Maithanet Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 18 hours ago, Erik of Hazelfield said: Finally some good international news! If the results stand, it is good not just for Poland but for the entire EU. If Hungary’s Victor Orbán is stripped of his one ally in the European Council, that means the rest of the council can approve an invocation of article 7 unanimously. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_7_of_the_Treaty_on_European_Union Don't have a complete picture yet, but the returns that have come in thus far indicate that exit polls are on track to be right. PiS looks like they're down ~5 to 8 points, which is well short of what they need for a governing majority. JGP 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartIheartTesla Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 The Supreme Court in India is about to make a decision on legalizing same-sex marriage, which of course portends huge change if it does happen. The government in its wisdom, and many religious organizations, as they do, oppose legalization. However, I was somewhat surprised to see a Pew study that noted ~53% of Indians were somewhat in favor of legalization. Its a bit more complex in India as marriage laws and religious personal laws are more intertwined than you may imagine in Western nations. Still, the judges may look into tweaking prior laws that did some work into decoupling the two. Spockydog and JGP 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 So, the election in Poland, the outcome that exit polls suggested, has been confirmed? the centrist opposition defeated the nationalists (if I have these two sides right?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3CityApache Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 2 hours ago, Maithanet said: PiS looks like they're down ~5 to 8 points, which is well short of what they need for a governing majority. Yup, we've really made it, it's almost official now. After counting votes from 88% of district electoral commissions, PiS has 36,5% votes, KO has 29,6%, Trzecia Droga 14,5% and Lewica 8,4%, the last three being future coalition partners of the new democratic government. Far right Konfederacja will have about 7,2%. Not much will change, and if so, PiS can only lose some more. Of course the government will be relatively weak, as it won't be able to overrule president's veto, and president will give the chance to try and form one to PiS first as the formal winner, but they won't be able to secure a majority and around Christmas we will have a new, democratic government at the latest. Bironic, Zorral, dog-days and 5 others 6 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 It 5 minutes ago, 3CityApache said: it won't be able to overrule president's veto, and president will give the chance to try and form one to PiS first as the formal winner, but they won't be able to secure a majority and around Christmas we will have a new, democratic government at the latest. It's better than a kick in the head! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3CityApache Posted October 16, 2023 Share Posted October 16, 2023 (edited) Update: More than 96% votes counted. PiS has 35,9%, KO - 30,2%, Trzecia Droga - 14,4%, Lewica - 8,5%, Konfederacja - 7,2%. Happy times. https://wybory.gov.pl/sejmsenat2023/en/sejm/wynik/pl Edit. Final and official results: PiS: 35,38% and 194 seats in 460-seats Sejm (lower chamber of Parliament), KO: 30,7% and 157 seats Trzecia Droga: 14,4% and 65 seats Lewica: 8,61% and 26 seats Konfederacja: 7,16% and 18 seats. In Senat (higher chamber of Parliament), the pact of KO, Trzecia Droga and Lewica got 66 seats out of 100 and PiS got 34 seats. Edited October 17, 2023 by 3CityApache Padraig, Toth, JGP and 4 others 4 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted October 17, 2023 Share Posted October 17, 2023 Great to hear that confirmation. And nice that, while Konfederacja has more seats than last time, I remembered when I looked at polling in early 2023, it had twice the support. Looked grim. Is the President very likely to veto decisions by the way? Or only the most sensitive ones? I did see that he can't run again, so that will be an interesting election in 2025 Hopefully the new coalition agree on somebody! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3CityApache Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 12 hours ago, Padraig said: Is the President very likely to veto decisions by the way? Or only the most sensitive ones? That's a tough one to guess. He was pretty submissive to PiS demands so far and rarely did anything against their will, but on the other hand he doesn't have much to lose, as he can't run again and perhaps he will seek some form of cohabitation with a new government, counting for some kind of endorsement to land in an EU institution after his term ends. But I'm rather pessimistic on this. Quote that will be an interesting election in 2025 Hopefully the new coalition agree on somebody! I think it will be Rafał Trzaskowski, president of Warsaw, who already run in 2020 and barely lost to Duda. The question is if PiS can find an appealing candidate and if two years of struggling and tensions between the