What Abdul’s victory in Michigan means for the future

 

Buttigieg takes lead in chaotic Iowa vote, Sanders second

Yahoo – AFP, Agnes Bun with Chris Lefkow in Washington, February 5, 2020

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg claimed victory in Iowa although
full results have not yet been released (AFP Photo/WIN MCNAMEE)

Manchester (United States) (AFP) - Democratic White House candidate Pete Buttigieg seized a shock lead in the chaotic Iowa caucuses, closely trailed by leftist senator Bernie Sanders, according to partial returns released on Tuesday after an embarrassing delay in reporting the results.

Progressive standard-bearer Elizabeth Warren was in third place followed by Joe Biden, a disappointing showing for the former vice president who has claimed he is best positioned to defeat Donald Trump in November.

Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has been battling Biden for the moderate wing of the party, hailed what he called an "astonishing victory" in the midwestern farm state which kicks off the presidential nominating process.

"I have never been more confident in our campaign, in our team, and in the vision that brought to us this point," Buttigieg told ecstatic supporters in New Hampshire, which holds the next nominating contest on February 11.

With polls still mixed on whether Americans would be comfortable with an openly gay president, Buttigieg also made a rare, though implicit, reference to his sexuality -- and the added significance it gave the Iowa outcome.

Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wait for results 

at his caucus night watch party in Des Moines, Iowa (AFP Photo/kerem yucel)

"It validates for a kid, somewhere in a community, wondering if he belongs, or she belongs, or they belong in their own family, that if you believe in yourself and your country there's a lot backing up that belief," he said with a catch in his voice.

According to the partial results, Buttigieg, unknown nationally a year ago, leads with 26.8 percent followed by Sanders, the 78-year-old self-described democratic socialist, with 25.2 percent, followed by Senator Warren with 18.4 percent, and Biden with 15.4 percent.

The centrist senator from Minnesota Amy Klobuchar was in fifth place on 12.6 percent, with 71 percent of the precincts reporting.

The results were posted some 21 hours after Iowans gathered across the state to hold the first vote of the presidential nominating season.

Troy Price, the chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, apologized profusely for the delay and blamed it on a "coding error" with an app being used for the first time to report the returns from precincts across the farm state.

Price pledged to provide the full results as soon as possible.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was trailing three challengers 

in the Iowa caucuses, according to partial results (AFP Photo/Scott Eisen)

"We have been working day and night to make sure that the results are accurate," he said. "And we also have a paper trail and documentation that we have been able to use to provide information to help verify the results."

As Iowa struggled to publish the results and frustrated Democratic candidates fumed, Trump gleefully pounced on the hold-up, describing the Democrats' failure to deliver timely results as an "unmitigated disaster."

"Nothing works, just like they ran the country," tweeted Trump -- hours before delivering his annual State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress under the cloud of impeachment.

'Shocking incompetence'

The results are usually known within hours of the conclusion of the caucuses, which do not involve a traditional ballot but see voters attending public gatherings and voicing support for the candidate of their choice.

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren addresses her supporters 

during a caucus night rally in Des Moines, Iowa (AFP Photo/CHIP SOMODEVILLA)

Iowa kicks off the process of selecting presidential nominees every four years, but the fiasco surrounding the results is likely to increase calls for the state to lose the honor.

"The top finishers, probably Sanders and Buttigieg, could have used their showings to launch into New Hampshire," the next contest, said Larry Sabato, a professor of politics at the University of Virginia.

"Instead, the story is the shocking incompetence of the Iowa Democratic Party."

He called for an end to the "strange system in a 91 percent white state" in favor of giving other states a chance to kick off the process.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner expressed alarm over the Iowa debacle.

"This chaos has created an environment where misinformation is now running rampant online, further undermining confidence in the democratic process," he said.

How the Democratic and Republican party primaries and caucuses choose 

presidential candidates for the 2020 election (AFP Photo/Jonathan WALTER)

With Iowa still mired in confusion, the Democratic candidates turned their sights on New Hampshire.

According to a Boston Globe/WBZ-TV/Suffolk University poll released Monday, Sanders is leading in the Granite State with 24 percent, followed by Biden on 18 percent, Warren with 13 percent and Buttigieg with 11 percent.

Alluding to his own victory in Republican caucuses in Iowa, Trump said that "the only person that can claim a very big victory in Iowa last night is 'Trump.'"

"When will the Democrats start blaming RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, instead of their own incompetence for the voting disaster that just happened in the Great State of Iowa?" Trump tweeted.

