Maldives 2008

The first ever free and multiparty election was held in the Maldives on October 8 and 29. The election saw a true shocker in a dictatorship- the incumbent dictator, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was defeated 54-46 in the runoff by 41-year democracy activist and MDP candidate Mohamed Nasheed (also known as “Anni”).

The first round went off mostly without a hitch, despite a few voter rolls issue.

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (DRP, inc) 40.34
Mohamed Nasheed (MDP) 24.91
Hassan Saeed (Ind) 16.67
Qasim Ibrahim (Republican) 15.22
Umar Naseer (Islamic) 1.39
Ibrahim Ismail (Social Liberal) 0.77

All opposition candidates (or most, atleast, including runner-up Hassan Saeed) vouched for Nasheed in the runoff and united the opposition. Contrary to what most (including myself) would’ve thought, there was no vote rigging in the runoff (just registration issues). Nasheed won by a decisive margin defeating the dictator in place since ’78.

Mohamed Nasheed (MDP) 54.21%
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (DRP-inc) 45.79%

Results can be found here.

Back in 2009 for their legislative elections (with parties).

Bolzano Province 2008

An election in the Italian province of Bolzano-Bozen was held on October 26.

Bolzano is nearly 70% German speaking, with only 26% Italian and 4.3% speaking Ladin, a local language. Politics there, needless to say, are different from the rest of Italy despite overlap. The major party there since the 50s is the South Tyrol People’s Party (SVP) which has won all elections with over 60 or 50% of the vote since World War II. The SVP is a centre-right Christiandem minority party. The other parties since then have either been the Italian Socialists or DC, and now the Libertarians, a copy of the FPÖ.

The results marked a historic sub-50 low for the SVP, but the SVP keeps its overall majority, albeit very narrowly. The Libertarians, gaining since the last provincial election (its all-time low), have hit a new high in double digits and have 5 reps. The PdL and PD, the mainstream Italian parties, who appeal to the Italian minority, both lost votes and the PdL lost a seat. The Greenies also lost votes and seats. The STF and the UfS, two separatist parties took around 7.2% together. The STF, a new party created off the UfS took more votes than the UfS.

SVP 48.1% 18 seats (-3)
The Libertarians (Local Chapter of the Austrian FPÖ) 14.3% 5 seats (+3)
People of Freedom 8.3% 3 seats (-1)
PD 6.0% 2 seats (nc)
Greenies 5.8% 2 seats (-1)
South Tyrolean Freedom 4.9% 2 seats (+2)
Union for South Tyrol 2.3% 1 seat (-1)
Lega Nord 2.1% 1 seat (+1)
One Italy – Social Movement Initiative 1.9% 1 seat (nc)

Elections in Trentino, the Italian majority counterpart of Bolzano in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region will be held on November 9. A post will be made for that.

Quebec 2008

It sounds like the Liberal government of Jean Charest is going to try its luck at a majority and third term in office and call a snap December election. The last election was held in 2007 and resulted in the first minority government in Quebecois history.

Charest was first elected in 2003 with a large Liberal majority that became a narrow minority in 2007. Most importantly, the 2007 election was marked by the rise of the right-wing/autonomist ADQ and the third-place and second-worst result of the nationalist left-wing PQ, led by a gay crackhead.

Due to the work of image consultants, Jean Charest, who was formerly hated and mocked, is now enjoying record 60ish approval ratings and the Libs seem set to win another majority. The ADQ, on its part, has collapsed more than 10% in recent by-elections and is either at or below its 2003 level (17%), when it won 4 seats. Furthermore, it recently lost 2 MNAs to the Liberals and further bleeding would endanger their Official Opposition status. The PQ is up very slightly from 2007 and the election seems like a repeat of 2003 all over again.

2007 results were as follows

Liberal 33.08% (-12.91%) winning 48 seats (-28)
ADQ 30.84% (+12.63%) winning 41 seats (+37)
PQ 28.35% (-4.91%) winning 36 seats (-9)
Greenies 3.85%
QS 3.64%