government and the president impact the result (and which way). Padraig 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bironic Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 The federal election in Switzerland has resulted in a massive shift towards the extreme right with a total plus of 12 seats in the house of representatives, while the left has lost 5 seats and the centre right parties have lost 7 seats... The senate elections are not done yet since their will be runoff elections in several cases, but again the trend so far indicates a loss for left and center right parties and a gain for the extreme right... To relativize these results partially there will be with almost 100% certainty no change in government and given the pecularities of the legislative branch in Switzerland (half direct, federal democracy) the effect of this shift can and probably will be minimized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luzifer's right hand Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 6 minutes ago, Bironic said: The federal election in Switzerland has resulted in a massive shift towards the extreme right with a total plus of 12 seats in the house of representatives, while the left has lost 5 seats and the centre right parties have lost 7 seats... The senate elections are not done yet since their will be runoff elections in several cases, but again the trend so far indicates a loss for left and center right parties and a gain for the extreme right... To relativize these results partially there will be with almost 100% certainty no change in government and given the pecularities of the legislative branch in Switzerland (half direct, federal democracy) the effect of this shift can and probably will be minimized. It is not as extreme as it looks. The SVP actually got more votes in 2015, lost 3,8% in 2019 and gained 3,0 % now. The greens are the only party that really lost significantly and they still got more than 2015 when the SVP peaked last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bironic Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 27 minutes ago, Luzifer's right hand said: It is not as extreme as it looks. The SVP actually got more votes in 2015, lost 3,8% in 2019 and gained 3,0 % now. The greens are the only party that really lost significantly and they still got more than 2015 when the SVP peaked last. That's not the whole picture though... EDU (Evangelical far right party, +1) and MCG(Geneva far right party, +2) got an additional 3 seats amongst them, and they will caucus with the SVP(+9) in the parliament.. so the far right has 67 seats, which is just one seat less than 2015, and 12 seats more than 2019... and not only the greens(leftwing party) but also the green liberals(centre right party) have lost(as well as some other leftwing and centre right parties)... and the SVP might get more seats in the senate as well, while the centre right plus the left might lose some more (even compared to 2015)... No the only solace is that federal elections in Switzerland are way less important than federal elections elsewhere, due to the uniqueness of the political system... Luzifer's right hand 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissdbyfire Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 Good news, our sisters and brothers in Argentina managed to avert a major catastrophe. For now anyways, runoff is next month. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/23/sergio-massa-wins-first-round-argentina-presidential-election-over-javier-milei dog-days, Zorral and JGP 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted November 3, 2023 Share Posted November 3, 2023 It's not really getting the same level of coverage as other recent, world events (surprise, surprise), but earlier this week Pakistan announced it was beginning to expel all 1.7 million Afghan refugees it has back to Afghanistan. And now Iran has announced it will be expelling all 5 million Afghan refugees that it has. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67281691 Ran, Rippounet, Luzifer's right hand and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bironic Posted November 3, 2023 Share Posted November 3, 2023 4 hours ago, Fez said: It's not really getting the same level of coverage as other recent, world events (surprise, surprise), but earlier this week Pakistan announced it was beginning to expel all 1.7 million Afghan refugees it has back to Afghanistan. And now Iran has announced it will be expelling all 5 million Afghan refugees that it has. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67281691 Heard about the Pakistani decision, but didn'know about the Iranian one. Thanks for sharing. Crazy how little coverage it gets in the news!!! Is that the beginning of a move to acknowledge the Taliban government of Afghanistan? Will other nations follow with this refugee scheme? