I'll take this question on face value. I don't know where you live or what you know about Canadian politics. I don't profess to know all the rules or how other countries do this sort of thing, but in Canada, an independent candidate is unaffiliated, or not tied to a particular political party. Some are kicked out of a party and others run primarily for a cause.
An independent is not part of a political party. There are certain perks to belonging to a party, I would guess.
Is this not similar where you come from?
i've voted NDP before, worked for a few campaigns (a friends father ran a few campaigns when i was in high school)
Jack Layton (NDP) is by far the most likeable candidate, if we have another Conservative minority (the most likely outcome) i'd like for his party to bury the Liberals
"Electronic Direct Democracy" as a system is not fully implemented in a political government anywhere in the world, although several initiatives are currently forming. Ross Perot was a prominent advocate of EDD when he advocated "electronic town halls" during his 1992 and 1996 Presidential campaigns in the United States. Switzerland, already partially governed by direct democracy, is making progress towards such a system. Senator On-Line, an Australian political party running for the Senate in the 2007 federal elections, proposed to institute an EDD system so that Australians can decide which way the senators vote on each and every bill. A similar initiative was formed 2002 in Sweden where the party Aktivdemokrati, running for the Swedish parliament, offers its members the power to decide the actions of the party over all or some areas of decision, or alternatively to use a proxy with immediate recall for one or several areas.
0 Replies
Setanta
1
Wed 30 Mar, 2011 11:30 am
@wandeljw,
Harper is calling Ignatieff, in effect, a carpetbagger. Ignatieff says no coalition government, and Harper sneers at coalition government. Layton and Gilles Duceppe are, in effect, calling Harper a liar because they say he was negotiating for a coalition in 2004 before Paul Martin's government fell. Sorry, Wandel, but nobody here is talking about electronic voting or such initiatives. They've got enough going on as it is.
... Jack Layton (NDP) is by far the most likeable candidate ...
Yup, for sure.
You know he's been battling prostrate cancer, too, huh?
0 Replies
ehBeth
1
Wed 30 Mar, 2011 12:10 pm
@Ceili,
Again.
They don't have any elected members.
She's a good speaker, but she has to have the 'cost' of admission.
0 Replies
ehBeth
1
Wed 30 Mar, 2011 12:11 pm
@Setanta,
I loved Duceppe waving around the coalition proposal from 2004 - apparently signed by Harper. Loved it.
0 Replies
Setanta
1
Wed 30 Mar, 2011 12:45 pm
Harper has good political instincts, but he's an arrogant bully. He's the kind of guy who would publicly call the electorate stupid, and then campaign on a claim that the Liberals are contemptuous of the elctorate. But he may have overreached himself this time. It's clear that if he had put the $2 billion for Québec in the budget, the Bloc would have voted for it. He promised to give it to them, but wouldn't put it in the budget. It's true that there still would have been a no confidence vote on the issue of contempt of Parliament, but he didn't know that at the time, and he clearly was courting a no confidence vote.
And now, typically, he's blaming the other three parties for causing an election. He may get away with it, although i'd be very surprised if he gets a majority this time. But he can't play these games forever, some day, it's all gonna come bite him in the ass.
Like Gilles Duceppe waving around the agreement with his signature on it . . .
0 Replies
wandeljw
1
Fri 1 Apr, 2011 09:23 am
Some electronic voting will be used in next October's elections in Switzerland.
Quote:
Record figures expected in landmark election
(Urs Geiser, SwissInfo.ch, March 29, 2011)
October’s parliamentary elections are likely to draw a record number of candidates, say the federal authorities, who are hoping for a turnout above 50 per cent.
For the first time a number of Swiss expatriates can have their say in a national election online as part of continuing trials with electronic voting.
The forthcoming elections are also billed as a milestone for electronic voting.
For the first time, citizens will be able to cast their vote online in a national election. This privilege is limited however to about 21,500 Swiss abroad registered in four cantons: Basel City, Aargau, St Gallen and Graubünden.
E-voting is part of continuing trials, with the system initiated more than ten years ago and having been tested in votes on specific issues both on a cantonal and nationwide level.
“Even though only a small percentage of citizens can benefit in October, it is a landmark,” Casanova said.
Peter Grünenfelder, secretary-general of the Aargau cantonal government, is optimistic that e-voting is a winning ticket for direct democracy.
His canton is among four to have applied to participate in the e-voting trials in October.
“E-voting could even be a bigger success than the introduction nearly 20 years ago of voting by post,” he said.
