International Elections

[TheNewTeddy]

Upcoming elections:

JANUARY

12th - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Czech (President)

20th - http://en.wikipedia....eferendum,_2013 Austria Referendum

20th - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Lower Saxony (Germany)*

22nd - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 ISRAEL

FEBRUARY

3rd - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein_parliamentary_election,_2013 - Liechtenstein

3rd - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monegasque_parliamentary_election,_2008 - Monaco

17th - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypriot_presidential_election,_2013 - Cyprus

17th - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuadorian_general_election,_2013 - Ecuador

18th - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_presidential_election,_2013 - Armenia

25th - http://en.wikipedia....eneral_election ITALY

Countries in ALLCAPS will get focus by me, while those with an asterisk* after them will get a "minor focus" (similar to Romania or Ghana)

Other big elections this coming year

http://en.wikipedia....ederal_election GERMANY

http://en.wikipedia....ederal_election AUSTRALIA

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Iceland*

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Lebanon*

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Nepal*

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Pakistan*

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Palestine*

http://en.wikipedia....eferendum,_2013 Zimbabwe Referendum

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Zimbabwe Presidential

Edited December 24, 2012 by TheNewTeddy

[TheNewTeddy]

-

Italy uses a unique election system. It is similar to ours, if the country was one big riding, and the losers got a bone.

The party or coalition that wins the election gets 344 of the 630 seats. The winning party gets these 344 seats whether or not they've won the election by 1 vote or 1 million. This makes predicting the winner simple, especially since the Socialists have been leading in just about every poll since the last election.

Recent polls show the following:

32.55% - PD - Socialists

17.02% - PdL - Conservatives

16.79% - M5S - Populist

5.96% - LN - Northern Seppies

5.52% - SEL - Socialist Greens

4.77% - UdC - Moderates

3.02% - FD - Liberal Libertarians

2.78% - VTR - Centrists

2.38% - LD - Social Conservative

2.16% - LdV - Populist

2.08% - FdS - Communist

1.86% - FLI - Moderate Conservative

7.95% - Oth

There are polls daily, multiple sometimes. This is an average of every poll this month.

So what's the back story?

Berlusconi. He is one hell of an arse. He continued Italy's obsession with growing their national debt while trying to have sex with teenage girls, if he can find time between passing laws to make all the illegal things he's don't not illegal anymore. Italy suffered when Greece crashed and took Europe down with it. As a result, Italy appointed an interim leader to fix things. During this period, Berlusconi was charged with breaking the law and the interim refused to change the law to make it cool - so Berlusconi pulled out of the government and it has collapsed, causing this election.

Needless to say this, as you can see from the polls, has hurt his party.

In May of 2012, for some reason (I'll research it) a new party called M5S rose to prominence. The party is populist and anti-corruption.

The expected election results are as follows:

PD - 344

PdL - 107

M5S - 106

LN - 38

SEL - 35

But the UdC might make the threshold. At their current numbers, they'd take the following:

PD - 344

PdL - 97

M5S - 96

LN - 34

SEL - 32

UdC - 27

Edited December 24, 2012 by TheNewTeddy

[TheNewTeddy]

(Finally have time to give this the response it deserves)

A boycotted election has no legitimacy.

Oh?

http://en.wikipedia....lection_boycott

Jamaica:

Winner governed, did not suffer major international consequences, did not make any major changes, and lost the next election where there was no boycott.

Slovakia:

Boycott used due to a turnout rule saying 50% was needed, this was successful.

Venezuela:

Winner governed, only suffered international consequences because Chaves is an arse, no major changes made, won next election.

Burkina Faso:

Winner governed, did not suffer major international consequences, did not make any major changes, won next election.

Ghana:

Winner governed, did not suffer major international consequences, did not make any major changes, won next election.

Mali:

Winner governed, did not suffer major international consequences, did not make any major changes, lost the next election.

Trinidad:

Winner governed, did not suffer major international consequences, did not make any major changes, won next election.

Togo:

Winner governed, did not suffer major international consequences, did not make any major changes, won next election.

Ivory Coast:

Winner governed, did not suffer major international consequences, did not make any major changes, next election delayed to 2010, minor civil war, arrest of president.

