Wipeout (elections)

An electoral wipeout occurs when a major party receives far fewer votes or seats in a Legislature than their position justifies. It is the opposite of a landslide victory; the two frequently going hand in hand.

Note that the use of the phrase generally assumes that the returns were the product of a legitimate election; show elections to fraudulent legislatures regularly produce incredibly strong majorities for the ruling party(s).

Australia

Between 1901 and 1949, the upper house of the Federal parliament (The Australian Senate) was elected by a system of majoritarian or "winner-take-all" voting. Each state had 3 of its 6 Senators retiring at each half-senate election. Each voter had 3 votes at each election, whether by First Past The Post (FPTP) 1901-1918, or preferential voting (a.k.a "Alternative Vote") 1918-1948. It was often the case that the 3 seats all went the same way, leading to lopsided results in the six States such as 36-0 or 3-33. These results brought the parliament into some disrepute. In 1948, a system of Single Transferable Vote (STV)/ Proportional Representation (PR) was introduced. (At the same time, the number of Senators per State was increased from 6 to 10, with 5 instead of 3 retiring at each triennial election. The increased number of vacancies per election would have exacerbated the "landslide/ wipeout" effect if the old winner-take-old system had been retained. Instead, because PR was introduced, having more seats "increased" the degree of proportionality between votes received and seats won by parties.)

Since the introduction of STV in the Senate, the parties have generally been evenly balanced, with minor parties and independents holding the balance of power. While frustrated, the government in the lower house has at least had a lot of different people to negotiate with.

In the 2004 election, the government did the near-impossible and gained the 57% of the vote in one state to obtain a majority in its own right in the Senate from July 2005, when the new Senators take up their seats. The number of quotas required to win a majority (four) of six seats, at 57% (ie, four-sevenths of the votes), is so high because there are an even number of seats; if there were an odd number of seats, the quota would be a more realistic 50.01%.

In the lower house, FPTP was changed to Preferential Voting in 1918.

In the 1974 Queensland state election, using single-member electorates and full-preferential voting, the Labor opposition was reduced to a "cricket team" of eleven MPs, against the National Country Party/ Liberal Party Coalition government with 69 seats (and 2 Independents).

Canada

* In the 1993 federal election, the governing Progressive Conservative Party was reduced from a strong majority government to only two seats.
*In the British Columbia general election, 2001 the governing NDP was reduced to two seats, with the other 77 being won by the Liberals.
* New Brunswick general election, 1995 51.6% - 30.9% 48 - 7 (wipe out)
* New Brunswick general election, 1991 47.1% - 21.2% 46 - 8-3-1 (lop-sided)
* New Brunswick general election, 1987 60.4% - 28.6% 55 - 0 (clean sweep)
* Ontario general election, 1987 47.3% 25.7% - 95 - 19 - 16 (lopsided)
* Prince Edward Island general election, 2003 54.0% 42.9% - 23 -4 (wipe out)
* Prince Edward Island general election, 2000 57.9% 33.7% - 26 -1 (wipe out)
* Prince Edward Island general election, 1996 47.8% 44.8% - 18 -8 - 1 (strong government; strong opposition)
* Prince Edward Island general election, 1935 51.7% 48.3% - 30 -0 (wipe out)
* Saskatchewan general election, 1991 51.1% - 25.5% 55 - 10 - 1 (lopsided)
* Saskatchewan general election, 1982 54.1% - 37.6% 55 - 9 (wipe out)
* Saskatchewan general election, 1944 53.1% - 35.4% 47 - 5 (wipe out)
* Saskatchewan general election, 1934 48.0% - 24.0% 50 - 5 (wipe out)

Elsewhere

* In the 2000 Mongolian State Great Khural Election, the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party overturned a large majority for the Democratic Union, winning 72 out of the 76 seats contested.

ources

1. [http://www.parliament.gov.sg/Parliament%20Members/Htdocs/PM-consmap-map.html] Singapore's Constituency Boundary Map