Sanders unveils huge US student debt cancellation bill

Yahoo – AFP, June 24, 2019

Democratic Senator and presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, seen here
addressing a rally in South Carolina, has unveiled proposed legislation to era
$1.6 trillion in student debt (AFP Photo/Logan Cyrus)

Washington (AFP) - Liberal US senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Monday rolled out a proposal to erase all $1.6 trillion in student loan debt, cleaning the slate for 45 million Americans.

"If we could bail out Wall Street, we sure as hell can #CancelStudentDebt," Sanders posted on Twitter shortly before announcing his major legislation in an event at the US Capitol.

The proposal, which is co-sponsored by Democrats Pramila Jayapal and Ilhan Omar in the House of Representatives, would be paid for through a tax on Wall Street, according to the Sanders campaign.

"This is truly a revolutionary proposal," tweeted Sanders, whose calls for tuition-free college and student debt forgiveness gained traction during his 2016 presidential run.

"All Americans will get the college education or job training they need, while having all student debt forgiven."

The measure would have difficulty passing the Republican-led Senate. But it would escalate the political duel between Sanders and liberal rival Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has also proposed a massive plan for student loan debt elimination.

Under Warren's plan, more than 95 percent of the nearly 45 million Americans with student loan debt would have that debt cancelled. Her arrangement is estimated to cost some $640 billion.

Sanders said Sunday that his plan would "probably go further than Senator Warren's."

The hot-button issue has been a common thread on the 2020 campaign trail, with several Democrats noting the extraordinary financial burden under which many college students and graduates find themselves when they take on tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans.

Sanders argues that the debt prevents young Americans from buying homes, improving their credit, and engaging more deeply in the US economy:

"America has a moral, ethical and economic responsibility to tax our wealth more," said the group, which included George Soros, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, descendants of Walt Disney and the owners of the Hyatt hotel chain https://t.co/cBu3xFjyIq

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 24 juni 2019

Former VP Biden announces 2020 White House run

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mathes, April 25, 2019

President Barack Obama (right) praised Biden but pointedly avoided endorsing
him (AFP Photo/ALEX WONG)

Washington (AFP) - Former US vice president and Democratic elder statesman Joe Biden launched his third White House bid Thursday, becoming the frontrunner in a crowded field and painting incumbent Donald Trump as a "threat" to America.

The 76-year-old is the most experienced and best recognized Democrat in the running, a veteran campaigner who has dominated early polls following months -- even years -- of planning.

In a three-and-a-half minute launch video, Biden he couldn't stand by and watch Trump "fundamentally alter the character of this nation" during a second four-year term.

Biden criticized the president's response to a deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, recalling that Trump infamously described "very fine people" on both sides of the clashes.

"And in that moment I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I had ever seen in my lifetime," Biden said.

The Democratic stalwart, for eight years Barack Obama's deputy, added that he couldn't remain idle while Trump stood to gut America's core values and "everything that made America America."

Trump's response was swift: he insulted Biden on Twitter, his favorite forum for smacking down rivals, casting doubt on his opponent's mental capacity.

Biden, pictured in a still from his announcement video, leads the polls with 

29 percent support (AFP Photo/HO)

'Sleepy Joe'

"Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign," Trump tweeted.

Biden, whose working-class appeal remains intact despite nearly half a century in Washington politics, is seen as a comforting, known quantity for American voters who will be vetting 20 Democrats now officially in the race.

Hours after his announcement, the gregarious Biden was in his element, pressing flesh and taking photographs with customers and employees at a Wilmington, Delaware pizza parlor, and greeting old acquaintances.

"Who's the best person to lead the country? That's what this is going to be all about and it's going to be for the voters to decide that," he told reporters.

Even before his official launch Biden led most surveys of Democratic voters. But recent controversy over his tactile style, particularly with women, could dampen his rollout.

The RealClearPolitics poll aggregate puts him as favorite with 29.3 percent support, followed by independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who votes with the Democrats, at 23 percent.

Both white men in their mid to late 70s, the pair are unlikely to be seen as the ideal shop window for a party seeking to win over young and minority voters.

Biden finds himself in a field of unprecedented diversity -- six contenders are women and three are black -- as he makes his third presidential run, following unsuccessful attempts in 1988 and 2008.

After the death of his son Beau from cancer, Biden opted out of a presidential campaign in 2016.

