Top Diaries

I'm strangely nervous, waiting.

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 08:08:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Thanks, me too.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 08:13:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I am nervously waiting too! And thanks Fran for putting this excellent count chart up!! I just don't know what to expect, but only hope that there is a large turnout that at least votes moderate, if not center-Left...will be eagerly checking back in!

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 09:49:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Well Bob, currently it still looks like there will be no watershed shift towards the SVP - looks like much will stay the same - typicically Swiss.

According to the NZZ it seems the CVP and the Greens are making gains. However, it is still early.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 10:00:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Currently it looks like there is a shuffling taking place within the blocks. SP is loosing seats but to the Greens, so the left block is not actually loosing seats, same seems to go for the right block.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 10:58:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The link at the end is broken.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 08:28:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I'll look for a different link.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 08:39:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Looks like there is an interesting trend going on. The SVP seems to have made some gains in %, but is not able to show a shift in the amounts of seats. The SP also seems to make some gains in some places.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 09:32:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

swissinfo - Parliamentary election marks end of heated campaign dominated by rightwing

Ballots are being counted in parliamentary elections which are expected to see the rightwing Swiss People's Party consolidate its leading position.
The party's controversial election campaign, which targeted criminal immigrants, drew fire from many sides and media attention from abroad. While first results are already in, the final breakdown of seats is not expected until Monday.
But the true winners of the election could be the Green Party, which polls predict could soar to about ten per cent from 7.6 per cent in 2003.
Analysts say there is unlikely to be a major change in the make-up of the two-chamber parliament which has been dominated by the four main parties for decades.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 11:13:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Arrrgghh! Looks like the SP will be the big looser of this election. Not totally undeserved. They has a very lackluster campaine and they have somehow lost the innovative edge they used to have a few years ago. However, it looks like the Greens are making real gains, unfortunately also the SVP, thankfully, not as big as expected.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 12:39:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I am also w2aiting.. here adn in Poland...

Give a complete good week in europe since the week here in Barcelona has been awful (politically speaking of course)

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 08:20:14 AM EST

How radical is Radical? are they radically left or right? or is it just a name that's an artifact of another time?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 09:38:21 AM EST

I guess it is because in French they are called "Parti radical-démocratique Suisse", however, they are actually a rather moderate to the right, mostly pro small-business, party. Their name in German is more adequate, unless the word has a different meaning in French.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 09:44:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]

In France, the radicals are centrist. There are Left Radicals (Mouvement des Radicaux de Gauche) who live in the pocket of the Parti Socialiste. Then there are centre-right radicals (Parti Radical often called "Valoisien") whose one-time leader was Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber. A prominent member today is Jean-Louis Borloo, the French Environment Minister.

These two movements are the result of a left-right split of the old Radical party, which had fairly far left tendencies in the nineteenth century. Needless to say, the old "radicalism" is dead and gone.

But I don't know if the Swiss Radicals fall into this bracket...

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 12:35:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

http://www.prd.ch/page/content/view.asp?MenuID=127&ID=165&Menu=3&Item=1

Here a link to the Swiss radicals. There position papers are all in pdf.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 12:45:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

A number of 19th-century-origin liberal parties, especially in Latin countries, used to be called Radicals -- I guess this is valid for the Swiss version, too.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 10:52:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I guess so, in German the "Radical" is replaced with "Freisinnig".

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 10:56:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]

In Sweden "Frisinnade" and Liberals were two different trends in the liberal party, sometimes leading to splits, but eventually mending the fences again. This was in the late 19th century-1930ish period.

So it would not surprise me to learn that "Freisinnig" is the germanic version of the latin radicals.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 05:44:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Checking on it, today they are called Radicals only in French and Italian:

German: Freisinnig-Demokratische Partei der Schweiz (FDP)
French: Parti radical-démocratique suisse (PRD)
Italian: Partito liberale radicale svizzero (PLR)

It originated in 1878.