Northern Ireland:

Still a part of the United Kingdom.

Gambia:

Winner governed, did not suffer major international consequences, did not make any major changes, won next election.

Algeria:

Winner governed, did not suffer major international consequences, did not make any major changes, smashed to bits in next election.

Guinea:

Winner governed, did not suffer major international consequences, did not make any major changes, destroyed prior to next election.

Sure it may "feel" nice, but boycotts have no effect.

Edited December 24, 2012 by TheNewTeddy

[-TSS-]

I wonder who is going to win the Zimbabwe presidential election. It is surely going to be a close contest, don't you think?

[TheNewTeddy]

New elections:

FEB

3rd - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein_parliamentary_election,_2013 - Liechtenstein

3rd - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monegasque_parliamentary_election,_2008 - Monaco

17th - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypriot_presidential_election,_2013 - Cyprus

17th - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuadorian_general_election,_2013 - Ecuador

18th - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_presidential_election,_2013 - Armenia

[jbg]

Sure it may "feel" nice, but boycotts have no effect.

My point is that in many, but not all cases boycotts spring from an "electoral process" that was distorted in the first place, such as massive bribery, threats of violence, or results that everyone knows are going to be falsified.

[TheNewTeddy]

CZECH

The presidential race is a battle between Jan Fischer, an independent moderate with a strong economic background, and Milos Zeman, the 'father' of the Social Democratic Party.

ISRAEL

A few parties have signed surplus vote agreements. What this means is they are rigging the PR system to get more seats... though that is a negative way of looking at it, it's also the simplest way to explain what it means. The sitting government has chosen an orthodox party, and two Arab parties are working together.

Orthodox parties like Shas have banished women from their lists (hence, no women will be elected from these parties) Meanwhile, one of the Arab party MKs (MK = MP in Israel) has been disqualified from running, not because she is female, but because she refuses to accept Israel as a Jewish State.

One of the big issues is the Tal Law, which would allow orthodox jews to take a pass on serving in the military.

Likud (Conservative) and Yisrael Beiteinu (radical Conservative) have formed an electoral coalition. They are the current government and will win the largest number of seats in this coming election.

Kadima. Now just about dead thanks to the departure of their former leader.

Labour/Avoda. They are expected to regain their position as the strong #2 party. They are lead by Shelly Yachimovich.

Shas. The most "moderate" of the orthodox parties, this party is clearly religious in nature. Shas has managed to take 3rd or 4th place in just about every election in Israel.

Hatnuah. This is where many Kadima supporters have gone, following Tzipi Livni. This party is "moderate" by Israeli standards, but would still be Conservative here.

Yesh Atid. The strongest party without any seats in the Knesset (Parliament). This party is lead by the son of a former leader of a Liberal Party.

Most recent election projection:

37 - Likud YB

20 - Labour

12 - Orthodox Parties

11 - Shas

10 - Arab Parties

9 - Hatnuah

7 - Yesh Atid

6 - Another Orthodox Party

4 - Meretz (Left wing)

2 - Others

[TheNewTeddy]

Egypt Referendum Results:

YES - 10.7 million

NO - 6.1 million

NV - 34 million (apx)

Had this referendum had the same turnout as last time, and, if all of those people voted no, it would have been defeated.

But it was not. And now it is the new constitution of Egypt.

For Reference

Last referendum:

Last election:

Edited December 26, 2012 by TheNewTeddy

[jbg]

Egypt Referendum Results:

YES - 10.7 million

NO - 6.1 million

NV - 34 million (apx)

Had this referendum had the same turnout as last time, and, if all of those people voted no, it would have been defeated.

But it was not. And now it is the new constitution of Egypt.

For Reference

Last referendum:

You are assuming that the Muslim Brotherhood would have meekly submitted to a "no" vote. I highly doubt it would have. Ahmadinejad did not.

[-TSS-]

In the Czech system the president is more of a figurehead than anyone with real power. It is the Prime Minister who is the political leader of the country.

[TheNewTeddy]

Japan election map

[TheNewTeddy]

Current Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Monti, has decided to run for office. He will lead what is expected to be a new party/coalition of centrist forces.

