Is your city/country politically divided?

[Nordenskjöld]

Ok so I was watching a map about the Chilean elections in Santiago and its results. I immediately realized that communes with similar results were all together. I know it's because richer communes tend to give their vote to the right-wing and poorer communes to the left-wing, but if you see the map it's still surprising..

So, I wanted to know if that happens in other countries. I know in the USA the South is more republican and the East/West coasts are more towards the democrats. In Brazil, the South is also more rightist and the poor North more leftist. Argentina has a rightist capital, but the rest of the country is rather leftist.

So, does this happen in your country? or it isn't so divided in that way?

Here the map of Santiago (Elections of 1989, Right: Hernan Büchi -Pinochet's candidate- + Francisco Errázuriz, Left: Patricio Aylwin).

[DragonRouge]

Yup...

Last three elections:

2011:

[IMGLINK]http://www.carbon49.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/CanadaElection2011ResultsMap.png[/IMGLINK]

2008:

[IMGLINK]http://geochristian.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/canada_2008.jpg[/IMGLINK]

2006:

[IMGLINK]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Canada_election_2006_v2.png/250px-Canada_election_2006_v2.png[/IMGLINK]

Not as divided as the 90s though:

1993:

[IMGLINK]http://redensign.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/1993-canadian-election-results-map.png[/IMGLINK]

[Ashina]

The province I am from is very anti-immigrant/muslim.

[Nordenskjöld]

Yup...

Last three elections:

2011:

[IMGLINK]http://www.carbon49.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/CanadaElection2011ResultsMap.png[/IMGLINK]

There isn't like a "big division" though. Maybe the West is more rightist and the East more leftist.. am I right?!

Ashina, are you from a rural region? Rural areas tend to be more conservative/anti-immigration/religious/etc.

[DragonRouge]

There isn't like a "big division" though. Maybe the West is more rightist and the East more leftist.. am I right?!

Yes. But Quebec is a different beast politically. They can boost or destroy a political party. They were the ones who propped up the NDP.

Though in Quebec itself, there is not as concrete a division between left and right as the rest of the country, which is interesting in itself. Quebec politics is interesting and somewhat confusing (from the point of view of an outsider, anyways). They don't seem as loyal to right or left positions as other Canadians, but kind of all over the place. I've noticed this even debating politics with my relatives from Quebec. In this sense, I respect Quebecers, because they don't seem to blindly follow one ideal but actually think things through. And this is not an ethnocentric thing because I am also French, the French-speaking population here seems to blindly vote Liberal and I bet some would put me up on skewers if I admitted I voted Conservative in 2006 (even though I think I'm an idiot now for it).

[Nordenskjöld]

Haha I see! That's very interesting.. Something similar happens here in the "Region of Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctic".. They're really autonomous since it's a region with a high income per capita -people live well-, a unique culture -very influenced by Croat immigrants-, and very far from the rest of the country -extreme south-... They tend to vote to independent regionalist deputies and senators, and to change their mind about presidential elections very often.. They gave a 58% to Bachelet (centre-left) on 2006, and a 57% to Piñera (centre-right) on 2010. Maybe the same happens in Quebec. Since it's a very unique, independent and autonomous region, they don't vote influenced by the rest of the country, but independently..

Maybe in unequal cities such as Santiago, it happens a lot that close communes vote for the same party.. You can see the North-East very blue, the South-East and the Centre very orange, and the rest of the city orange and red. Had you seen something similar before?

[Multilingual]

I think the OP mentioned about the political divide in the U.S. I will just add that many of the largest cities in the U.S. vote Democrat such as New York, L.A., San Francisco, etc.

In the Philippines, politics is heavily influenced by the wealthy political families who assume one of the several political parties, and they are often representative of their region or province. Another layer of influence comes from the religious divide: Muslim groups in the Southwest, and the various Christian Church groups such as Iglesia Ni Cristo and the Aglipayan Church, and sometimes the Catholic Church, who participate in block voting or at least influence the votes of their members. There is also a layer of influence coming from the various ethnic groups.

[Danielion]

The province I am from is very anti-immigrant/muslim.

Also quite Hollandophobe I notice and also sometimes Belgophile. I wouldn't mind if they traded Antwerp with Limburg.
Alternatively they could also merge Limburg with Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Of course, I have nothing against you and realise you're stuck in Limburg. I guess it's not too bad living there.

Anyway, I neither am a fan of immigrant havens and too open borders, but I would never vote for the PVV. The Netherlands have a way better immigration policy than us too.
I am, however, of the opinion that Limburg has a mentality that's least compatible to mine of all of the Dutch-speaking regions (I might be biased though).


---------- Post added 2011-09-12 at 01:06 ----------

[/COLOR]

Yes. But Quebec is a different beast politically. They can boost or destroy a political party. They were the ones who propped up the NDP..

The Bloc Québécois made a sudden duck. Did they suddenly mess up in their political agenda or something ?

[DragonRouge]

The Bloc Québécois made a sudden duck. Did they suddenly mess up in their political agenda or something ?

Naw. I don't think so. They seemed consistent. The NDP had a better message I guess. Thing is, many Bloc voters didn't support separation, they just felt the Bloc stood up for their culture best, and the NDP took that up, while being federalist at the same time.

(Maybe someone from Quebec mainland can correct me, I'm speaking on my Madelinot relatives)

[Zvit]

It's a mish-mash

Blue = Conservative
Red = Labour
Green = Plaid Cymru (Nationalist)
Orange = Liberal Democrats

[imglink]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Welsh_Assembly_election_2011_map.svg/300px-Welsh_Assembly_election_2011_map.svg.png[/imglink]