Canada holds its parliamentary election on Monday, October 19. Polls indicate the Liberal Party will win the greatest number of seats. See the poll results here. Canada this year has three very powerful parties, and the Liberal Party can be thought of as the centrist party.
See this article on all the various possible outcomes.
The Philippines holds an election on May 9, 2016, for President, Vice-President, and both houses of the national legislature. Filing has now closed. Candidates file by declaration of candidacy. No fee or petition is needed. Then, starting on October 18 and ending on December 10, the national Election Commission evaluates each candidate for each office and determines which candidates are serious and have the capacity to run a meaningful campaign. See this story. Thanks to Walter Ziobro for this information.
President and Vice-President are elected separately.
On October 13-15, a three-judge U.S. District Court heard arguments in David Harris v McCrory, m.d., 1:13cv-949. The issue is whether North Carolina’s U.S. House districts are valid. See this story. There are also lawsuits pending in North Carolina state court and federal court over the state’s legislative district boundaries. The judges are: William Osteen, a Bush Jr. appointee; Roger Gregory, a Clinton appointee; and Max Cogburn, an Obama appointee.
If the districts must be redrawn, that may affect the date of the 2016 primary, which is now set for March 15. In 2004, North Carolina also had late redistricting, and the primary was postponed from May 4 to July 20; there was no presidential primary that year. Also, in Texas in 2012, late redistricting forced the primary to move from March 6 to May 29. When primaries are postponed, independent candidate petition deadlines are changed to later dates.
Redistricting lawsuit decisions are expected fairly soon in Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Virginia.
On October 17, the Socialist Party, meeting in Milwaukee, nominated Mimi Soltysik for President and Angela Walker for Vice-President. Thanks to Matt Erard for this news.
On October 16, the Ohio Libertarian Party filed this 10-page brief, explaining that the Ohio Republican Party was the true actor in keeping the Libertarian gubernatorial candidate off the ballot in 2014. This part of the case now centers on whether the process that kept the candidate off the ballot was an example of selective prosecution of the law.
