Comments on: Truro and Falmouth

By: Pete Whitehead

Pete Whitehead — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:15:24 +0000

Indeed an excellent result for the Spanish Conservatives – well done to them. This is the worst result for the Spanish socialists since the civil war – they carried only 2 out of more than 50 constituencies

By: swanarcadian

swanarcadian — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:30:23 +0000

Congratulations to the Spanish conservatives, who despite the proportional representation system, have succeeded in winning an overall majority of 22 in the Congress of Deputies.

Seats allocated were as follows
Popular Party 186 +32
Socialist Worker’s Party 110 -59
Others 54 +27
Total 350

Detailed results can be found here (although you may need Google Translate);

h ttp://www.generales2011.mir.es/99CG/DCG99999TO_L1.htm

Most of the countries of Western Europe at present seem to have governments led by their principal right-of-centre parties (UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland). Austria is one exception.

By: swanarcadian

swanarcadian — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:30:19 +0000

Wasn’t sure where else to post this, but all the limelight on Italy and Berlusconi has distracted from the Spanish general election which will be taking place this weekend.
It’s remarkable that the two main political parties there were able to poll well over 80% of the votes in 2008, despite the proportional representation system.
Polls are showing that Partido Popular are heading for the most seats – if this is true then vive la revolución!

By: Paul D

Paul D — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:27:23 +0000

Indeed, I recall the leader of the Gibraltan Labour Party urging people to vote Tory in the 2004 Euros because of the “shared sovereignty” discussions

By: Pete Whitehead

Pete Whitehead — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:24:02 +0000

“How does Gibraltar vote in the Euroelections?”

At the last European elections it was the most Conservative electorate of any in the UK, giving the Tories 52% which was 4% more than they got in Kensington & Chelsea, the next highest. Still this was a bit of a come down from the elections of 2004 when 71% voted Conservative!
Elections to the Gibraltar parliament are a battle between the Gibraltar Social Democrats and the Gibraltar Socialist Labour party, but as in Portugal, the ‘Social Democrats’ are a centre right party and there was probably some correlation between their support and those who voted Conservative in the more recent European election. Obviously in 2004 the Conservatives appealed well beyond this base, because the Labour UK government was seen by Gibraltarians as unsound on the question of sovereignty.

By: Andy JS

Andy JS — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:42:00 +0000

I wonder whether if the electorate of the Scilly Isles was 16,000 they’d have a seat of their own in the same way as the Western Isles does.

By: Barnaby JL Marder

Barnaby JL Marder — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:36:41 +0000

Scillonians don’t necessarily think of themselves as Cornish, so the comparison with Shetland is quite appropriate.I’ve always been under the impression that the islands’ inhabitants tend slightly towards the Conservatives. Of course the population increases quite sharply in the summer months because of seasonal work.

By: Frederic Stansfield

Frederic Stansfield — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:44:30 +0000

You’ve raised the issue, Pete! How does Gibraltar vote in the Euroelections?

Presumably voting Mebyon Kernow in the Scillies is akin to voting SNP in Shetland.

By: Richard

Richard — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:57:29 +0000

Its a very small electorate though.

I believe in the local elections last year there was 13 candidates for 12 places (or something similar).

Must be rather embarrassing being the one to lose.

By: Pete Whitehead

Pete Whitehead — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:02:48 +0000

I hadn’t noticed this previously actually, but the decline in the UKIP share is particularly striking as in the South West region overall their share was only down fractionally from 22.6% in 2004 to 22.1% in 2009. UKIP’s share was actually down throughout Cornwall (and up in other parts of the region) but nothing like to that extent. The Scillys went from having as I say the fourth highest UKIP share in the SW of England in 2004 to the second lowest after Bristol in 2009 (I don’t include Gibraltar for obvious reasons). The main benficiaries appear to be the Conservatives here which was not so much true of the rest for Cornwall (where Mebyon Kernow of course got a decent vote this time round)