Somehow, the media tells us, this means a 3 way race. Frankly, unless Monti is leading M5S, it will not be a simple 3 way race. If he does lead M5S, or more accurately, a coalition including M5S, then he could quite easily win the entire election.

edit

The head of M5S has called Monti an "unconstitutional madman" (Translated) in response to his desire to run. I guess he won't be leading M5S.

edit

Monti will be leading a new party, called Agenda Monti per I'Iltalia, or AMI. Both the UdC and FLI will be joining this coalition. I am looking into other parties as well...

Edited December 28, 2012 by TheNewTeddy

[TheNewTeddy]

Okay so the new "polls" based on the coalitions as they stand today is as follows:

38.07% - IBC - PD + SEL - Socialists

17.02% - PdL - Conservatives

16.79% - M5S - Populist

9.41% - AMI - UdC + FLI + VTR - Moderate

5.96% - LN - Northern Seppies

3.02% - FD - Liberal Libertarians

2.38% - LD - Social Conservative

2.16% - LdV - Populist

2.08% - FdS - Communist

7.95% - Oth

Edited December 30, 2012 by TheNewTeddy

[TheNewTeddy]

Italy update

39.00% - IBC - Socialist (PD+SEL+PSI+CD) -Bersani-

20.00% - ??? - Conservative (PdL+LD+FdI+GS) -Berlusconi- [no coalition name chosen yet]

16.00% - M5S - Populist (No coalition allies) -Grillo-

10.00% - AMI - Moderate (UdC+FLI+VTR+PLI) -Monti-

4.00% - RC - Left-Radical (IdV+FdS+MA+FdV) -Ingroia-

5.50% - LN - North Seppy (No coalition allies) -Maroni-

3.00% - FD - Libertarian Lite (No coalition allies) -Boldrin-

Edited December 31, 2012 by TheNewTeddy

[TheNewTeddy]

Israel:

Things really seem to be shaking themselves up, here is a bit of a backgrounder.

Last Election (Current Knesset) - Party - Stance - Canadian Equal

28 (21) - Kadima - Liberal - Liberal

27 (27) - Likud - Conservative - Conservaive

15 (15) - Yisrael Beiteinu - Right-Conservative - Canadian Alliance

13 (8) - Labour - Labour - Moderate NDP

11 (10) - Shas - Religious - Christian Heritage Party

5 (5) - UTJ - Very Religious - No equal

4 (2) - National Union - Very Religious - No equal

4 (4) - UAL Ta'al - Arab - Bloc?

4 (4) - Hadash - Arab - Bloc?

3 (3) - Jewish Home - Very Religious - No equal

3 (3) - Meretz - Green - Green

0 (7) - Hatnuah - Kadima defectors - Liberal

0 (2) - Otzma LeYisrael - Far right - No equal

0 (1) - Am Shalem - Moderate Religious - Moderate CHP

0 (0) - Yesh Atid - Liberal - Liberal

Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu have formed a coalition for this election.

National Union and Jewish Home have also formed a coalition for this election.

The Arab parties, though not in coalition, are often counted as one for simplicity sake.

So what's the difference between all the religious parties? That's harder to figure out.

Shas has been the big player for decades. It is almost a race-based party, but that is not true. Those who follow orthodox religious traditions are called Haredim, and they form the base of the entire party. Even among them, there are moderates, and Shas takes up the moderate 2/3rds of these voters. Shas has quite often been a coalition partner to both Left and Right governments. Shas finds most of it's support among non-european jews.

UTJ is somewhat similar to Shas but finds it's support more from the 'brass' of the religious clerics than from the 'people'. It is more focuses on mysticism.

National Union and Jewish Home differ from the above two in that they have a right-wing position on the Palestinian issue. While the above two parties are more focused on what the Torrah actually says, these two want to apply it in a right-wing manner. National Union especially wants to create a theocratic state.