Here is the Wiki article on Radicalism as political movement. I find there were even British Radivcals.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 11:00:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

In Britain the nineteenth-century Radicals were a respectable lot imo. They were the ones really pushing for social reform, when the Liberals were just pushing their utilitarian laissez-faire free-trade agenda. Both movements were bourgeois, however. The workers' movement (politically the Labour Party) gradually took over the Radicals' space.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 12:40:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Also in Denmark: Det Radikale Venstre. Social-liberal parties seem to have at least to strands running through them, one "liberal"
and another "radical democratic".

We have met the enemy, and it is us — Pogo

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 11:07:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The Swiss FDP was social-liberal a very long time ago, though.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 11:38:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Höchste Wahlbeteiligung seit 32 Jahren? / Wahlen aktuell / SF Tagesschau		Highest Election Participation in 32 Years?
Höchste Wahlbeteiligung seit 32 Jahren? Nach Hochrechnungen wählt jeder zweite Schweizer Bei der Parlamentswahl zeichnet sich die höchste Wahlbeteiligung seit mehr als 30 Jahren ab. Beobachter wie der Wahlforscher Claude Longchamp hielten nach der Auszählung der Stimmen in vier kleinen Kantonen und nach Hochrechnungen in weiteren vier von insgesamt 26 Kantonen eine Beteiligung von mehr als 50 Prozent für möglich.		Highest Election Participation in 32 Years? According to projections every second Swiss voted. This Parlamentary election might show the highest participation in over 30 years. Oberservers like the Election scientist Claude Longchamp consider after the counting of the votes in four small cantons and the projections in additional four of the 25 cantons a participation of over 50% as possible.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 11:31:19 AM EST

I didn't know that participation is this low in parliamentary elections, too. Now this explains why the populists reach such a percentage. But what do you think, why do so many people not care?

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 11:41:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

I wonder if it is because being able to vote is being taken for granted. No one has to worry about their right to vote. I wouldn't mind if they would declare it mandatory.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 12:01:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Might it be because direct democracy devalues representative democracy? Is participation higher in the referenda?

We have met the enemy, and it is us — Pogo

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 03:46:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

No, it is even lower, in the thirties. (That I knew from earlier.)

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 03:46:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I checked up, one source says 40% is the average. The highest turnouts were in referenda on joining the EU, on blocking foreign workers (twice in the seventies).

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 03:54:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

An interesting figure would be the participation rate in any referenda or election during an election cycle. If that is higher we could be dealing with a population that were segments are only interested in certain issues, and thus not care to vote unless their issues are at stake.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 05:37:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I'd guess it's the power-sharing arrangement in the Federal Council. If you can't replace the incumbent government outright, and even a minor cabinet shuffle would require a landslide to accomplish, why bother?

by Tsmoss (delta mike niner two two att bard period education) on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 02:22:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

is it me or are the projection awful with a big win of SVP?

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 01:56:21 PM EST

Looks like it. However, as I found out today there is a second green party, and both green parties together got a bigger increase %-wise then the SVP. In my opinion, their gain is still to big, but definitely not as big as expected and it is counterbalanced by gains on the left, though spread over different parties. The Workers party, which is part of the others also gained a seat. It seems the right as a block did not gain that much, the SVP took seat from the other right parties and the greens on the left from the SP, at least at this point.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 02:20:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

FDP (in the pretty pictures) = Radicals (in the table) = part of the right bloc?

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 05:39:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Apparently yes (read the rest of the thread...)

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 05:41:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I agree with you, Fran, the vote should be made mandatory. But anyway, while the SVP have been touted as the big winners, we really are only talking about a number of seats, and no changes in the overall status of the party rankings...though the trend for the SP should worry them.

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 01:57:56 PM EST

The struggle of man against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.(Kundera)

by Elco B (elcob at scarlet dot be) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 02:17:49 PM EST

How did you copy this? I tried, but it does not work.

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 02:22:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I'm on a windows-pc now and use Irfanview to make a copy of the screen and then some cut/copy/paste....into a .jpg file.

