German federal election 2009

[Valmy]

Does anybody else get a little turned on too when they show a map of germany in black? 

Germany is now Black and Gold.  The Steelers are running Germany.

[Sheilbh]

This seems to be global

Add on top a feeling that "the big parties are all the (corrupt, self serving) same" and "whatever I vote, nothing will change, anyways".

Yep

[Duque de Bragança]

And, infortunatelty, nobody noticed the portuguese elections, which took place in the same day.

Not true

As for the so-called Left Victory

Socrates is from the RIGHT WING of a centre left party, hardly different from the other main party, a centre right party which goes by the name of Social democratic party btw.
Do I need to remind you about the Tony Blair-like neo-liberal policies of Socrates ?
He's lost the absolute plurality he had and will have to negotiate with the PSD or, even worse, the CDS-PP. The BE will be nice for socially progressive questions as a diversion but that's all.

Every party but the PS increased the number of seats, even the PSD (doing worse would have been difficult though).

Calling the CDS-PP an extremis right is ridiculous. That goes for the PNR and their ilk with their 0.3 %.
On the other hand, you are somewhat coherent in your thoughts by calling the CDU/CSU extreme right wing since the CDS-PP is but a light version of it.

Some domestic issues like the TGV question wasn't handled that well though but both Lisbon-Porto and Lisbon-Madrid lines are needed (mixed freight-passenger) in order to be connected to Europe by rail for real.
As for another airport (this port won't come Free ) for Lisbon it doesn't seem urgent to me. Lisbon has enough infra-structures unlike most parts of the country.

We'll have to wait the next local elections to see if this "extraordinary victory" is confirmed or not. 

Executive summary:

Don't take Martim Silva's statements about (Portuguese) politics at face value. Verstanden Zanza? Same goes for Admiral Yi & Valmy (Socrates was seen as a model by the UMP and conservative newsmagazine Le Point).

As for the low voter turnout in Germany, it's pretty high by Portuguese standards unfortunately.

[Ed Anger]

Does anybody else get a little turned on too when they show a map of germany in black? 

Germany is now Black and Gold.  The Steelers are running Germany.

Thanks for killing my erection. 

[Valmy]

I think to Martim anybody who opposes execution for all business owners and financiers is extreme right.

[Admiral Yi]

Don't take Martim Silva's statements about (Portuguese) politics at face value. Verstanden Zanza? Same goes for Admiral Yi & Valmy (Socrates was seen as a model by the UMP and conservative newsmagazine Le Point).

Thanks for the heads up, but I already figured out that Silva puts the center-right somewhere around the Mensheviks.

[Habbaku]

Germany is now Black and Gold.  The Steelers are running Germany.

Or Austria. 

[Duque de Bragança]

Don't take Martim Silva's statements about (Portuguese) politics at face value. Verstanden Zanza? Same goes for Admiral Yi & Valmy (Socrates was seen as a model by the UMP and conservative newsmagazine Le Point).

Thanks for the heads up, but I already figured out that Silva puts the center-right somewhere around the Mensheviks.

Wasn't sure with the Moldavia comment There is a sizable number of Moldavian immigrants in Portugal now though...

[derspiess]

Does anybody else get a little turned on too when they show a map of germany in black? 

   All it needs is some feldgrau.

[Agelastus]

This seems to be global

Add on top a feeling that "the big parties are all the (corrupt, self serving) same" and "whatever I vote, nothing will change, anyways".

Yep

I'm surprised that the trend has taken so long to hit Germany. A "pox on both your houses" mood has been around in Britain since the early Nineties at the latest, and I wouldn't be surprised if it could be traced back to the Seventies.

[Sheilbh]

I'm surprised that the trend has taken so long to hit Germany. A "pox on both your houses" mood has been around in Britain since the early Nineties at the latest, and I wouldn't be surprised if it could be traced back to the Seventies.

I don't think that's the case.  After Black Wednesday people were unenthusiastically going to vote for Labour, but by the time Tony started leading there was genuine, widespread enthusiasm.  Briefly New Labour was nothing less than the political wing of the British people.

I think it's quite a recent trend in British politics.

[Agelastus]

I don't think that's the case.  After Black Wednesday people were unenthusiastically going to vote for Labour, but by the time Tony started leading there was genuine, widespread enthusiasm.  Briefly New Labour was nothing less than the political wing of the British people.

I think it's quite a recent trend in British politics.

And yet, even with that, the 1997 election was the third lowest turnout of voters since World War II. Not as dramatic a decline as the 2001 and 2005 elections (the two lowest) but still an interesting datum. That's one reason that I'd trace the feeling back to the early 1990s. The 1992 election actually had the highest turnout since the election of February 1974, another moment of crisis and indecision about the future of the country.

[Barrister]

Briefly New Labour was nothing less than the political wing of the British people.

Please tell me you're kidding.

[Neil]

Briefly New Labour was nothing less than the political wing of the British people.

Please tell me you're kidding.

Remember, this is filtered through his own perceptions.

[Sheilbh]

And yet, even with that, the 1997 election was the third lowest turnout of voters since World War II. Not as dramatic a decline as the 2001 and 2005 elections (the two lowest) but still an interesting datum. That's one reason that I'd trace the feeling back to the early 1990s. The 1992 election actually had the highest turnout since the election of February 1974, another moment of crisis and indecision about the future of the country.

I don't think it's terribly interesting.  More people vote during elections that are perceived as close than do when a landslide's expected - 1997's roughly where 1945, 1983, 1970 and 1974 (Oct) are.  Those elections were either seen as landslide-likely, a foregone conclusion (though it led to the wrong conclusion), or tiresome.

What do you think happened in the 80s that caused this shift in the early 90s then?  I mean do you think it's the collapse of ideology and the rise of managerial politics, or something else - downfall of class solidarity?