Elections today

• 23 October: Argentina, President and Legislative
• 23 October: Bulgaria, President
• 23 October: Switzerland, Federal
• 23 October: Tunisia, Constituent Assembly

Swiss elections: fascist populists loose clearly some votes

They are getting now 26.8%. Last time they received 28,8%.

Parlamentswahlen : Verluste für Schweizer Rechtspopulisten

Schwenk zur Mitte in der Schweiz Wiener Zeitung

Schweizer Wähler stoppen Höhenflug der SVP Badische Zeitung

Zur Wahl standen auch die 46 Vertreter der Kantone im sogenannten Ständerat. Dabei konnten sich in den beiden Basler Kantonen mit Claude Janiak und Anita Fetz die beiden Kandidaten der Sozialdemokraten durchsetzen. Überraschend gelang im Kanton Aargau, ansonsten ein traditioneller SVP-Kanton, mit Pascale Bruderer ebenfalls einer Politikerin der SPS ein Erfolg. Dagegen scheiterte im Kanton Zürich der SVP-Vordenker und -finanzier Christoph Blocher mit seiner Kandidatur im ersten Wahlgang. Er landete nur auf dem dritten Platz hinter der Grünliberalen Verena Diener und dem FDP-Mann Felix Gutzwiler. Damit bliebe er weiter ohne politisches Mandat. Einen zweiten Wahlgang wird es auch in zahlreichen anderen Kantonen geben.

The essence: SVP head Blocher who is a billionaire is a FAILURE in the first round of voting. There will be a second round in nov.

yahoo:BERN, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss voters backed moderate forces in a general election Sunday in which nationalists failed in their effort to break through the 30 percent barrier with a campaign heavy on anti-immigrant sentiment.

The nationalist Swiss People's Party, or SVP, was projected to take 25.9 percent of the vote for the lower house, a drop of 3 percent on four years ago, according to public television station SF.

"We didn't achieve our election goal," People's Party president Toni Brunner conceded as results trickled in.



BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's center-left President Cristina Fernandez cruised toward re-election on Sunday, an exit poll showed, as average Argentines endorsed her policies in the face of criticism by big business.

Helped by an economy growing at about 8 percent per year and a field of feeble opposition candidates, Fernandez was ahead with 55 percent of the vote, according to sources with access to an exit poll funded by the government.

Socialist provincial governor Hermes Binner was running a distant second with 14 percent, according to the sources