Impact of Winter and Snap Elections

[Gerrymanderer]

All the talk in the UK is that Gordon Brown will call the election for October 25th or wait until next spring, as he won't call it during the winter.

Got me thinking, the last winter election we had was in 1992 (late November) and I suppose that was also the last time we had an unexpected election, (not so sure how unexpected it was, cannot remember did people expect it was going to happen a few days in advance?)

And of course we had those 2 unexpected elections in 1982 when first the FG/Labour Govt fell early in the year and the subsequent FF led Govt collapsed that autumn. From memory there was no advance notice.

I have only been actively involved in the last 3 elections, all held during the summer and where we know well in advance they were coming, so stuff was all well planned.

I remember elections prior to that, but was not involved. Just wondering what it is like to be out canvassing, postering and electioneering during the winter months and worse still to get the call without warning that an election has been called and you need to hold selection convention, organise posters, leaflets, etc etc yesterday. Must have been mad. In particular must have been crazy for political organisations in the early 1980s with those three elections in 18 months?

So any people on here who were involved, how did the candidates and parties pull through it all, were big mistakes made, any funny stories?

[Defeated Romanticist]

Apparently a summer election favours the incumbants

[Insider2007]

I remember in 1982 one person, a former TD, spent thousands printing his leaflets before the convention was held to choose two candidates. His people were out putting up posters when they got a call from him to say that the convention, to everyone's shock, had voted to choose an unknown councillor over him in a landslide. His party could not add another candidate and the guy chosen refused to step down, so the guy who had been defeated had to pulp all his leaflets and posters, while the new guy had a mad dash to get his stuff printed.

[Ard-Taoiseach]

I remember in 1982 one person, a former TD, spent thousands printing his leaflets before the convention was held to choose two candidates. His people were out putting up posters when they got a call from him to say that the convention, to everyone's shock, had voted to choose an unknown councillor over him in a landslide. His party could not add another candidate and the guy chosen refused to step down, so the guy who had been defeated had to pulp all his leaflets and posters, while the new guy had a mad dash to get his stuff printed.

That is crazy! Though I suppose it's one of those idiosyncratic things which make elections so much fun for those involved.

[Trefor]

Winter election = low turnout - which historically is bad for Labour.

[rockofcashel]

winter and snap elections are a pain in the backside.. except for the fact that they usually offer a better chance to make gains against the incumbents, because more often than not, they are precipitated by the incumbents doing something really stupid

It is not fun to be out on cold wet nights, postering, leafleting, canvassing etc especially when the ordinary punter probably feels there was no need for the election in the first place

[Trefor]

It is not fun to be out on cold wet nights, postering, leafleting, canvassing etc especially when the ordinary punter probably feels there was no need for the election in the first place

Yes - but you know it's much the same for the other lot - & you hope they're not as commited as you are.

[croppyboy]

Is there an argument though that a snap election is actually a little fairer because everyone starts from the same base, there is one frantic 3 week period when it is hell for leather and really at that stage it doesn't matter how much money you've got or anything else it is just down to making your impression and working the ground in those few weeks.

[seanad voter]

Being a member of the UK Labour Party myself (easy, lads, this is not news- I've told you about a dozen times now on various threads), perhaps I'd better not reveal that Labour HQ has been commissioning long-term weather forecasts for the month ahead.

[THR]

The conventional political wisdom is that if the weather is lousy, the Tory-voters are more likely to bother to turn up. Actually, in Britain the Tory-voters are more likely to vote in constituencies where a Tory-candidate has no chance of winning as compared to Labour-supporters living in safe Tory-seats.

In my opinion, as often as possible, the precise date of the election should be very well known very much in advance and only in the case of the government collapsing or being unable to pass laws should a possibility of an early election be considered. I don´t like the British system where the PM can call an election at a whim.