As he let the suspense over his plans drag out for months, the spotlight turned to younger faces including moderate South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who at 37 is less than half Biden's age.

President Barack Obama (right) praised Biden but pointedly avoided endorsing 

him (AFP Photo/ALEX WONG)

Top of the polls

Complicating matters, the last weeks have been clouded by accusations from multiple women who say Biden touched them inappropriately or made them feel uncomfortable with his shows of affection.

Biden, an old-school politico who acknowledges he is quick to offer hugs and shoulder rubs, has not outright apologized, but pledged to be "more mindful" about society's changing boundaries.

Obama, through a source close to his thinking, praised Biden but pointedly avoided endorsing, preferring to "let the candidates make their cases directly to the voters."

Biden concurred, saying he had discouraged his former boss from any public blessing because "whoever wins this nomination should win it on its own merits."

Several establishment Democrats did offer swift backing, including half a dozen lawmakers and a former Democratic Party boss.

Biden, who maintains a broad political network, is expected to mount a robust ground game.

But entering the race months after several rivals, he trails in a key benchmark: fundraising. He was headed Thursday to Philadelphia, reportedly to attend a high-dollar fundraiser hosted by a telecoms executive.

On Monday he travels to Pittsburgh, another city in must-win Pennsylvania, for his first major campaign event, a labor union address.

But resistance there was early dissent among progressives, including the Justice Democrats group, which criticized the party's "old guard" for failing to stop Trump at the ballot box.

"The party needs new leadership with a bold vision capable of energizing voters in the Democratic base who stayed home in 2016," the group said in a statement.

Once taboo, socialism finds comrades among US millennials

Yahoo - AFP, Maggy DONALDSON, November 11, 2017

Lee Carter, who this week won a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, is part
of a growing cadre of young politicians pledging their allegiance to the Democratic
Socialists of America

While working as an electrician Lee Carter received a literal shock, through one hand and across the chest, that jolted him into politics and turned him on to what was a dirty word in America for nearly a century: socialism.

His struggle to obtain compensation for the workplace injury inspired him to run for office, and this week Carter ousted a top Republican incumbent to nab a spot in Virginia's House of Delegates, becoming one of over a dozen unabashed socialists newly elected to US state and municipal seats one year after Donald Trump took the White House.

The 31-year-old former Marine is part of a growing cadre of Americans, particularly millennials, pledging their allegiance to the Democratic Socialists of America, the nation's fastest growing leftist group that was originally founded in 1982 as a foothold for Marxists.

Riding the wave of democratic socialist Bernie Sanders's spirited White House bid against primary rival Hillary Clinton, the organization is helping propel socialism out of the shadows.

In the years prior to the Sanders campaign, the DSA's number of card-carrying members hovered around 6,500 -- and has nearly quintupled since 2016's presidential race to more than 30,000.

Its median age has dropped from about 60 to 35, according to organizers, some of whom have playfully referred to the surge among youth as a "socialist baby boom."

Dismayed by Trump's rise to power Jacquelyn Smith in January joined the DSA, which has chapters in nearly every US state. And at just 22 years old, she managed Carter's victorious campaign.

Organizing as a DSA member means "I am challenging the root of the problem and not the symptoms," she told AFP, speaking at a recent convention of the organization's local Washington branch.

"I focus a lot less on challenging Trump and a lot more on challenging why he got there in the first place," she said, citing forces including economic inequality and white supremacist movements.

Today Smith said millennials -- a generation that grew up during the 2008 financial crisis -- are eager for socialism, to "embrace the ideology and really fight with it publicly."

Under her management DSA members spent months canvassing for Carter in Virginia's 50th district, about an hour's drive west of the nation's capital, knocking on more than 9,000 doors in the final four days.

Those grassroots efforts helped propel Carter, who ran as a socialist on the Democratic party ticket, to an upset nine-point victory against one of Virginia's most powerful state Republicans.

Lee Carter's opponent sent out a mailer that juxtaposed the democratic socialist's 

face with portraits of famous communists including Karl Marx and Mao Zedong

'Alarming reputation' fading

Despite their current momentum far-left groups like the DSA remain on the fringes of American politics, working within a two-party system that leaves little space for outsiders.

The political group is not a party, and has nowhere near the clout of sister movements elsewhere such as Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party in Britain, or Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain.

But socialism has not had a voice this loud in American politics for decades.

Though she would not yet classify the wave of leftist activism as a mass movement, politics professor Cathy Schneider of American University said the DSA's growth is significant in that it indicates voters shocked by Trumpism are also increasingly disillusioned with the Democratic Party.