[TheNewTeddy]

Upcoming elections:

JANUARY

12th - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Czech (President)

20th - http://en.wikipedia....eferendum,_2013 Austria Referendum

20th - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Lower Saxony (Germany)*

22nd - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 ISRAEL

FEBRUARY

3rd - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 - Liechtenstein

3rd - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2008 - Monaco

17th - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 - Cyprus

17th - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 - Ecuador

18th - http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 - Armenia

25th - http://en.wikipedia....eneral_election ITALY

Countries in ALLCAPS will get focus by me, while those with an asterisk* after them will get a "minor focus" (similar to Romania or Ghana)

Other big elections this coming year

http://en.wikipedia....ederal_election GERMANY

http://en.wikipedia....ederal_election AUSTRALIA

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Iceland*

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Lebanon*

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Nepal*

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Pakistan*

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Palestine*

http://en.wikipedia....eferendum,_2013 Zimbabwe Referendum

http://en.wikipedia...._election,_2013 Zimbabwe Presidential

Edited January 4, 2013 by TheNewTeddy

[TheNewTeddy]

The latest polls put the two main governing parties down from their pre-election 42 to a current 35 seats.

The two radical right-religious parties are far up from their current 5 seats to 18, and could thus finish in second place.

Labour is up from 8 to 18

The Arab parties are stable at 11

Kadima is expected to lose all 21 seats

Yesh Atid is expected to win 5

Hatnuah is expected to win 6

Meretz is expected to win 7

Otzma polled at 6 but this seems to be an outlier

UTJ sits at 7, up from 5

and Shas is at 8, down from 10

[TheNewTeddy]

Poll Averaging produces different results.

34 for Likud (and allies)

17 for Labour

15 for the Religious coalition

11 for Shas

9 for Yesh Atid

9 for Hatnuah

6 for UTJ

4 for Meretz

2 for Otzma

11 for the Arab parties.

COMBOS

49 for Likud and the Religious coalition.

49 for Likud and Labour

60 if either of the above combine with Shas. Note 61 is needed for a Majority.

18 combined for the Liberal parties

34 for the 3 Religious lists

68 for the 3 Religious lists + the Likud lead coalition

39 for the centre left of Labour, the Liberals, and Meretz

50 (for the above if they combined with) with Shas

56 with UTJ

In short, at this time, the most plausible result is a Likud-Religious coalition. The only way the other parties could manage a coalition is to invite Arab parties in, and that won't be happening.

Edited January 4, 2013 by TheNewTeddy

[TheNewTeddy]

NOTE

For clarity, I'm going to start using different names

The Likud-Yisrael Beitenu coalition shall now be called the "Conservatives"

The National Union and Jewish Home coalition (AKA the Religious Coalition) will now be called the Jewish Union, or, Jewish Party.

Meretz, is a left party. Considering the Zionism in Israeli politics, Meretz is the only Jewish party that can be compared to left-wing views from outside of Israel. I've classified it as "Progressive" to avoid confusion with just using "left"

Otzma will now just be called the "Nationalists" as that is what they are in short.

Yesh Atid, which is a party based around it's leader, Lapid, and his views on the issues, will be just called Lapid.

Hatnuah will be called the Liberals

UTJ will be called the Torrah Party

Shas, however, is keeping it's name. The name is simple enough to remember and spell, and, it is too unique to simply classify otherwise.

Note that all 3 Arab parties are different. One of them, for example, has a huge number of Jewish members, and is in effect a mixed Jewish-Arab Socialist party. Another could be classified as "Islamist". All three, however, are firmly on the left of the spectrum, more left than Meretz in fact.

(This is a separate post, so I can link to it)

Thus, current standings projections:

34 - Conservatives

17 - Labour

15 - Jewish

11 - Shas

11 - Arab

9 - Lapid

9 - Liberals

6 - Torrah

4 - Progressive

2 - Nationalist

PS - a special thanks to a friend of mine from Israel for helping me with this post!

In addition, a bit more about the Arab parties.

Hadash is a Socialist front. They have Communist elements. They are more concerned with being left-wing than they are with supporting Arab causes. This is the party with a large number of Jewish members.

Balad is far more Arab focused, but still left-wing. The party has similar stances to Hadash on the Palestine issue, but, on other issues are not as left-wing.

United Arab List and Ta'al are two parties that run a single list. The latter is focused on it's leader, while the former is an Islamist party.

