A historic landslide!

2010 marks 20 years since the fall of communism in Hungary, and one group was that was definitely celebrating was the opposition Fidesz-KDNP Christian conservative alliance. In the 6 free elections since the fall of communism, Fidesz-KDNP notched the greatest electoral victory by any political group, taking advantage of a disastrous 4 years for the governing Socialists (MSZP). With nearly 53% of the votes and 263 of the 386 seats in parliament, they clear the threshold for a two-thirds majority (258 seats), becoming the first non-coalition government to do so, and this is the threshold required to institute (some would say much-needed) constitutional reforms. Now, Hungary has a very complex electoral system (they have single-member seats, list seats, and so-called "compensation" seats, and you need at least 5% of the vote to be eligible for list and compensation seats). However, there is one image that can greatly display the nature of the Fidesz-KDNP victory: the single-member seats.

Orange is Fidesz-KDNP (173 + 87 list + 3 compensation = 263) 
Red is the governing MSZP (2 + 46 list + 21 compensation = 59) 
White is an independent
Black is the city of Budapest (see inset map)

Parties that did not win single-member seats:
Far-right party Jobbik (18 list + 29 compensation = 47)
Green party LMP (5 list + 11 compensation = 16)

A nigh on clean sweep! Here's to hoping this new government can live up to expectations and make daily life easier for the average Hungarian. And, as it is a Christian conservative alliance, I'm hoping they can uphold some traditional values too (and throttle Jobbik in the process, since they are quite possibly racist).

What a week it was!

We're just over 2 weeks away from the United Kingdom general election. This time, the Brits did something they never did before - hold a leaders debate. Up until February, it was nearly certain that the unpopular Labour government would be ousted by the Conservatives, and quite possibly in a landslide. Then, the polls narrowed, but the picture was still the same - the Conservatives would win.

But then the debate happened and turned the entire campaign on its head. Immediately after the debate last week, it was evident that third party Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg had scored a decisive victory. So we thought, it probably might let him hold on to the votes he had last time, and maybe snag a bit more. What followed in the week to come was beyond even the wildest imagination. The Lib-Dems didn't just rise in the polls; they soared. While Labour and Conservative faltered, the Lib-Dems surge propelled them first into second ahead of Labour, then at times into first place. When the dust settled, there was no clear election winner anymore. The only thing that was certain: Labour is now embarassingly in third place. But only in vote share. Thanks to the quirks in first past the post (FPTP), Labour would still be ahead of the Lib-Dems in terms of seats, and could even "win" the election, as conventional wisdom tells us.

This brings another dimension into the campaign: electoral reform. With such blatant unfairness in the current political system, should the current situation unfold on election night, it would be pretty darn hard for anybody to defend FPTP, and the Lib-Dems have had electoral reform on their plank for ages. Doubtless, a strengthened Lib-Dem caucus, or perhaps even a shock Lib-Dem government, would push for change to a more equitable electoral system.

There are still 2 more leaders debates to follow in the coming weeks until election day on May 6, and as this week has shown us, anything can happen. What started off as a formality with a foregone conclusion has turned into a three-way race, and may well end up as the most exciting British election of the 21st century. On the 7th of May, what sort of Parliament might we be waking up to?

Maiden Post

As the blog name suggests, this is going to be political in nature, most of the time. It could be serious, controversial, satirical, prophetic, or maybe all at the same time. Sometimes it might bore tears out of you, other times it might make you laugh your way to tears...no not really.

My own account name probably already gives away the fact that I'm a conservative. At the moment, I'm also a Conservative, but that could change, as I'm not your typical conservative. I could be called a red Tory, but it would be the complete opposite of the traditional economically conservative, socially liberal way. If we look all the way to Europe, maybe we'll find a political affiliation that suits me perfectly: the Christian Democrat - economically centrist and socially conservative. But still, you can't just brand me as a fundamentalist extremist, because I'm not. Compared with the American so-cons, I'm a lot more moderate, and as it may or may not be reflected in future posts, it would be best to clarify that here first.

So that's the first post. Sort of a run in for things to come. But don't expect too many posts. I've got a life to live.