elections
For the first time in a century, Norway’s Labour Party failed to top the country’s local and regional elections, pipped to the post by the centre-right conservatives. Ingrid Wergeland looks at the election, and the political trends behind the result.
A dark blue wind
A dark blue wind has blown across Norway in the municipal elections held on September 11. Høyre (the Conservative Party, 25.9 percent, +5.8) and the right-populist Fremskrittspartiet (Progress Party, 11.3 percent, +3.1) have gained power in a majority of cities....
read more "In Norway local elections herald a shift to the right"
read more "In Norway local elections herald a shift to the right"
The Finnish parliamentary elections were held on April 2, but it has taken almost three months for a new government to be formed. After only two weeks in power, Finland’s new right-wing coalition faces neo-Nazi scandals and a mounting opposition to its austerian agenda that make it seem increasingly unlikely to last the full four-year election cycle. In the meantime, however, it is already doing plenty of damage.
April’s national election saw big gains for Finland’s right-wing opposition. The governing parties all lost ground – with the exception of the...
read more "Finland’s Cabinet of Horrors"
read more "Finland’s Cabinet of Horrors"
Voting on 12 February will determine whether the city continues to shift away from neoliberalism or tacks back to the rightOn 12 February, the September 2021 elections for the Berlin House of Representatives and district councils will be repeated due to irregularities in several constituencies, a little over a year after the September 2021 election resulted in a clear majority for the incumbent “red-green-red” coalition between the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the socialist party Die Linke that has governed ...
read more "Berlin’s Repeat Elections and the Social Democrats’ Dilemma"
read more "Berlin’s Repeat Elections and the Social Democrats’ Dilemma"
The political results of the Swedish election are in, and they bear all the hallmarks of a bad dystopian novel. The new government will be comprised of the Moderates, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, and – in all ways except appointed ministers – the far-right Sweden Democrats.
Broadly speaking, the Moderates get all the central functions of government, including the role of Prime Minister, ministers of finance, justice, and foreign affairs, while the Christian Democrats get social issues and health care, with the Liberals ...
read more "Sweden’s new government – a dystopian nightmare"
read more "Sweden’s new government – a dystopian nightmare"
The Danish election of 1 November 2022 was truly historic: consolidated parties have fallen from grace, new ones have stormed into parliament, and never before have so many voters shifted their alliances between parties in the months leading up to the election.
Entering the voting booth last Tuesday, Danish voters were presented with no less than fourteen different parties to choose from. New parties on the right presented old populist positions, but with a more popular visage. Led by well-known politicians, these parties have matched different policies ...
read more "Denmark 2022: A landslide election"
read more "Denmark 2022: A landslide election"
On November 1, Denmark will vote, seven months ahead of schedule. Polls show left and right blocs almost neck-and-neck, and the risk of an outright win for the right-wing remains real. However, with Social Democratic Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen seeking to hold onto power through an unlikely coalition across the middle, a rightwards shift seems inevitable.
The early election was called when the Social Liberals, one of three smaller parties propping up the Social Democrat minority government, threatened a no-confidence motion ...
read more "Denmark to hold early elections as Social Democrats move right"
read more "Denmark to hold early elections as Social Democrats move right"
These national elections have been characterised by the lowest electoral turnout in the history of the Italian Republic. Abstention is higher among low-income social classes, suggesting a worrying return of voting based on the census. The electoral system penalises the lists running out of the main coalitions, such as the new-born Popular Union, pushing leftist voters to express a “responsible” vote for the major parties. Overall, the victory of the right-wing coalition with 44 percent is not striking: it is true that the ...
read more "The heritage of Draghi: abstention triumphs, the right wins"
read more "The heritage of Draghi: abstention triumphs, the right wins"
***Version française ci-dessous***
On Sunday 19 June, a long electoral sequence in France that began on 10 April during the first round of the presidential election ended. Although this first election only had one winner, Emmanuel Macron re-elected in the second round against Marine Le Pen, the tripartition that has worked the political field since 2017 was heavily reflected in the results and now structures a national assembly divided between the group Ensemble, the Nupes and the RN. Also, The Republicans were more resilient than in the ...
read more "The Re-Parlamentarization of French Politics"
read more "The Re-Parlamentarization of French Politics"
On 10 of April at 20:00, the two faces of Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen appeared on French TV screens announcing their advance to the second round of the French presidential election. The incumbent president placed first with 27.8 percent of the vote, putting him slightly ahead of the far-right leader, who scored a record high of 23.1 percent. No matter what happens between now and 24 April, one of the two candidates will be the next President of France by the end of the month.
But for this picture to be accurate, it needs to include Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the ...
read more "Not Out of the Woods Yet"
read more "Not Out of the Woods Yet"
The French left ahead of presidential elections***Version française ci-dessous***
Less than one month ahead of the first round of French presidential elections, who are the left and progressive candidates, and how do their political projects compare? And more pointedly, do any of them stand a chance?
On the left, 6 candidates are running to become president of France. Neither Christiane Taubira, François Hollande's former justice minister, nor the Trotskyist Annasse Kazib, nor Hélène Thouy, of the Animalist Party, managed to obtain the 500 signatures from elected ...
read more "Who’s Who?"
read more "Who’s Who?"