Landslide victory

2010

2015

A landslide victory in Scotland at the 2015 general election. The SNP (yellow) hold 56 of Scotland's 59 seats; Conservatives (blue), Labour (red) and Lib Dems (orange) hold one each.

A landslide victory is an electoral victory in a political system, when one candidate or party receives an overwhelming majority of the votes or seats in the elected body, thus all but utterly eliminating the opponents. The winning party has reached more voters than usual, and a landslide victory is often seen in hindsight as a turning point in people's views on political matters, as for instance when Tony Blair won a landslide election in 1997 in the U.K. In Denmark, the general election in 1973 was dubbed the landslide election (Danish: Jordskredsvalget) because several new parties enjoyed considerable popularity while the older parties suffered severe losses.

Part of the reason for a landslide victory is sometimes a bandwagon effect, as a significant number of people may decide to vote for the party which is in the lead in the pre-election opinion polls, regardless of its politics.

The term is borrowed from geology, where a landslide takes almost everything with it on its way.

Australia

As in other Commonwealth countries with first-past-the-post, a landslide in the Australian House of Representatives occurs when one party has a large majority of the seats.

• 1917: The Nationalists won 53 seats while the Labor Party won just 22.
• 1929: The Labor Party won 47 seats while the Nationalists won just 14.
• 1931: The United Australian Party won 40 seats while the Country Party won just 16.
• 1943: The Labor Party won 49 seats while the UAP and the Country Party tied with just 12.
• 1946: The Labor Party won 43 seats while the Coalition won just 29.
• 1949: The Coalition won 74 seats while the Labor Party won just 48.
• 1955: The Coalition won 75 seats while the Labor Party won just 49.
• 1955: The Coalition won 77 seats while the Labor Party won just 47.
• 1966: The Coalition won 82 seats while the Labor Party won just 41.
• 1975: The Coalition won 91 seats while the Labor Party won just 36.
• 1977: The Coalition won 86 seats while the Labor Party won just 38.
• 1983: The Labor Party won 75 seats while the Coalition won just 50.
• 1996: The Coalition won 93 seats while the Labor Party won just 49.
• 2013: The Coalition won 89 seats while the Labor Party won just 55.

Reference: ^[1]

Canada

A map of the vote by province in 1940 shows the scale of the Liberals' landslide victory.

A map of the vote by province in 1984 shows the scale of the Progressive Conservatives' landslide victory.

Like the UK, a landslide victory in Canada occurs when a party gains a large majority in the House of Commons.

• 1874 - The Liberals won 133 seats while the Conservatives won just 73 seats.
• 1878 - The Conservatives won 137 seats while the Conservatives won just 69 seats.
• 1882 - The Conservatives won 139 seats while the Conservatives won just 71 seats.
• 1900 - The Liberals won 132 seats while the Conservatives won just 81.
• 1904 - The Liberals won 139 seats while the Conservatives won just 75.
• 1908 - The Liberals won 133 seats while the Conservatives won just 85.
• 1911 - The Conservatives won 133 seats while the Liberals won just 86.
• 1917 - The Conservatives won 153 seats while the Liberals won just 82.
• 1930 - The Conservatives won 137 seats while the Liberals won just 91.
• 1935 - The Liberals won 171 seats while the Conservatives won just 39.
• 1940 - The Liberals won 178 seats while the Progressive Conservatives won just 39.
• 1945 - The Liberals won 125 seats while the Progressive Conservatives won just 67.
• 1949 - The Liberals won 190 seats while the Progressive Conservatives won just 41.
• 1953 - The Liberals won 171 seats while the Progressive Conservatives won just 51.
• 1958 - The Progressive Conservatives won 208 seats while the Liberals won just 48.
• 1968 - The Liberals won 155 seats while the Progressive Conservatives won just 72.
• 1984 - The Progressive Conservatives won 211 seats while the Liberals won just 40.
• 1988 - The Progressive Conservatives won 169 seats while the Liberals won just 83.
• 1993 - The Liberals won 177 seats while the Bloc Quebecois won just 54. The ruling Progressive Conservatives dropped from 151 to 2.
• 1997 - The Liberals won 155 seats while the Reform Party won just 60.
• 2000 - The Liberals won 173 seats while the Canadian Alliance won just 66.
• 2015 - The Liberals won 184 seats while the Conservatives won just 99.

Reference: ^[2]

Germany

Because of Germany's multi-party mixed-member proportional representation system, it is extremely difficult for any one party to gain a majority in the Bundestag. Thus, a landslide election occurs when a party gains close to a majority and has a large margin over its main opponent in the popular vote and are very rare.

