France's regional and departmental elections show a combination of disaffection among voters and continued allegiance to the mainstream.
Month: June 2021
June electoral roundup
This month's regular update brings electoral news from Mexico, Armenia, Algeria and Samoa.
France votes, regionally
France's regional elections have not attracted much voter interest, but they give a graphic demonstration of how much the country's party system has changed in five and a half years.
Another Lib Dem moment
The Liberal Democrats win a by-election in southern England, raising again the hopes of realignment that have been dashed many times before.
Pardons for Catalonia
Catalonia's jailed independence leaders are to be released, in the first step towards possible reconciliation. Nationalist leaders – and their voters – are not happy.
No surprise in Iran
Iran shifts sharply to the right, with its moderate but unsuccessful president to be replaced by a hardliner. Does that make diplomatic engagement a waste of time?
An election and an “election”
Armenia's prime minister puts his job on the line in an early election. Meanwhile, Iran's rulers look like securing a hard-line president and possible successor for the supreme leader.
Saving American democracy
Initial efforts by the Biden presidency to fend off threats to democracy in the United States are not going so well. Perhaps it's time to try a new angle.
Bennett takes over
Israel finally gets a new government, and both it and the rest of the world can start to confront the legacy of Benjamin Netanyahu.
A postmortem on 2020 forecasting
Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com reviews his site's performance in last year's election, with interesting results.
The World is Not Enough 