"There is a sector of American society who feel that the political parties do not address their concerns," she said. "The Democratic Socialists have said we have an answer for that."

Their current strategy does not necessarily include third-party politics; instead the DSA is fielding socialist candidates for elected office using whichever ballot line makes winning likely, generally that of the Democrats.

And though many members got involved in the aftermath of the Sanders campaign, organizers now say their goal is to build a movement not connected to any single politician but instead based on core issues like universal health care, public investment in education and housing and bolstering labor protections.

Schneider also noted that socialism's "alarming reputation" appears to be fading, no small development in a country that lived through the Red Scare era of anti-communist propaganda.

"People no longer associate socialism with dictatorships in the USSR and China," she said.

That didn't stop Carter's opponent from red-baiting: in the final days of the race the Republican sent a mailer to 11,000 homes that juxtaposed the democratic socialist's face with portraits of famous communists including Karl Marx and Mao Zedong.

But even Republican voters told canvassers they found the attempt to sully the leftist's image "gross," Carter said.

"The scare-mongering around what's essentially a disagreement on economic philosophy doesn't work any more."

Related Articles:

Fuming over Brexit, youth help swing UK vote

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth.

Democracy itself will change and you're going to see it soon. The hold-outs, the few countries I have mentioned in the past, are doomed unless they recalibrate. They're doomed to be the same as they have been and won't be able to exist as they are now with everyone changing around them.

I mentioned North Korea in the past. Give it time. Right now, the young man is under the control of his father's advisors. But when they're gone, you will see something different, should he survive. Don't judge him yet, for he is being controlled.

In government, if you're entire voting base has the ability to talk to itself without restriction and comes up with opinions by itself without restriction, it behooves a politician to be aware and listen to them. This will change what politicians will do. It will change the way things work in government. Don't be surprised when some day a whole nation can vote all at once in a very unusual way. Gone will be the old systems where you used to count on horseback riders to report in from faraway places. Some of you know what I am talking about. Government will change. The systems around you, both dark and light, will change. You're going to start seeing something else, too, so let's change the subject and turn the page.

The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. .."

Bernie Sanders 'delighted' by Jeremy Corbyn's results in election vote

Vermont senator said strong figures show that ‘people are rising up against austerity and inequality’ across the globe

The Guardian, Matthew Weaver, 9 June 2017

Bernie Sanders: ‘All over the world, people are rising up against austerity
and massive levels of inequality’. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Bernie Sanders has congratulated Jeremy Corbyn on Labour’s performance in the general election. The Vermont senator – who narrowly failed to win his bid for the Democratic nomination against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race for the White House – said he had watched the UK results coming in on Thursday and was very pleased about the party’s showing.

“I am delighted to see Labour do so well,” the Vermont senator said in a Facebook post, linking to a Guardian news story. He went on: “All over the world, people are rising up against austerity and massive levels of income and wealth inequality. People in the UK, the US and elsewhere want governments that represent all the people, not just the 1%. I congratulate Jeremy Corbyn for running a very effective campaign.”

Sanders voiced his support for Corbyn this month, drawing parallels between anti-establishment anger at both ends of the political spectrum in Britain and the US, and applauding the Labour leader’s efforts to reshape the party.

Organisers who worked on the Sanders campaign provided assistance to Momentum, the leftwing pressure group, in the runup to the election, coaching Labour members on how to canvass voters online and offline.

Erika Uyterhoeven, a 30-year-old from Boston, told the Guardian that the lessons had focused on getting Labour activists in the right places, and getting the vote out. She said of the Sanders approach: “The right can throw money at elections. We throw people.”

Related Articles:

Fuming over Brexit, youth help swing UK vote

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth.

Democracy itself will change and you're going to see it soon. The hold-outs, the few countries I have mentioned in the past, are doomed unless they recalibrate. They're doomed to be the same as they have been and won't be able to exist as they are now with everyone changing around them.

I mentioned North Korea in the past. Give it time. Right now, the young man is under the control of his father's advisors. But when they're gone, you will see something different, should he survive. Don't judge him yet, for he is being controlled.

In government, if you're entire voting base has the ability to talk to itself without restriction and comes up with opinions by itself without restriction, it behooves a politician to be aware and listen to them. This will change what politicians will do. It will change the way things work in government. Don't be surprised when some day a whole nation can vote all at once in a very unusual way. Gone will be the old systems where you used to count on horseback riders to report in from faraway places. Some of you know what I am talking about. Government will change. The systems around you, both dark and light, will change. You're going to start seeing something else, too, so let's change the subject and turn the page.

