A busy day of elections, Peter?
You can tell by the rosy glow in my cheeks, David!
We begin our dance in Poland, where polling was so heavy in some regions that the supply of ballot papers ran out. The results showed that the governing far-right Law and Order party has been soundly defeated. The centre-right Civic Platform (43,7%) finished six seats short of an overall majority, but can certainly count on the support of the Polish Peasant's Party (8,4%). PIS (30,4%) leader Jaroslaw "The Fowl" Kaczynski has submitted his resignation from the post of prime minister, with Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk nominated to replace him.
There is a further point to note. President Lech "The Poultry" Kaczynski, the twin brother of Jaroslaw, has said that he will veto anything the parliament passes that he disagrees with. His veto can be over-ridden by 60% of the parliament, and Civic Platform may well be able to count on the support of the left-leaning Left and Democrats group (13,3%), the union of the Solidarity party and the former communists.
In its election manifesto, Civic Platform said that it would be far more internationalist in its outlook than the previous government. The party says that it will repair relations with European countries, particularly Germany, will withdraw from Iraq next year, and intends to adopt the euro by 2013. The victory for Civic Platform is expected to staunch the outpouring of pro-European young Polish people, who have been leaving the country in droves following the election of PiS in 2005.
Good news for the Daily Hell, surely. So, what's to-day's front page? "Immigration set to increase Britain's population by a third", a brief on how ballot boxes in the Polish election were dotted across the country, but (of course) no analysis on the actual results. There ain't no story like a Hell scare story.
Next to Switzerland, where the People's Party has courted the racist vote, and increased its share to 29%. The Social Democrats were the big losers in the election, ceding 4% of their vote to the Green party. The Greens still finished fifth, behind two centrist parties, and do not receive a seat on the seven-member Federal Council.
The allegedly-racist UDC/SVP poster says, It's time to get rid of the black sheep. The party proposes a crackdown on refugees, immigrants, decreasing social security, building the free market and campaigning against the EU. Such is the Swiss way of doing things that it cannot hope to implement more than a few items of policy, but the party's win does set the mood music for the rest of the coalition.
Photo by Stadt Wanderer, who has some alternative takes on the picture.
Tugging our ears, we head to Slovenia, where the first ballot for the mostly-ceremonial post of President has taken place. The incumbent, left-leaning Janez Drnovšek, has declined to run for his second term. The poll was topped by former prime minister Lojze Peterle (centre-right, 27,4%) with former central banker Mitja Gaspari (left-leaning, 25,6%) beating former diplomat Danilo Türk (centre-left, 24,5%) for the second place in the run-off. The nationalist Zmago Jelinšiš secured 19,3% of the vote; thre other candidates received handfuls of votes.
This was something of a surprise result, as Mr. Peterle had been polling with a lead of around 10%. The run-off election will take place on 11 November, and the new president will assume office on Slovenia's sixteenth anniversary of independence, 22 December.
Finally, to Turkey, where 72% of voters have approved plans to elect the president by universal ballot, rather than by an election amongst lawmakers. There was very little debate on the matter, which came to a head when the Justice and Development Party had to call a general election to gain support for its presidential nominee. The decision will take effect for the next presidential election, scheduled for 2014.
Peter, you mentioned earlier about "The Fowl" and "The Poultry". What's all that about?
Very simple, David. The name Kaczynski comes from kaczka, meaning duck. Poles are all fans of ducks and saw these particular politicians as a shame on the feathered friends, and gave them some slightly less-than-complimentary names; if I repeated some of them, they'd whip me off air and have me replaced by some incompetent young turk before you could say Jeremy Vine! And where's the fun in that?! David!!
