On Thursday 20 November the British Liberal Democrats were victorious in the Winchester by-election, dealing a major blow to the Conservative Party. At the General Election on 1 May LibDem candidate Mark Oaten had beaten former Tory Minister Gerry Malone by 2 votes, and the High Court ordered a by-election at the request of the Conservatives. Yesterday Mark Oaten received 37,006 votes and Malone 15,450, making this the largest Liberal Democrat majority in the country. With just a week to go before the party hosts the Liberal International Congress, this is a great boost for the Liberal Democrats. The newsletter is a great resource and a tribute to liberalism around the world.
Liberalism is the only answer to poverty and injustice in Africa.
I created a French language African Liberal Home Page connected to the site of the Liberal International, and have received a considerable number of positive reactions from Africans and Liberals in many countries. I hope World Lib News will target Africa so that we will see liberalism grow there in the future. By the way, the 50th anniversary of my party, the VVD, in the Netherlands is January 1998. I really am annoyed that you built yourself up in this issue, while not publishing any material that was critical of the newsletter. I find you to be just as bad as Conservatives, but worse, you're hypocrites.