The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. .."

Fuming over Brexit, youth help swing UK vote

Yahoo – AFP, Deborah COLE, June 9, 2017

One poll suggested 56 percent of under-35s voted in Britain's general election,
with more than a third of those voting for the first time (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

London (AFP) - A surge in youth turnout fuelled by last year's shock Brexit vote played a pivotal role in stripping British Prime Minister Theresa May of her parliamentary majority, observers said Friday.

An energising campaign by Labour's firebrand leader Jeremy Corbyn and simmering anger among many voters over uncertain plans to leave the European Union sent young Britons streaming to the ballot box.

Corbyn, a 68-year-old staunch leftist, harnessed popular anti-establishment sentiment to lead Labour to beat expectations and gain an estimated 29 seats in the House of Commons.

After a campaign marked by rallies that had the buoyant mood of music festivals, Corbyn said his success was built on hope for change.

"Politics isn't going back into the box where it was before," he told cheering supporters.

"What's happened is people have said they've had quite enough of austerity politics... and not giving our young people a chance they deserve in our society."

Some 56 percent of under-35s voted, according to an exit poll for NME magazine, which recently splashed Corbyn's face across its cover.

They showed overwhelming support for Labour, at 60 percent, with 36 percent of them being first-time voters, according to the survey among 1,354 voters.

Jeremy Corbyn's campaign drew comparisons with that of US Senator 

Bernie Sanders' presidential run last year (AFP Photo/JON SUPER)

Half cited Brexit as the "main factor" in their decision to cast a ballot.

While an official breakdown of voting patterns was still outstanding, official data showed a spike in both youth registrations ahead of the vote as well as turnout in districts with large numbers of younger voters on election day.

By contrast, only 45 percent of British voters aged 18 to 34 voted in 2015, compared to 84 percent of over-55s, which the OECD has called the biggest gap in the Western world.

A year later, a failure to drum up the youth vote was blamed for turning the Brexit referendum in Leave's favour.

"The movement of Remainers and young voters towards Labour explains why the Conservatives have lost their overall majority," political scientist John Curtice of the University of Strathclyde said Friday.

Remainers 'revenge'

Commentators said Corbyn had successfully presented himself as a true alternative to politics-as-usual.

They credited his idealism and folksy charisma, a savvy social media presence, and a parade of celebrity supporters including singer Lily Allen and comic Ricky Gervais with drumming up "Corbynmania" among the young.

He drew comparisons with US leftist senator Bernie Sanders' ability to whip up youth support in his ultimately unsuccessful presidential bid last year.

"Jeremy Corbyn appeals to a generation of young people who feel they have never known an honest, decent politician," wrote Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett in the Guardian.

"Last night's result shows youngsters have gained some revenge, with claims Theresa May's 'hard Brexit' mandate has been destroyed," pro-Labour tabloid Daily Mirror said.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is credited with energising younger and first-time 

voters (AFP Photo/Isabel INFANTES)

The Economist cited a deep generational schism in Britain pitting uncertain young voters against baby boomers they accuse of selfishness and insincerity in politics.

Corbyn targeted specific youth issues in his campaign, including pledging to cut university tuition fees, lower the voting age and improve the employment rights of interns.

Failure to engage

Many young voters expressed surprise at their own ability to swing the election given that most opinion polls predicted a decisive May victory.

"I thought she was going to win it. I had heard a lot of people going for her, so I was like, Labour aren't going to get in now, but I'm pleased because Labour have a chance now," said Jemma Bell, 23, told AFP in Wakefield, northern England.

"I know a lot of people that didn't vote last year and I think now they've realised that we could actually go to crap, in a sense, if they don't vote," she added, referring to last June's Brexit referendum.

Gus McKay, a 38-year-old Conservative voter at Euston station in central London, said he was "frustrated" May had failed to connect with younger voters.

"She didn't do enough to engage. Younger people want to engage more with their politicians. It looks like Corbyn did a better job."

Winners and losers in the UK general election, including composition of the incoming parliament #GE2017 pic.twitter.com/5rZbiD1bBS

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 9, 2017

Related Article:

British press blasts May after poll 'mayhem'

Bernie Sanders rips into Trump in Berlin

The German capital felt the "Bern" as the Democrat excoriated the current US president in a speech to university students. The iconoclastic senator repeatedly termed Donald Trump's policies "horrific."

