Category: Progressive election wins

Progressive election wins

Labor secures stunning re-election victory in Australian state of Victoria as voters ‘reject fear’

From The Guardian: The Labor Party will return to majority government in the Australian state of Victoria, with as many as 16 more seats following the election result that shocked even the winners.

The right-wing Coalition lost half of its seats and calls were being made for senior conservative party figures to resign.

Andrews told party faithful at Labor party headquarters in Mulgrave that Labor was “the most progressive government in the nation” and that voters had “in record numbers rejected the low road of fear and division. And for that, I am very, very proud.”

The federal Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, said Victorians had “comprehensively” rejected the tough-on-crime messaging of the Coalition, which he said had the potential to “divide the Australian community” and “attack” multiculturalism. “I thought the Victorian community said very loudly and clearly: ‘We reject a campaign based on fear and division’,” Di Natale added. “I want to congratulate Daniel Andrews and the Labor party.”

[Read full article on Guardian website…]

US Midterms 2018: Record number of women elected as Democrats seize House

From The Independent: America’s political landscape has undergone a transformation, after a new crop of politicians – more diverse, more female and more progressive – helped Democrats seize control of the House of Representatives and place Donald Trump under unprecedented scrutiny.

[Read article on Independent website…]

Eight lessons from Barcelona en Comú on how to Take Back Control

From OpenDemocracy: “We’re living in extraordinary times that demand brave and creative solutions. If we’re able to imagine a different city, we’ll have the power to transform it.” – Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona.

On 24 May 2015, the citizen platform Barcelona en Comú was elected as the minority government of the city of Barcelona. Along with a number of other cities across Spain, this election was the result of a wave of progressive municipal politics across the country, offering an alternative to neoliberalism and corruption.

With Ada Colau – a housing rights activist – catapulted into the position of Mayor, and with a wave of citizens with no previous experience of formal politics finding themselves in charge of their city, BComú is an experiment in progressive change that we can’t afford to ignore.

[Read full article on OpenDemocracy…]

New Zealand: Conservative government loses election to Labour-Green coalition

From The Guardian: In New Zealand the conservative National Party has lost power following their general election, to a coalition led by the New Zealand Labour Party and backed by the Greens.

New Zealand Labour has pledged to wipe out child poverty, make university free, decriminalise abortion, and make all rivers swimmable within ten years. Read more