Richard Nabavi’s guide to the Irish election part 2

Richard Nabavi’s guide to the Irish election part 2

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Votes, Seats, Coalitions As I mentioned in Part 1, an understanding the voting system is essential to understanding Irish politics. There are 40 constituencies which this time will elect a total of 158 TDs, by Single Transferable Vote (STV). Each constituency elects either 3, 4 or 5 TDs. Voters rank the candidates. The first-preference votes are counted first. Any candidate who has enough votes to exceed the ‘quota’ (i.e. the total number of voters divided by one plus the number…

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Tim Farron’s big gamble in the Oldham W & R by-election

Tim Farron’s big gamble in the Oldham W & R by-election

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Delighted to join @Jane4OldhamWR & kick off our Oldham West & Royton campaign today. Jane is a brilliant campaigner pic.twitter.com/96rdPyZNzs — Tim Farron (@timfarron) November 7, 2015 If they fail to make progress it’ll be his failure The most interesting Oldham by election development this weekend has been the decision by new Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, to take a high profile role there. This is the first such contest since his party’s disastrous performance on May 7th, the first…

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A Republican ticket to give Hillary Clinton nightmares?

A Republican ticket to give Hillary Clinton nightmares?

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Keiran Pedley asks if a Rubio / Christie ticket (with either at the top) might be the Republican’s best bet to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016 It is fair to say that the race for the Republican 2016 nomination is an odd one. This really should be an election that the GOP can win and yet with the national polls showing Trump and Carson leading the GOP race most observers are pretty sceptical that either will last.  Neither has held…

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What the parties should be looking for in Oldham

What the parties should be looking for in Oldham

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How LAB is using Douglas Carswell's tax credit vote in the Oldham W & R by-election. pic.twitter.com/aaEdtgLyZ9 — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) November 5, 2015 Joy, meh and despair So for the second parliament running, the first by-election in it will take place in Oldham. Unlike neighbouring Oldham East & Saddleworth, Michael Meacher’s former seat does not, on the face of it, look all that interesting: it reliably returned Labour members for decades and did so with a majority of close…

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Local By-Election Results : November 5th 2015

Local By-Election Results : November 5th 2015

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Huntly, Strathbogie and the Howe of Alford on Aberdeenshire (SNP and Lib Dem defence) Result: Conservative 1,469 (36% +9%), Scottish National Party 1,433 (35% unchanged), Liberal Democrats 928 (23% +5%), Labour 196 (5%, no candidate in 2012), Scottish Libertarians 20 (0%, no candidate in 2012) No candidate elected on first preferences. Scottish National Party elected (HOLD) and Conservative Party elected (GAIN) Clifton with Maidenway on Torbay (Lib Dem defence) Result: Liberal Democrat 1,096 (69% +39%), Conservative 234 (15% -14%), United…

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Reality check for Osborne’s ambitions

Reality check for Osborne’s ambitions

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The Donald Brind Friday Column Can it really be only a month since the Chancellor George Osborne was swaggering around Manchester stealing Labour policy clothes and putting himself at the head of the queue to be next Tory leader? A Telegraph sketch of his Tory conference speech recounted – tongue in cheek — Osborne’s journey from “omnishambles to omnipotence” Today, says the Economist, Osborne is “in a bind” over how to deal with tax credits. Rumbled by think tanks like…

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The future of Scottish LAB and Holyrood 2016: This week’s PB/Polling Matters podcast

The future of Scottish LAB and Holyrood 2016: This week’s PB/Polling Matters podcast

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> And what about a 2nd IndyRef? On this week’s PB / Polling Matters podcast Keiran discusses all things Scotland with Kate Devlin of The Herald. How bad are things for Labour? Are the SNP unstoppable in 2016 and when might we see a second independence referendum? Meanwhile, what implications might the upcoming EU referendum have on politics in Scotland and UKIP’s long term prospects in the rest of the UK? You can follow Keiran on twitter at @keiranpedley and…

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