Monday, January 4, 2010

elections

Wikipedia:Articles on elections

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Wikipedia has many conventions that have emerged for election coverage. These have reached enough maturity that some very good examples can be identified.

Contents

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[edit] For U.S. President

Wikipedia:Style_for_U.S._presidential_election,_yyyy deals specifically with that type of election. Much of what follows still applies:

[edit] For other single-winner elections

Mayors and Governors and other Presidents are elected also in single-winner elections that require similar documentation to US President races. Focus is on the candidates, ultimately, in such elections.

[edit] For parliaments

Very different rules and standards apply for elections in parliamentary systems which are often hard to anticipate, and where there is not such a focus on personalities:
An upcoming election is a future event and no matter what polls or press say, it does not have a predetermined outcome. In some cases rumours about what might happen can bias the outcome, and this is something Wikipedia literally never wants to be accused of. Try to follow the good examples of how to do this fairly:

[edit] Aftermath

An election so strictly defined in law and practice and terminology that it can be documented very completely. After the event, a very complete article will be written, and any predicted effects or the timeline of the election can then be moved to a separate article as the actual effects are described in the article, that is now about the past event:
Worldwide, most elections are for a parliament along the British model. One good example of a recent parliamentary election showing all the best practices is:

[edit] Controversy

Many elections are controversial. Here's some guidance about that:

[edit] Bogus

Elections where electoral fraud is widely reported are not reported as elections at all, but, typically, as part of the biography of the incumbent political leader or "party" or faction that rigs the election, or, as part of an article on the final outcome, if the result overturns a government, as in Ukraine in 2004 and Kyrgystan in 2005.

[edit] Boring

There are also nice boring good examples, like

[edit] Best practices and hazards

A few best practices and hazards can also be identified:
  • Neutral point of view is always important, but just before an election it is important to update pages and watch for any systemic bias due to one party or faction or another being over-represented in the overall edit stream
  • Swing state covers a US-federal-election-specific term that changes. The definition and examples will require updating before each US election.