• 1953: The CDU/CSU received 45.2% of the popular vote and 249 seats (six shy of a majority) while the SPD received just 28.8% of the popular vote and 162 seats.^[3]
• 1957: The CDU/CSU received 50.2% of the popular vote and 277 seats (a majority of 17) while the SPD received just 31.8% of the popular vote and 181 seats.^[4]
• 2013: The CDU/CSU received 41.5% of the popular vote and 311 seats (five shy of a majority) while the SPD received just 25.7% of the popular vote and 193 seats.^[5][6]

New Zealand

Before 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 1993, New Zealand has used the mixed member proportional system as in Germany, making landslides much less likely.^[7]

• 1893 - The Liberals won 51 seats and 57.8% of the vote while the Conservatives won 13 seats and just 24.5% of the vote.^[8]
• 1899 - The Liberals won 49 seats and 52.7% of the vote while the Conservatives won 19 seats and just 36.6% of the vote.^[8]
• 1902 - The Liberals won 47 seats and 51.8% of the vote while the Conservatives won 19 seats and just 20.6% of the vote.^[8]
• 1905 - The Liberals won 58 seats and 53.1% of the vote while the Conservatives won 16 seats and just 29.7% of the vote.^[8]
• 1908 - The Liberals won 50 seats and 58.7% of the vote while the Conservatives won 26 seats and just 27.8% of the vote.^[8]
• 1919 - The Reform Party (old Conservatives) won 58 seats while the Liberals won just 21 seats.^[8]
• 1925 - The Reform Party won 55 seats while the Labour Party won just 12 seats.^[8]
• 1931 - A coaliton of the Reform Party and the United Party (old Liberals) won 51 seats while the Labour Party won just 24 seats.^[8]
• 1935 - The Labour Party won 53 seats while the National Party (merged Reform-United coalition) won just 19 seats.^[8]
• 1938 - The Labour Party won 53 seats while the National Party won just 25 seats.^[8]
• 1951 - The National Party won 50 seats while the Labour Party won just 30 seats.^[8]
• 1972 - The Labour Party won 55 seats while the National Party won just 32 seats.^[8]
• 1975 - The National Party won 55 seats while the Labour Party won just 32 seats.^[8]
• 1984 - The Labour Party won 56 seats while the National Party won just 37 seats.^[8]
• 1990 - The National Party won 67 seats while the Labour Party won just 29 seats.^[8]
• 2002 - The Labour Party won 52 seats while the National Party won just 27 seats.^[9]
• 2011 - The National Party won 59 seats while the Labour Party won just 34 seats.^[10]
• 2014 - The National Party won 60 seats while the Labour Party won just 32 seats.^[11]

United Kingdom

This map shows the Conservatives landslide victory in 1983.

This map shows the Labour Party's landslide victory in 1997.

In UK General Elections, a landslide victory involves a large swing from one party to another as well 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.

Notable landslide election results:

• 1906 General Election - Henry Campbell-Bannerman led his Liberal Party to a huge victory over Arthur Balfour's Conservative Party who lost more than half their seats, including his own seat in Manchester East, as a result of the large national swing to the Liberal Party (The 5.4% swing from the Conservatives to Liberals was at the time the highest ever achieved). The Liberal Party won 397 seats (an increase of 214) while the Conservative Party were left with 156 seats (a decrease of 246).^[12][13]
• 1945 General Election - Clement Attlee led his Labour Party to a huge victory over Winston Churchill's Conservative Party, a 12.0% swing from the Conservatives to Labour. Labour won 393 seats (an increase of 239) while the Conservative Party were left with 197 (a decrease of 190).^[14]
• 1983 General Election - Margaret Thatcher following her victory in the Falklands War won her second term in office with a landslide victory for the Conservatives gaining an overall majority of 144 by winning 397 seats (a increase of 38 seats) on 42.4% of the national vote and forcing her main opponent Michael Foot to resign after Labour won just 209 seats.
• 1997 General Election - Tony Blair's Labour Party won 418 seats (an increase of 145) and gained an overall majority of 179 while the Conservative Party won just 165 seats (a decrease of 178). The swing from the Conservatives to Labour was 10.2% and was the biggest general election victory of the 20th Century.^[15]
• 2001 General Election - Tony Blair's Labour Party secured a second consecutive landslide victory by winning 413 seats (a decrease of 5 seats) and a overall majority of 165. The Consevatives managed to win 166 seats (a increase of just one seat) which forced their opposition leader William Hague to resign. The election is remembered as the "quiet landslide" as the result was so widely expected and also coincided with a record low turnout of just 59.4% amid the height of the 2001 foot and mouth crisis.

