https://www.dailykos.com/news/SanMarino News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Mon, 24 Feb 2020 02:15:38 +0000 Mon, 24 Feb 2020 02:15:38 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/18/1611890/-International-Elections-Digest-Progressives-hold-back-far-right-tide-in-Austria-s-presidential-race <h4><a name="OLE_LINK4"></a><strong>Leading Off</strong></h4> <p><strong><a href="#1" name="1">●</a></strong><strong> Austria – </strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_presidential_election,_2016"><strong>president</strong></a><strong> (Dec. 4)</strong></p> <p>Right-wing populists and far-right nationalists <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/25/across-europe-distrust-of-mainstream-political-parties-is-on-the-rise">have seen a surging tide of support</a> in both Europe and the U.S. in the last two decades, and 2016 saw such forces win breakthrough victories with Donald Trump's election and the United Kingdom's <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/07/10/1546606/-International-Elections-Digest-All-you-can-eat-Brexit">vote to leave the European Union</a> in June. These stunning outcomes left observers bracing for the worst in Austria's long-delayed presidential runoff. However, progressives scored a decisive victory when center-left <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greens_%E2%80%93_The_Green_Alternative">Green Party</a>-backed independent Alexander Van der Bellen <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/04/europe/austria-presidential-election-rerun/">defeated</a> far-right <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Party_of_Austria">Freedom Party</a> candidate Norbert Hofer by a 54-46 margin.</p> <p>This election was actually the second time that Van der Bellen defeated Hofer. The two had squared off in a May runoff after squeezing out more centrist candidates in the first round. Van der Bellen won that bout by a razor-thin 0.7 percent, but Austria's highest court later <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/11/20/1601470/-International-Elections-Digest-Iceland-s-Pirate-Party-limps-ashore-with-a-third-place-finish#2" title="">invalidated the results</a> over improper ballot-counting procedure and ordered a re-do election. The repeat runoff <em>itself</em> had to be delayed after physical problems with ballot materials, leaving Austria without a president for months.</p> <p>Austria's election <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/05/1607219/-Austria-s-Stronger-Together-candidate-beat-the-far-right-because-they-have-no-electoral-college" title="">had more than a few parallels to the American presidential election</a>. Hofer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/04/far-right-party-concedes-defeat-in-austrian-presidential-election">campaigned on a stridently Islamophobic, anti-immigrant platform</a>, a centerpiece of which was his hostility to the EU, although he did not formally call for Austria to exit the union—<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38075644" title="">at least not yet</a>. Van der Bellen, on the other hand, advocated a pro-EU position and <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/12/05/1607219/-Austria-s-Stronger-Together-candidate-beat-the-far-right-because-they-have-no-electoral-college" title="">campaigned in defense of pluralism</a>, using the tagline "<a href="https://twitter.com/almodozo/status/805484600734740480">Only Together Are We Austria</a>," as you can see in the poster above—very reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's "<a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/08/08/489138602/trump-comment-gives-clinton-a-campaign-slogan-with-layered-meaning">Stronger Together</a>" slogan. The far-right <a href="https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/805455618249265152" title="">dominated in rural areas</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/almodozo/status/805511237731831808">working-class suburbs</a>, and with men, while the center-left did well with women and in well-educated cities with more exposure to multiculturalism.</p> <p>Austria uses a parliamentary system, meaning the president is mostly a figurehead, but the position is not entirely without power. Indeed, Hofer had <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/20/1601470/-International-Elections-Digest-Iceland-s-Pirate-Party-limps-ashore-with-a-third-place-finish#2">pledged to use the president's authority in unprecedented</a> ways if elected. In particular, he was eager to force early elections for parliament, the country's true power center, because Hofer's Freedom Party <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Austrian_legislative_election">was poised to surge to first place</a> according to recent polls. Thankfully, that potential outcome has now been averted, but parliamentary elections are still due to happen by 2018 at the latest, meaning mainstream forces can't rest easy in Austria.</p> <p>As one scholar <a href="https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/805529271594782724">noted</a>, Europe's liberals just over a decade ago were aghast when the ultra-xenophobic Jean-Marie Le Pen made the French presidential runoff in 2002 even though he lost in an 82-18 landslide, but now they're seemingly breathing a sigh of relief at a mere 54-46 defeat in Austria in 2016. Other European countries face key national elections coming up in 2017 where the extreme right is expected to see a rise in support, and France will once again be a key battleground—see our item on the French elections below. But while Austria was able to hold back the tide and prevent Hofer from becoming Europe's first elected far-right head of state since World War II, France might not be able to do the same.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos Elections International) Austria Colombia dkeinternationaldigest Elections ElectoralCollege France Germany Ghana Haiti HongKong Iceland Italy Macedonia Netherlands Romania SanMarino SouthKorea Spain TheGambia UnitedKingdom _1611890 Sun, 18 Dec 2016 19:00:22 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/3/29/1197838/-Oldest-Countries-in-the-World <p>What is the oldest country in the world? This is not an easy question to answer as many countries have ancient histories which form a part of their heritage. However, many geographers and historians are quick to point out that the ancient empires were often an agglomeration of city-states or fiefdoms and not really the equivalent of today’s modern nation-states. The Roman Empire, like Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, no longer exists and in its place are a number of modern countries.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Ojibwa) China Geography History Japan Recommended SanMarino _1197838 Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:40:31 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/3/21/958751/-Some-Tidbits-About-Little-Europe <p>Europe has a number of micro-states and small governmental entities which are relatively unknown outside of the region. These include the world’s oldest republic (San Marino), Europe’s last feudal state (Sark), a unique co-principality and feudal state (Andorra), and a short-lived republic (Carpatho-Ruthenia).</p> rss@dailykos.com (Ojibwa) Andorra Carpatho-Ruthenia Europe Geography History microstates Rescued SanMarino Sark Teaching _958751 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:39:51 +0000