Phil Woolas loses bid to overturn election court ban
Dear gods we could use rulings like that in the US. I think well more than 10% of all elected officials (mostly Republicans) would end up losing elections if this sort of thing was possible in the US.
Well, it's a once-a-century sort of thing here, at least in general elections. It's harder than it should be, in my view - you have to show that the candidate lied about an opponent's personal character, not just their political record, and I can't for the life of me see why a candidate should be allowed to lie in their campaign literature at all and still keep their seat.
It happens slightly more frequently in local elections - in my local area about two years ago, a Labour council candidate falsely claimed that the Lib Dem candidate had sexually abused a child. That cost the Labour candidate a criminal conviction as well as her seat, but not before her opponent had been hounded out of town by enraged locals who believed the lies.
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andrewducker) wrote2010-12-04 11:10 am
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Dear gods we could use rulings like that in the US. I think well more than 10% of all elected officials (mostly Republicans) would end up losing elections if this sort of thing was possible in the US.
no subject
It happens slightly more frequently in local elections - in my local area about two years ago, a Labour council candidate falsely claimed that the Lib Dem candidate had sexually abused a child. That cost the Labour candidate a criminal conviction as well as her seat, but not before her opponent had been hounded out of town by enraged locals who believed the lies.