Scotland

• 2011 Scottish Parliament Election - Alex Salmond led the Scottish National Party to a second term in office with unprecedented success when they became the first party in Scotland to win a overall majority under a electoral system which was supposed to prevent such a result winning 69 seats and led to the holding of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The Scottish Labour Party only lost 7 seats overall however lost 22 constituency seats to the SNP in their worst result in Scotland for almost thirty years.
• 2015 UK General Election (Scotland) - The Scottish National Party won 56 out of 59 Westminster parliamentary constituency seats in Scotland, an increase of 50. The SNP, additionally, achieved 50% of the total votes in Scotland, 30% higher than the previous election. The Scottish Labour Party were reduced to one seat, from 41. The overall swing in Scotland was 23.9% from Labour to the SNP, peaking at 39.3% in Glasgow North East.

United States

Presidential

The map of the Electoral College in 1936 shows the scale of Franklin D. Roosevelt's landslide victory.

The map of the Electoral College in 1972 shows the scale of Richard Nixon's landslide victory.

A landslide victory in U.S. Presidential elections occurs when a candidate has an overwhelming majority in the Electoral College.

• 1789, 1792 - In both elections in which he ran, George Washington (Federalist) received all of the electoral votes.
• 1804 - Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) received 162 (92%) of the electoral votes while Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (Federalist) received only 14 (8%).
• 1816 - James Monroe (Democratic-Republican) received 183 (83.9%) of the electoral votes while Rufus King (Federalist) received only 34 (15.6%).
• 1820 - Monroe ran unopposed for his re-election campaign, but a faithless elector cast his vote for John Quincy Adams, thus denying Monroe the opportunity to become the second person to receive every electoral vote.
• 1832 - Andrew Jackson (D) received 219 (76%) of the electoral votes while three candidates split the remaining 67 electoral votes.
• 1840 - William Henry Harrison (Whig) received 234 (79.6%) of the electoral votes while Martin Van Buren (D) received only 60 (20.4%).
• 1852 - Franklin Pierce (D) received 254 (85.8%) of the electoral votes while Winfield Scott (Whig) received only 42 (14.2%).
• 1864 - Abraham Lincoln (R) received 212 (90.6%) of the electoral votes while George B. McClellan (D) received only 21 (9%).
• 1872 - Ulysses S. Grant (R) received 286 (81.9%) of the electoral votes while four candidates split the remaining 66 due to the death of Horace Greeley (D).
• 1912 - Woodrow Wilson (D) received 435 (81.9%) of the electoral votes while Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive) received 88 (16.6%) and William Howard Taft (R) received only 8 (1.5%). However, Wilson won just 41.8% of the popular vote.
• 1920 - Warren G. Harding (R) received 404 (76.1%) of the electoral votes while James M. Cox (D) received only 127 (23.9%). Additionally, Harding received 60.3% of the popular vote.
• 1928 - Herbert Hoover (R) received 444 (83.6%) of the electoral votes while Al Smith (D) received only 87 (16.4%).
• 1932 - Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) received 472 (88.9%) of the electoral votes while Herbert Hoover (R) received only 59 (11.1%).
• 1936 - Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) received 523 (98.5%) of the electoral votes while Alf Landon (R) received only 8 (1.5%). Additionally, Roosevelt received 60.8% of the popular vote.
• 1940 - Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) received 449 (84.6%) of the electoral votes while Wendell Willkie (R) received only 82 (15.4%).
• 1944 - Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) received 432 (81.4%) of the electoral votes while Thomas E. Dewey (R) received only 99 (18.6%).
• 1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) received 442 (83.2%) of the electoral votes while Adlai Stevenson II (D) received only 89 (16.8%).
• 1956 - Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) received 457 (86.1%) of the electoral votes while Adlai Stevenson II (D) received only 73 (13.7%).
• 1964 - Lyndon B. Johnson (D) received 486 (90.3%) of the electoral votes while Barry Goldwater (R) received only 52 (9.7%). Additionally, Johnson received 61.1% of the popular vote.
• 1972 - Richard Nixon (R) received 510 (96.7%) of the electoral votes while George McGovern (D) received only 17 (3.2%). Additionally, Nixon received 60.7% of the popular vote.
• 1980 - Ronald Reagan (R) received 489 (90.9%) of the electoral votes while Jimmy Carter (D) received only 49 (9.1%).
• 1984 - Ronald Reagan (R) received 525 (97.6%) of the electoral votes while Walter Mondale (D) received only 13 (2.4%).
• 1988 - George H. W. Bush (R) received 426 (79.2%) of the electoral votes while Michael Dukakis (D) received only 111 (20.6%).

