Canada 2011 Official Thread

[Joe Republic]

It's a shame that that law is no longer enforceable.

One of the reasons cited for the depressed GOP turnout on the west coast in US '08 was media reports of Obama's impending victory.  And of course we all remember what happened in the Florida panhandle in 2000.

[Joe Republic]

Hmm... UK 1983, anyone?

[Joe Republic]

Hmm... UK 1983, anyone?

The NDP have been around for decades.

So had the Liberals.

But it just looks so familiar though.  A first term Tory government calls an election not long after a huge economic recession, and since the 'red' opposition party shows no hope (especially under an unpopular leader), the 'yellow' third party surges ahead instead.

Whether they end up with the same disappointment as the Alliance did remains to be seen.

[Joe Republic]

Fair enough, guys.  I saw a comparison in it, but I guess you can find those anywhere in anything.

(Odd to see Refudiate respond to something I'd posted for once though, albeit indirectly.)

[Joe Republic]

Elizabeth May is only the second Green politician elected under FPTP, the first being Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavillion, UK in May 2010.

I don't think that's true...

It isn't.  Technically, Jeanette Fitzsimons holds this distinction.  Although New Zealand uses the mixed member proportional system, she was elected to the Coromandel electorate in 1999.

[Joe Republic]

He said she was the second Green politician elected under FPTP.  Fitzsimons wouldn't count because New Zealand uses MMP.

As I said, she was elected to serve the Coromandel electorate via the FPTP aspect of New Zealand's system, during her 1999-2002 term.  She was elected to her previous term via the list aspect, so that wouldn't count.

You can't out-pedant me, Inks.

[Joe Republic]

How about the German Greens? Have they ever elected someone under the FPTP portion of MMP and if so when?

Hans-Christian Ströbele was the first (and so far only) person elected to the Bundestag this way, in 2002.