Kameel Majdali's Road Ahead

United Kingdom: The UK went to the polls on May 7, 2015, with a 66% turnout. Current Prime Minister David Cameron, in power since 2010, was in coalition with the Liberal Democrats because he failed to gain a majority. During the 2015 campaign, the media and pollsters said there would be another hung parliament. The ultra left-wing Scottish National Party (SNP), led by Nicola Sturgeon, was poised for a landslide victory of taking seats in Scotland at the expense of Ed Milliband and the UK Labour Party. She promised to prop up Mr. Milliband and put him at Number 10 Downing Street - but at a price: at least GBP 148 billion of borrowing, spending and entitlements. The SNP was the party that agitated for the failed independence referendum in September 2014 and will not fail to try again if they got a chance. To the surprise of everyone, David Cameron and the Conservative Tory party won 331 seats, up by 25, thus giving them a clear majority without the need of a coalition. Labour had...

In less than 5 months in 2015, three national elections have been held where the results were a shock. An upset win. Totally unexpected, especially by the pollsters and the media. After three in a row, it is time for comment. The three countries involved: Sri Lanka, Israel, and the United Kingdom. Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankan election was held on January 8, 2015. Incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa was heading for an easy victory. In power since 2005, he is the man who presided over the end of the blood-filled Sri Lankan civil war of 1983-2009. He finally defeated the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) and its effective, ruthless leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Having won the war, Rajapaksa proceeded to consolidate and lengthen his hold on power. After changing the constitution to abolish presidential term limits, Rajapaksa took his nation down the pathway of autocratic rule: media freedom were curbed, an authoritarian style came in, plus there were accusations of corruption, nepotism, poor...