Reference:^[16]

Congressional

Gubernatorial

• Georgia 1827 - John Forsyth (Democratic-Republican) received 70.08% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1865 - Charles J. Jenkins (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1871 - James M. Smith (D) won 99.73% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1876 - Alfred H. Colquitt (D) won 76.18% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1882 - Alexander H. Stephens (D) won 70.57% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1883 - Henry D. McDaniel (D) won 98.61% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1884 - Henry D. McDaniel (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1886 - John B. Gordon (D) won 99.2% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1888 - John B. Gordon (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1890 - William J. Northen (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1900 - Allen D. Candler (D) won 78.57% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1902 - Joseph M. Terrell (D) won 93.61% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1904 - Joseph M. Terrell (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1906 - M. Hoke Smith (D) won 99.84% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1908 - Joseph M. Brown (D) won 90.53% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1910 - M. Hoke Smith (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia Jan. 1912 - Joseph M. Brown (D) won 98.97% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia Oct. 1912 - John M. Slaton (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1914 - Nathaniel E. Harris (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1916 - Hugh M. Dorsey (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1918 - Hugh M. Dorsey (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1920 - Thomas W. Hardwick (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1922 - Clifford M. Walker (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1924 - Clifford M. Walker (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1926 - Lamartine G. Hardman (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1928 - Lamartine G. Hardman (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1930 - Richard B. Russell, Jr. (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1932 - Eugene Talmadge (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1934 - Eugene Talmadge (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1936 - E.D. Rivers (D) won 99.67% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1938 - E.D. Rivers (D) won 94.28% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1940 - Eugene Talmadge (D) won 99.6% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1942 - Ellis Arnall (D) won 96.3% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1946 - Eugene Talmadge (D) won 98.54% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1948 - Herman Talmadge (D) won 97.51% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1950 - Herman Talmadge (D) won 98.44% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1954 - Marvin Griffin (D) won 99.98% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1958 - Ernest Vandiver (D) ran unopposed.^[17]
• Georgia 1962 - Carl Sanders (D) won 99.95% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1978 - George D. Busbee (D) won 80.65% of the vote.^[17]
• Georgia 1986 - Joe Frank Harris (D) won 70.51% of the vote.^[17]
• South Dakota 1952 - Sigurd Anderson (R) received 70.2% of the vote, a 40-point win over Sherman Iverson.^[18]
• South Dakota 1982 - Bill Janklow (R) received 70.9% of the vote, a 42-point win over Michael O'Connor (D).^[18]
• South Dakota 2014 - Dennis Daugaard (R) received 70.5% of the vote, a 45-point win over Susan Wismer (D) and Michael Myers (I).^[18]

See also

• Wave election
• Blowout (sports)

References

1. "Infosheet: Political Parties in the House of Representatives" (PDF). Parliament of Australia. January 2014. p. 3. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
2. "Party Standings in the House of Commons (1867-date)". PARLINFO. Library of Parliament. 24 March 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
3. "Election to the 2nd German Bundestag on 6 September 1953". Bundeswahlleiter. 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
4. "Election to the 2nd German Bundestag on 15 September 1957". Bundeswahlleiter. 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
5. "Final result of the Election to the German Bundestag 2013". Bundeswahlleiter. 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
6. "Final result of the Election to the German Bundestag 2013". Bundeswahlleiter. 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
7. Electoral Commission (17 July 2014). Mixed Member Proportional Representation in New Zealand (Video). Wellington.
8. "General elections 1890-1993 - seats won by party". Electoral Commission. 9 September 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
9. "Official Count Results -- Overall Status". 2002 General Election - Official Results. Electoral Commission. 8 October 2002. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
10. "Official Count Results -- Overall Status". 2011 General Election - Official Results. Electoral Commission. 17 December 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
11. "Official Count Results -- Overall Status". 2014 General Election - Official Results. Electoral Commission. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/4694864.stm
13. Liberal Landslide: The General Election of 1906.
14. Labour Landslide, July 5-19, 1945.
15. Labour's Landslide: The British General Election 1997.
16. Peters, Gerhard; Woolley, John T. "Presidential Elections". American Presidency Project. University of California, Santa Barbara. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
17. "Georgia - Governor - History". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
18. Ostermeier, Dr. Eric (2014-12-15). "Daugaard Sets Record for Largest Gubernatorial Win in South Dakota History". Smart Politics. University of Minnesota. Retrieved 2016-03-31.

External links

• Landslide Definition in Politics