The struggle of man against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.(Kundera)

by Elco B (elcob at scarlet dot be) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 02:36:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Thanks, I will look into it. :-)

by Fran on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 03:42:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Alle Resultate / SF Tagesschau

The struggle of man against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.(Kundera)

by Elco B (elcob at scarlet dot be) on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 03:13:04 PM EST

Re: Swiss Federal Elections (none / 0)

That´s really sad and disappointing. I hope the totals look better tomorrow.

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.

by metavision on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 05:42:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Swiss Federal Elections (4.00 / 4)

This was handy:
List of political parties in Switzerland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The parties Party Members in Political Position Abbr. Name Website Leader FC ¹ CS ² NC ³ (Ideology) CVP/PDC/PPD FDP/PRD SP/PS SVP/UDC CSP/PCS EVP/PEV FPS Greens LPS/PLS SD/DS Lega EDU/UDF PdA/PST AL Sol
Christian Democratic People's Party ⁴ [1] [2] Christophe Darbellay 1 15 28 Centre (christian-democratic); in the cantons, centre-left to centre-right
Free Democratic Party ⁵ [3] [4] Fulvio Pelli 2 14 36 Centre-right (liberal)
Social Democratic Party [5] Hans-Jürg Fehr 2 9 52 Left (social-democratic)
Swiss People's Party [6] Ueli Maurer 2 8 55 Right (conservative)
Christian Social Party [7] Monika Bloch Süss 0 0 1 Centre-left (christian-democratic)
Evangelical People's Party [8] Ruedi Aeschbacher 0 0 3 Centre (christian-democratic)
Freedom Party [9] 0 0 0 Far-right (right-populist)
Green Party [10] Ruth Genner 0 0 13 Left (green)
Liberal Party [11] Claude Ruey 0 0 4 Center-right (liberal)
Swiss Democrats [12] Bernhard Hess 0 0 1 Far-right (nationalist)
Ticino League [13] Giuliano Bignasca 0 0 1 Right (regional populist-conservative)
Federal Democratic Union [14] Hans Moser 0 0 2 Right (evangelical-conservative)
Swiss Labour Party ⁶ [15] Alain Bringolf 0 0 2 Far-left (communist)
Alternative List [16] 0 0 1 Far-left (green-socialist)
Solidarities 0 0 1 Far-left (socialist)

TribEXT is great, but not all would follow. Anyway the handy on the right was what I was looking for, especially when comparing with this:

Zweite Hochrechnung Sonntag 21 Uhr
Sitze Prozent 2007 2003 2007 2003 +/-
SVP 62 55 28.8 26.7 +2.1
SP 43 52 19.3 23.3 -4.0
FDP 31 36 15.8 17.3 -1.5
CVP 31 28 14.7 14.4 +0.3
Grüne 19 13 9.6 7.7 +1.9
EVP 2 3 2.5 2.3 +0.2
LPS 4 4 1.8 2.2 -0.4
EDU 1 2 1.3 1.3 0.0
PdA/SOL 1 3 1.1 1.2 -0.1
SD 1 1 0.6 1.0 -0.4
LA 0 0 0.2 0.4 -0.2
CSP 1 1 0.4 0.4 0.0
Lega 1 1 0.6 0.3 +0.3
GLP 3 0 1.9 0 +1.9
Übrige 0 0 1.4 1.5 -0.1
Quelle: SRG

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Oct 21st, 2007 at 05:56:00 PM EST

Re: Swiss Federal Elections (none / 0)

Fran, I would be curious to understand what it means that the Social Party gained 4 seats in the Senate, and SVP lost a seat. What role does the Senate play in Swiss politics, compared to the House of Representatives? Any ideas about this?

And beyond all this, SP needs to do a serious review and remodeling...they did not do well on the Reps side at all. They should seriously consider hiring a good marketing firm too...once they get clear what their priorities are going to be, moving forward.

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

by whataboutbob on Mon Oct 22nd, 2007 at 03:55:08 AM EST