It's been a while since I posted, but I have been as busy as ever.
I've had a busy few weeks this spring, fighting a general election, fighting to hold on to my council seat in Calderdale, dealing with the aftermath of both elections.
The general election, as I posted before, was actually quite a good result. We consolidated our third place, we increased our vote and our share of the vote, again!
This needs to be repeated our vote went up to over 7,000, that is the highest for nearly quarter-of-a-century in the heady days of the old SDP/Liberal Alliance.
It was also the third highest vote since the war, at 15%.
Furthermore, while the Lib Dem vote went up nationally by 1%, ours in Keighley went up by three times that.
All goes to show that with the right message, the right team, and hard work we can be successful.
Oh and in my council seat? Well, we managed to turn a majority of just 53 votes into a whopping 1,200.
My 2,775 was the highest Lib Dem vote on the night, and indeed the highest EVER Lib Dem/Liberal vote in the history of Calderdale.
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Thanks for your support
Sorry not to have posted this before, but having been more successful in the Local Elections than the National ones, anyone who knows Local Government will know that I've been busy...
During my campaign, I've been contacted by over 100 different people. A lot of them were simply lobbying for my support, but a significant number of new people offered help.
That is on top of assistance in innumerable ways from people who were there before. It would be invidious or embarrassing to name them, but there has to be one exception, Judith Brooksbank, my agent.
Named or mostly not, I'd like to thank them one and all.
I'd also like them to take pride in their efforts: still third place, but with over 1,500 more votes and a higher share too. In 2005 I was pleased to have beaten the BNP leader into 4th place. I'm even more pleased to have beaten his deputy (and the National Front and UKIP) by an even bigger margin. Last time it was by 12% to 9%. This time it was 15% to 7%, even when you add all those three together.
Once again, thanks to everyone who helped.
During my campaign, I've been contacted by over 100 different people. A lot of them were simply lobbying for my support, but a significant number of new people offered help.
That is on top of assistance in innumerable ways from people who were there before. It would be invidious or embarrassing to name them, but there has to be one exception, Judith Brooksbank, my agent.
Named or mostly not, I'd like to thank them one and all.
I'd also like them to take pride in their efforts: still third place, but with over 1,500 more votes and a higher share too. In 2005 I was pleased to have beaten the BNP leader into 4th place. I'm even more pleased to have beaten his deputy (and the National Front and UKIP) by an even bigger margin. Last time it was by 12% to 9%. This time it was 15% to 7%, even when you add all those three together.
Once again, thanks to everyone who helped.
Monday, 22 June 2009
Iran's Election Fraud
Interesting paper by Chatham House and the University of St Andrews analysing the voting figures in this month's Iranian Presidential Elections.
Comparing this and the previous elections of 2005, the team come up with some fascinating observations:
* In two conservative provinces, Mazandaran and Yazd, a turnout of more than 100% was recorded.
* If Ahmadinejad’s victory was primarily caused by the increase in voter turnout, one would expect the data to show that the provinces where there was the greatest 'swing' in support towards Ahmadinejad would also be the provinces with the greatest increase in voter turnout. This is not the case.
* In a third of all provinces, the official results would require that Ahmadinejad took not only all former conservative voters, all former centrist voters, and all new voters, but up to 44% of former reformist voters, despite a decade of conflict between these two groups.
* In 2005, as in 2001 and 1997, conservative candidates, and Ahmadinejad in particular, were markedly unpopular in rural areas.
That the countryside always votes conservative is a myth. The claim that this year Ahmadinejad swept the board in provinces that are more rural flies in the face of these trends.
So whichever way you play it the election was STOLEN!
The complete paper can be downloaded from:http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/14234_iranelection0609.pdf
Comparing this and the previous elections of 2005, the team come up with some fascinating observations:
* In two conservative provinces, Mazandaran and Yazd, a turnout of more than 100% was recorded.
* If Ahmadinejad’s victory was primarily caused by the increase in voter turnout, one would expect the data to show that the provinces where there was the greatest 'swing' in support towards Ahmadinejad would also be the provinces with the greatest increase in voter turnout. This is not the case.
* In a third of all provinces, the official results would require that Ahmadinejad took not only all former conservative voters, all former centrist voters, and all new voters, but up to 44% of former reformist voters, despite a decade of conflict between these two groups.
* In 2005, as in 2001 and 1997, conservative candidates, and Ahmadinejad in particular, were markedly unpopular in rural areas.
That the countryside always votes conservative is a myth. The claim that this year Ahmadinejad swept the board in provinces that are more rural flies in the face of these trends.
So whichever way you play it the election was STOLEN!
The complete paper can be downloaded from:http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/files/14234_iranelection0609.pdf
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