Shortly, white smoke will appear over a building in a European capital and, apparently after having checked that the incumbent has testicles, a new political figure will be anointed with little formal power but great powers of influence and suggestion.
Not habemus papam, but habemus praesidentem consilium europeum1.
As you may be aware, I am not the [...]

Dear Nick (if I may call you that),
I’ve been thinking about the next election. There seems to be a decent chance that there will be a hung parliament. It is, of course, possible that one party will be so close to an overall majority that they will form an alliance with one of the small [...]

In and amongst all the debates about reforming the electoral system, I’d like to flag up one that I particularly like. It’s simple, cheap and effective – Re-Open Nominations (RON).
The idea is very simple. On every ballot paper, at the bottom, is a candidate called RON. If RON wins, nominations are re-opened and the election [...]

Political wonks will be familiar, at the bottom of every piece of election literature (including stickers and t-shirts), with an imprint along the lines of
Printed and promoted by Anne Agent on behalf of Can D’Date, both of 29 Acacia Avenue, Dandytown.
I believe that’s a requirement under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000 (PPERA). [...]

Ahead of tomorrow’s poll, I thought it might be useful to look at who’s still in the race for the presidency of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Runners and riders come below the fold along with a brief comment from me.

Just doing some working out for a blog post and I thought this might be useful to record. I believe it’s all right.

Country
Governing Party
Europarty

Austria
SDP
PES

Belgium
CD&V
EPP

Bulgaria
Socialist
PES

Cyprus
Communist
Nordic Green Left

Czech Republic
Civic Platform
EC&R

Denmark
Venstre
ALDE

Estonia
Reform
ALDE

Finland
SDP
PES

France
UMP
EPP

Germany
CDU
EPP

Greece
New Democracy
EPP

Hungary
Ind/Soc
PES

Irish Republic
FF
ALDE

Italy
PdL
EPP

Latvia
NEP
EPP

Lithuania
Ind/Con
PES

Luxembourg
CSV
EPP

Malta
Nationalist
EPP

Netherlands
CDA
EPP

Poland
PiS
EC&R

Portugal
Socialist
PES

Romania
Ind/Popular
EPP

Slovakia
SDP
PES

Slovenia
SDP
PES

Spain
PSOE
PES

Sweden
Moderate
EPP

UK
Labour
PES

The totals are 9 for the Party of European Socialists, 12 for the European People’s Party, 1 for the Nordic Green Left, 2 for the new [...]

Norm Coleman has conceded victory to Al Franken in the Minnesota senate race after eight months of recounts and litigation, as reported by the Star Tribune.
It has been obvious for some time that Franken was going to have the election given to him; delaying by Coleman was to keep the GOP’s ability to filibuster alive. [...]

Today will see the writ moved for the by-election in Norwich North where Dr Ian Gibson has resigned. In advance of the poll on 23rd July, the Universities & Colleges Union have commissioned a poll that makes interesting reading.
The headlines are, with my comments underneath:
Half of people aged 18-34 (48% of people aged 18-24 years [...]

Every time there’s an election, there’s a vote-matcher-widgety-hoojamaflit-thingie. Yes, that’s a technical term and the one at EUProfiler.eu is pretty good. According to its outputs, my closest UK party is the LibDems; the main reason it didn’t give me the Labour Party, it would appear, is that I am more liberal on law and order.

Perhaps [...]

As I wrote here, there have been elections in the Basque Country; there were simultaneously elections in Galicia. The result there is rather clearer as the Popular Party have an absolute majority of 39 out of 75. Previously, Galicia had been governed by a coalition of PSdeG (Partido Socialista de Galicia, the local flavour of [...]