Deutsche Welle, 31 May 2017

"Just follow all the young people." Those were the instructions I got when I asked for directions from the subway station to the main auditorium of the Free University of Berlin, where former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was launching the German edition of his book "Our Revolution."

What were these young people expecting from a 75-year-old self-described socialist from one of the most obscure states in the US?

"I'm here because I thought the American election was really interesting, and Bernie Sanders was the only one who had radically interesting ideas," one young German told me.

"It is the same in France," a French woman on an exchange program said. "Bernie Sanders is very popular."

"I'm from Russia, and it's very interesting to hear an American who's a socialist - that's not so common," another member of the audience said.

Most of the people I talked to said that, to use the words of one German woman, "He's not part of the system." The applause the Vermont senator received upon entering the hall rivaled that of any campaign event in the lead-up last year's election. And if the audience was hoping for a scathing critique of Donald Trump, they got exactly what they wanted.

Check out the reception @BernieSanders got at the Free University of #Berlin pic.twitter.com/WtPyZfeT3x

— Jefferson Chase (@chaseongermany) May 31, 2017

What the hell is going on?

Taking the podium, Sanders said he was going to talk about "What the hell is going on in the United States?"

Sanders said the relationship between the US and Europe had been essential in preventing conflict and ensuring the standard of living on both sides of the Atlantic. He said that "President Trump notwithstanding," this was the view of the "overwhelming majority" of the American people.

Read: What would Europe's 'fate' be without US military might?

He said it would be a "horrific mistake" for the US to withdraw from the Paris climate accords, again criticizing Trump.

"No matter what Trump believes or does, there is movement throughout America to take on the fossil fuel industry," Sanders said. "Do not think the people of the United States are turning their backs on this crisis."

The youthful crowd gave the former candidate a rapturuous welcome

Trump's 'disrespect' for American values

In perhaps the most anticipated part of the speech, Sanders took dead aim at Trump: "I am not a great fan," he said. His words drew laughs from the audience, who suspected what was coming next.

He started by excoriating Trump's proposed budget in the US, which Sanders said showed how "out of touch" the president was. Sanders called the budget the "most horrific" in modern US history. He said 23 million Americans would be out of health care, if Trump got his way, and thousands would "die needlessly." By contrast, Sanders said, the richest one percent of Americans would get $3 trillion (2.7 billion euro) in tax breaks.

The senator said he was "deeply disturbed" about Trump's "disrespect for democracy and traditional American values" such as freedom of the press. He decried Trump's attacks on journalistic institutions and his labeling of reputable American media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post as "fake news" as a "major assault on democracy in the United States."

The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017

Sanders said that Trump, in contrast to the many other conservatives the liberal senator deals with, "time after time tells blatant lies and makes outrageous claims that are not backed up by facts." He accused Trump of having supported Republican attempts to "suppress the vote" in many states.

Read: Sanders promises to "vigorously oppose" Trump on racist and sexistpolicies

An incipient oligarchy?

Sanders said he was outraged by what he called Trump's attempts to divide people by race and religion. It was a scandal, he said, that the president "seemed to be more at ease with autocrats than leaders of democratic countries." Many Americans, for example, didn't understand Trump's coziness with Russian President Vladimir Putin or Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, Sanders added.

Read: Former FBI director Comey to testify that Trump pressured him to dropinvestigation into White House ties to Russia

He said that Trump had been elected because politicians in Washington had not listened to the "pain" of working-class Americans who have been left behind by the global economy. He lambasted corporations that made huge profits without paying taxes and said that there needed to be international efforts to combat the problem.

Trump signed an executive order in
February 2017 rolling back financial
regulations and Wall Street reforms.
Sanders fears a rule-by-the-wealthy
could develop.

Sanders expressed his worry that the US was turning into "oligarchic form of society in which a small number of billionaires control our economy, as well as our political life."

He said that the top one percent of the world's population had more money than the bottom 99 percent, and that the top eight people were wealthier than the bottom 50 percent of humanity.

"Our job is not to accept this," Sanders thundered, drawing loud applause. "It's simply not acceptable."

At a concluding Q&A session, Sanders was asked what he thought about German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The senator admitted to not knowing as much as he should about the German leader, but he added that, in comparison to Trump, "She looks pretty good."

That drew a final round of applause before the young crowd filed out of the auditorium and went their seperate ways.

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