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luzifer's right hand Posted November 3, 2023 Share Posted November 3, 2023 (edited) That is a really shitty situation for the people affected. Afghanistans economy is in a really bad shape. This might impact a number of elections in Europa if a significant number of Afghan refugees move in that direction. Afghan refugees are probably the most hated refugee group after maybe Russians(Chechens) at least in German speaking countries. Edited November 3, 2023 by Luzifer's right hand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 On 7/26/2023 at 10:59 PM, Mentat said: As President, Sánchez can pardon a crime after a sentence has been passed (what's known as Indulto -Pardon-) or declare that certain people or actions are not subject to prosecution (what's known as Amnistia -Amnesty-). The first has already been used to pardon the Catalan nationalists who stayed in Spain and stood for trial. Junts wants an amnesty for all nationalists that were involved in the 1st of October Referendum (which would allow Puigdemont to return to Spain and not stand for trial). This would likely be a very hard pill to swallow for the socialists and have problems of constitutional legality. It's not completely beyond the pale, but I think it's unlikely. The other thing Junts want is a legal referendum, and that will be completely outside the question. I'm pretty certain Sánchez would prefer another election or even a right-wing government. Sánchez might be able to convince the Catalan nationalists to support his government in exchange for some of the other things they want (control over Catalan railways and improved regional financing), but if he does manage to pull it off I'll be seriously impressed. The Catalan nationalits have been bleeding votes due to internal division and basically failing to do much about achieving independence. That said, both Sánchez and Yolanda Díaz (the leader of Sumar) seem to think they can pull it off, so we shall have to wait and see. Update on this. Looks like Sanchez has been able to pull it off. Hearing from Fidesz (Hungary's governing party for the non Europeans) concerns about the rule of law in Spain over it must be pretty galling, tho. I mean I was not too impressed with Hungary of all places raising the rule of law issue in another EU country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentat Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 57 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Update on this. Looks like Sanchez has been able to pull it off. He has, and quite frankly, it's pretty impressive. The main toll he has had to pay is an amnesty law (which is impopular and has all the right wing parties riled up, demonstrating in the streets and having confrontations with riot police in front of the Socialist's headquarters), transfering short and medium distance train management to Catalonia and a big debt pardon for money owed to the state through a Region Financing "Rescue" Plan. A committee will discuss the future of Catalonia within Spain, but Sanchez has already said he's not willing to step outside the Constitution, so this will most definitely go nowhere (which might spell problems down the line for Sanchez's coalition). It will be a weak government (a very loosely knit coalition with the right wing controlling the upper house), and it will cost Sanchez quite a bit of political currency... but it will be a left wing government in Spain, which is a good thing. 1 hour ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Hearing from Fidesz (Hungary's governing party for the non Europeans) concerns about the rule of law in Spain over it must be pretty galling, tho. I mean I was not too impressed with Hungary of all places raising the rule of law issue in another EU country. This is far right wing drivel, in my opinion. I'm personally in favor of the amnesty law and don't find it problematic from a rule of law point of view (and it's hardly Hungary or even the EU's business). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 6 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Hearing from Fidesz (Hungary's governing party for the non Europeans) concerns about the rule of law in Spain over it must be pretty galling, tho. I mean I was not too impressed with Hungary of all places raising the rule of law issue in another EU country. I found an article from January on this. https://hungarytoday.hu/fidesz-slams-eu-over-rule-of-law-in-spain/ Or is this something new? Im not surprised that Fidesz is supporting their friends Vox. Given all the criticism Hungary gets, I’m sure they enjoy pointing fingers. But can’t see this get much attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 Saw a story linked over at the Guardian the other day next to the news of Sanchez having reached a deal with the Catalans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireWolfSpirit Posted November 12, 2023 Author Share Posted November 12, 2023 (edited) 11/11/23 Europe is marching in the streets. A lot of headlines over Londons Palestinian protest/ Armistice day bringing throngs into the streets. Also stories from Poland- Polish nationalists hold Independence Day march in Warsaw after voters reject their worldview Tens of thousands of people have marched through Warsaw in an event organized by nationalist groups as Poland celebrates its Independence Day holiday Edited November 13, 2023 by DireWolfSpirit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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