Elections in 2017

Quite.

To an Englishman across the pond, "Luther Stange" and "Roy Moore"
and their wikis read almost like characters from a batman movie!
 
Nuh uh, thry are clearly Marvel spoofs.
 
So the election is in less than 2 weeks, on monday 11th september, and I'd consider making a thread about it, but I haven't really been following the campaign, so I don't have a lot to say about it :/
 
New Zealand is having an election on 23 September (that's 24 September to most of you)

It looked a foregone conclusion that the conservative National Party would win until fairly recently, but now there is Jacindamania and Labour have massively surged, even leading a couple of polls. Jacinda Ardern took over as leader of Labour at the beginning of August, so it's a rapid surge.

NZ uses Mixed Member Proportional (7 Maori seats, 62 general electorates, and 51 or more list seats) so the seat distribution comes out pretty close to the distribution of the popular vote give or take parties not making the 5% threshold for list seats. This means usually they have minority governments and that agreements for support (not usually coalitions) become necessary to govern. The Nationals currently have confidence and supply agreements from ACT (right wing), United Future (centrists) and the Maori Party (broadly centre left but focused on Maori issues obviously).
 
The Catalan Parliament just passed the Referendum Law and the Catalan government in bulk just signed the decree calling for an independence referendum on 1st October.

Although almost 80% of Catalans want a referendum, the No to independence is ahead of the Yes. However, due to the No parties denying the possibility of a referendum altogether, near half of the Noes have stated that ghey will not vote. This would lead to an uncontested victory for Yes with solid turnout numbers.

Consequences are uncertain as Madrid's reaction is to be seen.
 
Presumably everyone involved is about to be arrested
 
Presumably everyone involved is about to be arrested
We'll see. I fear that. Thus far the Guardia Civil has only been dispatched to a printing press, where they had to wait outside for two days for a court order so they could search it for referendum material. It was a sad spectacle, although it also raises the fear meter.
 
Although almost 80% of Catalans want a referendum, the No to independence is ahead of the Yes. However, due to the No parties denying the possibility of a referendum altogether, near half of the Noes have stated that ghey will not vote. This would lead to an uncontested victory for Yes with solid turnout numbers.
That's a very strange gamble for them to make. Boycott a referendum only serves to discredit the electoral process itself, which is why such boycotts are usually carried out by people intending to do just that, to highlight corruption or challenge the legitimacy of the regime. But the anti-secessionists in Catalonia aren't trying to do that, because the electoral process they're boycotting, although initiated at a regional level, is still being carried out within the greater legal and constitutional structures of the Spanish state.

They're essentially making the declaration that Spain, the country they would to live under, is not capable of resolving its tensions through democratic means. Are they prepared to deal with the consequences of such an assertion?
 
Elections in 2017 include New Zealand, France, Germany, Argentina, Chile, Norway, Timor-Leste, Iran and Western Australia.
Czech republic: parliamentary elections in October. The populists are going to win over the traditional parties as a result of corruption within the Czech political system and mismanagement in the EU.
 
That's a very strange gamble for them to make. Boycott a referendum only serves to discredit the electoral process itself, which is why such boycotts are usually carried out by people intending to do just that, to highlight corruption or challenge the legitimacy of the regime. But the anti-secessionists in Catalonia aren't trying to do that, because the electoral process they're boycotting, although initiated at a regional level, is still being carried out within the greater legal and constitutional structures of the Spanish state.

They're essentially making the declaration that Spain, the country they would to live under, is not capable of resolving its tensions through democratic means. Are they prepared to deal with the consequences of such an assertion?
But the regime here is the totalitarian government of Catalonia, which is made up of North Korean Nazi Soviet terrorist brainwashers. Not all at the same time, of course, depends on the day and paper.

My favourite line of the last few days, by the Spanish vicepresident, is that a referendum is an attack against democracy. If I didn't live in this country, I'd follow the unionist reactions just for comedic value.

I should clarify that the referendum is explicitly anticonstitutional, and that the law was passed bypassing most parliamentary procedures via a loophole in the chamber's rules. It is then indignant that the people who have repeatedly impeded such a debate or a vote to happen through ordinary channels decry the abnormality of the process by which this law has been passed.
 
Or less theatrically, the referendum is plain illegal and anticonstitutional.
 
That is what happens when the only way to do it is illegally and anticonstitutionally.
 
Most of NSW has local council elections today. It's the first elections since many councils were dissolved and amalgamated, being run by unelected administrators ever since. The amalgamations were quite an unpopular move; my council is now supposed to represent approx. 350k people, a population slightly less than the state of Tasmania, which by contrast gets 12 senators in the federal parliament.

I have a relative who is running for council in my ward, but the only thing I know about her politics is that she fought to prevent the building of a mosque. Maybe she's anti-development in general (as pretty much all candidates claim to be), maybe she's a right-wing lunatic, who knows. I'm conflicted between my sense of familial obligation and a safe choice. I'll probably end up putting the Greens first as usual.
 
Most of NSW has local council elections today. It's the first elections since many councils were dissolved and amalgamated, being run by unelected administrators ever since. The amalgamations were quite an unpopular move; my council is now supposed to represent approx. 350k people, a population slightly less than the state of Tasmania, which by contrast gets 12 senators in the federal parliament.

I have a relative who is running for council in my ward, but the only thing I know about her politics is that she fought to prevent the building of a mosque. Maybe she's anti-development in general (as pretty much all candidates claim to be), maybe she's a right-wing lunatic, who knows. I'm conflicted between my sense of familial obligation and a safe choice. I'll probably end up putting the Greens first as usual.

This just reminded me of my massive surprise a year ago when my sleepy home town elected a Greens mayor out of nowhere. Good times.
 
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