|
Post by Old Badger on Feb 8, 2020 16:09:41 GMT -5
Polls just closed on what is expected to be a tight 3-way race leading to a coalition government in Ireland. Waiting for exit poll data to come out any minute.
|
|
|
Post by Old Badger on Feb 8, 2020 17:25:39 GMT -5
Exit poll results (percent):
Fine Gael (center-right; current governing party) - 22
Fianna Fáil (center to center-right) - 22
Sinn Féin (center-left to left) - 22
Greens (center-left) - 8
Labour (center-left) - 5
Social Democrats (center-left) - 3
Solidarity - People Before Profit (left-far left) - 3
Independents/Others - 14
This won't translate directly into seats, but it's clear that any coalition that excludes Sinn Féin will either include the other two main parties, or require one of them to abstain from key votes, as Fianna Fáil does now. Neither party wants to bring Sinn Féin into government, given its historic ties to the IRA.
|
|
|
Post by Old Badger on Feb 9, 2020 19:07:19 GMT -5
Ireland uses ranked choice voting, so a lot of calls require going to the third, fourth, and in at least once case, seventh preference before a candidate is elected. It will take a few days to sort it all out, but it's pretty clear that the center-left parties have made big gains at the expense of the center-right governing party. It's even possible that Sinn Féin will wind up in the next governing coalition, which would be quite a shock. Also, a majority of voters apparently want a vote in the Republic and Northern Ireland on union; that may have helped Sinn Féin, or just reflect its success.
|
|
|
Post by Old Badger on Feb 10, 2020 13:18:01 GMT -5
The big winner: Sinn Féin. With 160 of 160 seats filled, here's the number elected by each party (with share of 1st preference votes). These are now final:
FF - 38 (22)
SF - 37 (25)
FG - 35 (21)
IO - 21 (15)
GP - 12 (7)
LAB - 6 (4)
SD - 6 (3)
SPBP - 5 (3)
SF ran only about 40 candidates, and virtually all of them won seats; if they'd run more they'd have had an even bigger presence in the next Dáil but instead they got passed up by the center-left Fianna Fail after multiple rounds of refiguring the vote following preference order. The ruling Fine Gael lost its position as biggest party. But it's possible that FF and FG will form a center coalition government, with support from some Independents or one of the four left parties other than SF. For example, an FF-FG-GP coalition would have 87 seats, comfortably more than the 80 needed for a majority. I don't think either FF or FG wants to bring SF into the government, so they'd have a real incentive to try to form an alternative coalition with both of them inside the tent.
|
|
|
Post by leftylarry on Feb 17, 2020 14:21:28 GMT -5
Ireland is a young country, especially for Europe, many people under 30, a huge number like 35+% . They have slowly been indoctrinated by the Leftists teachers and professors and the country has been doing very well economically. Doubt the trend continues, as they get further Left and population ages, it will turn to shit like everywhere else the Left is highly involved.
|
|
|
Post by Old Badger on Feb 17, 2020 22:41:11 GMT -5
Ireland is a young country, especially for Europe, many people under 30, a huge number like 35+% . They have slowly been indoctrinated by the Leftists teachers and professors and the country has been doing very well economically. Doubt the trend continues, as they get further Left and population ages, it will turn to shit like everywhere else the Left is highly involved. Yeah, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Canada... LOL! You need too get out more.
|
|
|
Post by leftylarry on Feb 18, 2020 8:25:04 GMT -5
Yea,they aren’t rioting in France, LOL and those other tiny homogenous countries aren’t doing as well, now that socialism has had a longer time to take root, the Scandanavian countries are rethinking their Leftist policies too, their birth rates are at zero and suicide rates way higher than normal too.Socialism is indeed making those rich countries poorer but you won’t find that in the NYTIMES articles you read, hell, they were saying the Soviet Union had another 150 years at least when Reagan was telling Gorby to tear down that wall, the left was laughing at him, denying Soviet communism was finished Canada hasn’t been socialist long enough and there is plenty of pushback too, those Socialist countries do fine as long as they have huge tarrifs on America’s goods and can still sell to America without tarrif. The New Sherrif in Town has changed that dynamic, watch closely as our economy keeps getting better and theirs, much worse.We have been their engine, the Clinton’s and Obama’s looked the other way and actually asssisted China and the EU in stealing from us while the Never Trumpers, the Bushes and Koch’s gave up on America and just lined their Chamber of Commmerce friends pockets. Now a guy comes along, a rich guy not trying to get wealthier but actually risking everything he has and goes up against the Chinese, Mexico and Canada and to an extent the EU and demands fair play , demands fairer trade deals and look what happens? Our economy is best in the world and our citizens ( many whom the left hates ) are back working and the economy is buzzing. This guy is a total American hero, he ended the gloom and doom, we don’t hear every dayon CNN anymore that low growth or no growth is the new norm, we don’t hear energy prices will keep accelerating as we run out, we don’t hear that 50% of our jobs will be lost to Robots anymore, we don’t hear that everything is terrible and we can’t do anything about it anymore. There’s a whole new dynamic in this country, an energy, that we hVent had in a long time and the LEFT hates it.
|
|
|
Post by leftylarry on Feb 18, 2020 8:51:38 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Old Badger on Feb 19, 2020 1:27:16 GMT -5
"Leftwing article"? LOL! Anyway, I assume you didn't actually read it, so here is the synopsis of the state of Sweden today: "You know the narrative: Something is terribly wrong in Sweden. The progressive Scandinavian welfare state is crumbling. Right-wing influencers, YouTube reporters, Donald Trump, and RT are all warning about rampant social problems that seem to be tearing the country apart. Even Swedish politicians and commentators – among the Left and the Right alike – seem to agree. If we are to believe some of their rhetoric, Sweden is a failed state in the making. "Yet according to a number of indicators Sweden seems to enjoy the fruits of overwhelming success. In 2018, Sweden ranked number seven in the Human Development Index, and in 2017, Sweden ranked number six in the Good Country Index. While the Fragile State Index ranked South Sudan as number 1, Sweden ranked 170 among 178 countries. To continue, and with the risk of belaboring the point, the Global Competitiveness Index (2018), the Country Brand Index (2015), the Happiness Index (2018), and the Social Progress Index (2017) reveal that Sweden ranks number 7, 4, 9, and 8 respectively. In other words, Sweden is among the world elite of high performing countries." ;-) As the author notes, "Is Sweden a failed state in the making or a paradise on earth? Neither. Sweden is a functioning democracy but it faces serious challenges." You know, like any other country.
|
|