Wipeout (elections)
Encyclopedia
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
Landslide victory
In politics, a landslide victory is the victory of a candidate or political party by an overwhelming margin in an election...

; 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 Australian Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 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 the alternative vote. 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, the Single Transferable Vote
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...

 (STV) 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-all system had been retained. Instead, 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 had a lot of different people to negotiate with.

In the 2004 election, the government did the nearly 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% (four-sevenths of the votes), is so high because there are an even number of seats.

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
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 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
    Canadian federal election, 1993
    The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...

    , the governing Progressive Conservative Party
    Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
    The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

     was reduced from a strong majority government to only two seats.
  • In the Canadian federal election, 2011, the Bloc Québécois
    Bloc Québécois
    The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

     was reduced to 4 seats.
  • In the British Columbia general election, 2001
    British Columbia general election, 2001
    The British Columbia general election of 2001 was the 37th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 18, 2001, and held on May 16, 2001...

     the governing NDP was reduced to two seats, with the other 77 being won by the Liberals.
  • New Brunswick general election, 1995
    New Brunswick general election, 1995
    The 33rd New Brunswick general election was held on September 11, 1995, to elect 55 members to the 53rd New Brunswick Legislative Assembly, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada. The election marked the debut of Bernard Valcourt as a provincial politician, and as leader of a...

     51.6% - 30.9% 48 - 7 (wipe out)
  • New Brunswick general election, 1991
    New Brunswick general election, 1991
    The 32nd New Brunswick general election was held on September 23, 1991, to elect 58 members to the 52nd New Brunswick Legislative Assembly, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada....

     47.1% - 21.2% 46 - 8-3-1 (lop-sided)
  • New Brunswick general election, 1987
    New Brunswick general election, 1987
    The 31st New Brunswick general election was held on October 13, 1987, to elect 58 members to the 51st New Brunswick Legislative Assembly, the governing house of the province of New Brunswick, Canada...

     60.4% - 28.6% 55 - 0 (clean sweep)
  • Ontario general election, 1987
    Ontario general election, 1987
    The Ontario general election of 1987 was held on September 10, 1987, to elect members of the 34th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada.The governing Ontario Liberal Party, led by David Peterson, was returned to power with a large majority...

     47.3% 25.7% - 95 - 19 - 16 (lopsided)
  • Prince Edward Island general election, 2003
    Prince Edward Island general election, 2003
    thumb|Map of PEI's ridings showing winning parties and their popular vote.The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island conducted a general election in September 2003 to elect the 27 members of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island...

     54.0% 42.9% - 23 -4 (wipe out)
  • Prince Edward Island general election, 2000
    Prince Edward Island general election, 2000
    The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island conducted a general election on April 17, 2000 to elect the 27 members of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island....

     57.9% 33.7% - 26 -1 (wipe out)
  • Prince Edward Island general election, 1996
    Prince Edward Island general election, 1996
    thumb|Map of PEI's ridings showing winning parties and their popular vote.The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island conducted a general election on November 18, 1996 to elect the 27 members of the Island legislature...

     47.8% 44.8% - 18 -8 - 1 (strong government; strong opposition)
  • Prince Edward Island general election, 1935
    Prince Edward Island general election, 1935
    The Prince Edward Island general election, 1935 was held in the Canadian Province of Prince Edward Island. The Liberal party swept the board by winning every seat in every constituency. Liberal Leader Walter Maxfield Lea became Premier of Prince Edward Island for the second time...

     51.7% 48.3% - 30 -0 (wipe out)
  • Saskatchewan general election, 1991
    Saskatchewan general election, 1991
    The Saskatchewan general election of 1991 was the twenty-second provincial election held in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was held on October 21, 1991, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan....

     51.1% - 25.5% 55 - 10 - 1 (lopsided)
  • Saskatchewan general election, 1982
    Saskatchewan general election, 1982
    The Saskatchewan general election of 1982 was the twentieth provincial election held in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was held on April 26, 1982, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan....

     54.1% - 37.6% 55 - 9 (wipe out)
  • Saskatchewan general election, 1944
    Saskatchewan general election, 1944
    The Saskatchewan general election of 1944 was the tenth provincial election in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was held on June 15, 1944 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan....

     53.1% - 35.4% 47 - 5 (wipe out)
  • Saskatchewan general election, 1934
    Saskatchewan general election, 1934
    The Saskatchewan general election of 1934 was the eighth provincial election held in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It was held on June 19, 1934, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan....

     48.0% - 24.0% 50 - 5 (wipe out)

Elsewhere

  • Philippine Senate election, 1955: With the 24-seat Senate of the Philippines
    Senate of the Philippines
    The Senate of the Philippines is the upper chamber of the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, the Congress of the Philippines...

     elected via nationwide plurality-at-large voting
    Plurality-at-large voting
    Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...

     (8 votes per voter) and on staggered elections, the Liberal Party
    Liberal Party (Philippines)
    The Liberal Party of the Philippines is a liberal party in the Philippines, founded by then senators Senate President Manuel Roxas, Senate President Pro-Tempore Elpidio Quirino, and former 9th Senatorial District Senator Jose Avelino, on November 24, 1945 by a breakaway Liberal group from the...

    's seven seats were lost when none of their candidates finished eighth place or higher, despite having 29% of the vote. After the election, the Nacionalista Party
    Nacionalista Party
    The Nacionalista Party is the oldest political party in the Philippines today and was responsible for leading the country throughout the majority of the 20th century since its founding in 1907...

     then had 21 seats, and two minor parties having 3 seats with one seat vacant.
  • In the 2000 Mongolian State Great Khural Election, the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party
    Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party
    The Mongolian People's Party formerly the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party is an ex-communist political party in Mongolia. The party is abbreviated MPP in English and ' in Mongolian...

    overturned a large majority for the Democratic Union, winning 72 out of the 76 seats contested.

Sources

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