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Tuesday, January 24, 2006

The Right Marches On...

The Conservative Party has won in Canada and Stephen Harper is to be the new Prime Minister. The Conservative Party itself is formed by a not so equal merger of the dominant Canadian Alliance and the limp Progressive Conservative Party. The election results as of this morning look something like this:

Conservatives: 124
Liberals: 103
Bloc Quebecois: 53
New Democrats: 29
Greens: 0
Independent: 1

The Conservatives are the only party right of center. The Liberals tend to be center-left but mostly are an establishment party; New Democrats have socialists roots and ties; the Bloc Quebecois spilt from the old Progressive Conservative Party but presently have left-ward tendencies; and the Greens are a new party and clearly socialist.

The results in Canada show a trend internationally from the year 2000 onward. In most areas neo-liberal and conservative parties are winning elections. A brief scorecard of results follows:

Neo-Liberal/Conservative Victories:

USA- Bush twice
UK- Blair (“Neo-conservative” foreign policy and free markets puts him here)
Australia- Howard
Portugal- Cavaco
Poland- Kacyznski (Conservative Catholics defeat Neo-Liberals; left of center ruling party shut out of second round)
Ukraine- Yushchenko (Pro-West defeats loyal to Moscow Russian-Ukrainian front)
Germany- Merkel (Weak campaigning nearly lost this won but the Right pulls through)
Lebanon- Hariri (Pro-West parties defeat Syrian plants)
Japan- Koizumi
Canada- Harper

Leftist Victories:

Spain- Zapatero (Terrorist attacks throws everything in a wash and people desire peace over security)
Venezuela- Chavez survives recall (Fixed *Cough* Fixed)
Bolivia- Morales
Chile- Bachelet

So what can be determined by these results? Dismissing Spain due to the extraordinary event of the March 11, 2004 terrorist attacks; it appears globalized countries are electing leaders who will open markets and yet keep traditional social values. In Latin American countries the shift seems to be towards the Left that like always promises to create a Utopia.

Category: Geopolitics

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