world leaders respond surprisingly to bush, page-5

Hi TOU,

I liked the following comment:
"Goeran Persson, prime minister of Sweden, said the narrow result showed the US was divided. He did not expect any significant policy changes".

At the last Parliamentary elections (in 2002), Persson's Social Democratic Party garnered 39.8% of the popular vote and 146 seats (including 144 elected, and 2 equalisation) out of a total of 349 (310 elected, and 39 equalisation).

To govern, the SDP has had to conduct itself as a minority government. To this day, the SDP has to rely on the continuing support of the Left Party (37 seats and 8.3% of the 2002 popular vote) and the Green Party (28 seats and 4.6% of the 2002 popular vote) to achieve a working majority in the Swedish Parliament.

Together, the SDP, the LP and the Greens accounted for 52.7% of the 2002 popular vote. But their's no mistaking that the SDP was elected with barely 40% popular support.

Yet, the 3 parties together actually secured close to 60% of the 349 seats in the Riksdag.

Now that's really a case of the pot calling the kettle, black.

Persson can only dream of eventually winning the sort of mandate that Bush has, or the level of the popular vote that Bush has secured.

Narrow victory, or not, its still some 11+ percentage points more than Persson last achieved in 2002.