Landslide victory

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A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. [1] The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", [1] similar to the way in which a geological landslide buries whatever is in its path. A landslide victory is the opposite of an electoral wipeout; a party which wins in a landslide typically inflicts a wipeout on its opposition.

Contents

What constitutes a landslide varies by the type of electoral system. Even within an electoral system, there is no consensus on what sized margin makes for a landslide. [1]

Notable examples

Argentina

Australia

Local and mayoral elections:

State and territory elections:

Map displaying Labor's landslide victory at the 2021 Western Australian state election. Seats won by Labor are in red, seats won by the Liberals are in blue and seats won by the Nationals are in green. 2021 Western Australian state election - Simple Results.svg
Map displaying Labor's landslide victory at the 2021 Western Australian state election. Seats won by Labor are in red, seats won by the Liberals are in blue and seats won by the Nationals are in green.

Fiji

Jamaica

Maldives

Malaysia

Results of the Malaysian election of 2004. Barisan Nasional won the constituencies in blue. Malaysia election results map 2004.svg
Results of the Malaysian election of 2004. Barisan Nasional won the constituencies in blue.

New Zealand

Until 1993, New Zealand used the traditional first-past-the-post system as in the U.K. to determine representation in its Parliament. Thus, landslide elections at that time were defined in an identical fashion, i.e. where one party got an overwhelming majority of the seats. Since 1996, New Zealand has used the mixed member proportional system as in Germany, making landslides much less likely. [15]

First past the post
MMP

Portugal

Legislative Elections

Presidential Elections

Azorean Regional Elections

Madeiran Regional Elections

Alberto João Jardim, member of the Social Democratic Party was the president of the Madeira region from 1978 to 2015. During this period of time, landslide victories for the Social Democrats were the norm.

Landslide victories for the Social Democratic Party in Madeira
Year % of votes for the Social Democratic Party2nd most voted party % of votes for the 2nd most voted partyMargin
1976 Madeiran regional election  [ pt ]59.6% Socialist Party 22.3%37.3
1980 Madeiran regional election  [ pt ]65.3% Socialist Party 15.0%50.3
1984 Madeiran regional election  [ pt ]67.8% Socialist Party 15.3%52.5
1988 Madeiran regional election  [ pt ]62.3% Socialist Party 16.8%45.5
1992 Madeiran regional election  [ pt ]56.9% Socialist Party 22.6%34.3
1996 Madeiran regional election 56.9% Socialist Party 24.8%32.1
2000 Madeiran regional election 56.0% Socialist Party 21.0%35.0
2004 Madeiran regional election 53.7% Socialist Party 27.4%26.3
2007 Madeiran regional election 64.2% Socialist Party 15.4%48.8
2011 Madeiran regional election 48.6% CDS – People's Party 17.6%31.0
2015 Madeiran regional election 44.4% CDS – People's Party 13.7%30.7

Samoa

Results of the 2006 Samoan general election by constituency. 2006 Samoan general election (results by constituency).svg
Results of the 2006 Samoan general election by constituency.

Slovakia

The Direction - Social Democracy landslide victory in 2012. 2012 Slovak legislative election - Vote Strength.svg
The Direction – Social Democracy landslide victory in 2012.

Spain

Basque Country

  • 2001Juan Jose Ibarretxe's Basque National Party-Basque Solidarity (PNV-EA) alliance won 33 seats and 42.2% of the share, 20 percentage points ahead of PP. The result is the best performance for the top voted list in a Basque regional election. With a record turnout of 79%, PNV-EA obtained more than 600,000 votes. PNV-EA also won more seats than PP (19) and PSE-EE (13) together, and was able to secure a working majority in parliament.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

A landslide victory in the elections of St. Vincent and the Grenadines involves a large swing from one party to another as well as one party winning a large majority in parliament. Landslide victories have usually occurred after a long period of government from one particular party and a change in the popular mood.

Taiwan

In the 2020 election, the Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen won 8.17 million votes, 57.1% of the votes cast, a historic landslide victory. 2020ROCPresident.svg
In the 2020 election, the Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen won 8.17 million votes, 57.1% of the votes cast, a historic landslide victory.

Presidential and Legislative Election held on the same day

Thailand

Trinidad and Tobago

In Trinidad and Tobago's elections, a landslide victory involves a large swing from one party to another as well as one party winning a large majority in parliament. Landslide victories have usually occurred after a long period of government from one particular party and a change in the popular mood. Party politics and the political structure in Trinidad and Tobago has generally run along ethnic lines with most Afro-Trinidadians supporting the People's National Movement (PNM) and most Indo-Trinidadians supporting various Indian-majority parties, such as the current United National Congress (UNC) or its predecessors.

Tobago

Ukraine

United Kingdom

This map shows the Conservative Party landslide victory in 1983. UK General Election, 1983.svg
This map shows the Conservative Party landslide victory in 1983.
This map shows the Labour Party landslide victory in 1997. UK General Election, 1997.svg
This map shows the Labour Party landslide victory in 1997.
This map shows the Conservative Party landslide victory in 2019. Results of the 2019 General Election in the UK v2.png
This map shows the Conservative Party landslide victory in 2019.

In UK General Elections, a landslide victory involves winning a large majority in parliament and often goes with a large swing from one party to another as well. Landslide victories have usually occurred after a long period of government from one particular party and a change in the popular mood. In the past a majority of over 100 was regarded as the technical hurdle to be defined as a landslide, as that allows the government freedom to easily enact its policies in parliament. In more recent times, the label 'landslide' has been applied in numerous press articles to victories which would not previously have been regarded as such, for example the Conservative Party majority of 80 in 2019. Its current usage is more as political commentary rather than technical definition and is a reflection of the strength of the party's ability to put its program through parliament. [22] [23] [24] [25]

The largest landslide by any single party in the UK parliament, since universal suffrage was introduced, was the majority of 179 won by Tony Blair's Labour Party in 1997.

Notable landslide election results

Scotland

ScotlandParliamentaryConstituency2010Results.svg
2010
United Kingdom general election, 2015 (Scotland).svg
2015
A landslide victory in Scotland at the 2015 UK General Election (Scotland). The SNP (yellow) won 56 of Scotland's 59 seats; Conservatives (blue), Labour (red) and Lib Dems (orange) won just one seat each.

See also

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