The biggest difference between the three is where their support comes from geographically. UAL gets a lot of support from the south while Balad and Hadash gain support from various towns in the rest of Israel. It is not unusual to see one small Arab town with over 80% support for, say, Balad, while the small Arab town next door has given 80% of it's support to Hadash. UAL can get in on this action as well from time to time.

Edited January 4, 2013 by TheNewTeddy

[TheNewTeddy]

Italy Polling Update:

40.00% - IBC - Socialist (PD+SEL+PSI+CD) -Bersani-

21.00% - ??? - Conservative (PdL+LD+FdI+FD+GS) -Berlusconi- [no coalition name chosen yet]

16.00% - M5S - Populist (No coalition allies) -Grillo-

11.00% - AMI - Moderate (UdC+FLI+VTR+PLI) -Monti-

4.00% - RC - Left-Radical (Unified List) -Ingroia-

4.00% - LN - North Seppy (No coalition allies) -Maroni-

This is our 2013 starting point. From here on in all further updates will be complete mathematical averages.

Israel:

http://www.haaretz.com/news/israeli-elections-2013

An interesting graphic here. I will summarize:

the Nationalists are clearly the most right-wing party in Israel. They are also quite Religious, but, there are other more religious parties. These include the Jewish party, Shas, and the Torrah party. Shas is listed as more to the right of the Torrah Party, but both are very religious. The Torrah Party meanwhile comes out close to the centre on the left-right spectrum, but still on the right. The Conservatives meanwhile straddle the Religious-Secular divide, but are also on the right.

Kadima is all but dead, but was in the middle. It's support has gone to Lapid, which is slightly more secular, and the Liberals, which are even more secular and to the left. Labour is to the left of this, but is a bit more religious in fact. The Progressives are listed as the most left-wing jewish party, but, not quite as secular as the Liberals.

The arab parties crowd the far left side of the spectrum, with the UAL-Ta'al being listed as potentially the most religious party in the country, while Balad and Hadash are the most secular parties.

[TheNewTeddy]

Lower Saxony (Germany)

The Ministerpräsidenten of Landes Niedersachsen in Germany - that is, head of the Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands in that state, his name is "David James McAllister"

McAllister leads the Conservative CDU government and is currently in coalition with the Liberals. Stephan Weil is the Socialist leader, and only other person with a realistic chance of being elected as Premier (Minister President) of the state.

Recent polls have been bad for the smaller parties. The Liberals, the Left-Radicals, and the Pirate Party have all failed to meet the 5% threshold since September. It is thus likely that only three parties, the Conservatives, Socialists, and Greens will win seats. Every poll taken within the past year shows the Greens and Socialists would have enough seats to form a governing coalition.

If the Liberals, or the Radicals, or the Pirates win seats, it likely would not be enough to disrupt any Socialist-Green majority; however, if two of these parties manage to win seats, it would probably be enough. What happens remains to be seen.

[bud]

NOTE

For clarity, I'm going to start using different names

The Likud-Yisrael Beitenu coalition shall now be called the "Conservatives"

for clarity, they should be called the extreme right wing nationalist/religious coalition.

here is another explanation of what is to come in israel; if you thought the current government and politics is right wing and hawkish, you haven't seen nothing yet.

One outcome of the unusually short election cycle that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu imposed on the Israeli political system – in an attempt to prevent any serious challenge to his position – is the rapid developments and changes we have been witnessing in the last few weeks. I will deal with some of those issues in this round up, but it is important to note first that nothing too major has actually happened: our poll tracker, which was updated this weekend with seven recent polls, still shows Netanyahu’s right-Orthodox bloc with at least five seats above the magic number of 60 – the minimum required to form a coalition. It is a very big lead, especially given the small margin of error that the aggregation of seven polls produces.

So what did change?

1. Likud-Beitenu is losing ground. Netanyahu’s joint ticket with Lieberman is now polling under 34 seats (the two parties currently hold 42 seats), which means that the Likud itself can end up with as little as 22-23 members of Kensset, while the rest will belong to Lieberman. This will make life incredibly hard for Netanyahu, especially given the fact that many of those future Knesset members will work together with the hard right. Some observers assume that if the Likud ends up with 33-34 seats or less, the next government won’t hold for more than a year or two. I am not so sure.

