Pakinsons disease.
Colombians, tired of corruption and human rights violations, could be about to bring in a radical new leader:
Antanas Mockus, the
green candidate whose
super citizen’s past could help make him president.
One view of
what is at stake.
And this is the first time we are really deciding over matters of national interest and not matters of fear. Issues such as health, education, international affairs. These are the central points of this election.
posted by adamvasco
on May 28, 2010 -
8 comments
Japan's opposition party,
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), is projected to win a
landslide victory tomorrow, ending the 52-year reign of the
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Furthermore, according to a survey conducted by the popular Asahi Shimbun newspaper,
the DPJ could win a two-thirds majority, enabling them to roll legislation through the Diet unabated. Despite the projections, the two parties are still
battling hard. Washington is
following these elections very closely, because of the man who could be the next prime minister,
Yukio Hatoyama.
[more inside]
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing
on Aug 29, 2009 -
46 comments
NRW 1946—2006. Short articles chronicling North Rhine-Westphalia. The site has one rather large shortcoming though, the video clips cannot be accessed (only available on VHS within the State!).
posted by tellurian
on May 12, 2009 -
10 comments
Between 16 April - 13 May the worlds largest democracy will go into action. Being India the
logistics are mind boggling. Over 700 million eligible voters who will vote in over 700,000 polling stations for 1,055 political parties. The BBC goes on to explain what makes Indian elections
special. University of Maryland has
Forecasts and Analysis and
Trends in Indian Election Politics has both insight and an interesting blog roll. As Indian Politics are more than usually corrupt and thuggish there is
website dedicated to information about candidates with a criminal history. Sadly in spite of this great democratic exercise, repression of
speech and miscarriage of justice will probably still be around for a while.
posted by adamvasco
on Apr 3, 2009 -
6 comments