2. The settlers are about to register a major triumph, well above their actual power. How did it happen? At least four organized groups of settlers – the most well-known being Moshe Feiglins’s “Jewish Leadership” faction – entered the Likud and were able to register major victories in the party primaries. This forced even the more “mainstream” ministers to move to the right, outside the party’s “moderate” flank. But – and this is the catch – the settlers and their national-religious supporters now seem to be gathering behind Naftali Bennett’s “Jewish Home” party, which has an even more extreme list of right-wing radicals behind him (none of them appearing on the campaign itself, in order not to ruin the all-Israeli appeal Bennett is working on). We can expect anywhere between 20 and 35 very extreme members – the likes of Danon and Feiglin – in the next Knesset, which will certainly be an all-time record. They will operate as a bloc, forcing Netanyahu to create a right-wing government, and to carry out major items on their agenda, such as nominating Moshe Ya’alon as Defense Minister, or other influential nominations to the Supreme Court.

3. For this reason, Labor’s Shelly Yachimovich won’t be invited to the government, and Livni’s price will go down as well. This reality made the two introduce the idea of an anti-Bibi bloc over the weekend. In an effort to get back some of the lefty voters that deserted her, Yachimovich announced on Thursday that she will not join Netanyahu’s coalition and called on other centrist parties to do the same. Livni responded, but former Channel 2 anchorman Yair Lapid announced that he “will not leave the coalition in the hands of the right and the Orthodox.” So, we now know who will be the first “centrist” to fall into Bibi’s hands after the elections.

4. Netanyahu was interviewed on two radio stations on Sunday morning, complaining that other parties have joined hands to oust him (it’s called elections, dude). Bibi is trying to scare back some of the Likud voters that deserted him. If they sense danger, the prime minister believes, those voters will rush home. The so-called “center bloc” (which never stood a chance) could end up turning things around for Bibi.

Around the time Bibi was trying to rally the troops again, Avigdor Lieberman toldHaaretz that his party will split from the Likud after the elections. Again, this is an obvious attempt to stop the bleeding. Even more than those of Likud, Lieberman’s voters did not like the joint ticket, and polls suggest that three out of four non-Russian voters have moved to support to other parties.

5. A lot depends on the actual allocation of seats following the elections, but if I had to guess now, I would say that the next government will include the Likud-Beitenu (either as one party or two), Bennett’s Jewish Home, Shas, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, and one or two small factions that could end up in the Knesset (Am Shalem or Kadima, though the former might be taboo for Shas). That’s a coalition of 70-74 seats, which is a nice size with a fair chance of lasting a long time. Livni may be invited as well, but I am not sure she will decide to enter, since she won’t have much influence in such a coalition.

Edited January 7, 2013 by bud

[TheNewTeddy]

My Israeli friend suggested the same (calling Likud the nationalists) but I'll stick with Conservative for now. He also recommended against calling Hatunah Liberal, but withdrew that after I explained our own Liberals to him.

[TheNewTeddy]

Italy:

FD is out and LN is in the Conservative Coalition. LN was in last time, so this is not a huge "OMG they are working with the Bloc" sort of deal.

Current poll averaging is as follows:

39.40% Socialist (344 seats at current levels)

26.06% Conservative (139)

13.86% Moderate (74)

13.80% Populist (73)

3.95% Progressive (0)

And over is Israel:

34 Conservative

18 Labour

15 Jewish

11 Shas

11 Lapid

11 Arab

8 Liberal

6 Torrah

5 Progressive

66 for a coalition with the Conservatives and all Religious parties.

And on Israel; remember that politics is different in different countries. An Obamacare supporting Democrat in the US would be so far to the right-wing here in Canada on healthcare, they'd have trouble fitting into the CPC. Israel is a very right-wing country, and a Labour member, when all the issues are taken into account, would probably fit better into the Liberals than into the NDP.

[Bonam]

And on Israel; remember that politics is different in different countries. An Obamacare supporting Democrat in the US would be so far to the right-wing here in Canada on healthcare, they'd have trouble fitting into the CPC. Israel is a very right-wing country, and a Labour member, when all the issues are taken into account, would probably fit better into the Liberals than into the NDP.

Right wing in some respects, not others. It has a national universal healthcare system, for example.