[ianch99]

Originally Posted by jfman

And an almost equally high number specifically voted the other way. However let's not get bogged down in semantics.

I'd interpret biggest mandate as an interpretation of the extent of victory, otherwise it's essentially a measure of population growth.

Agreed, it is the % of the electorate that voted that is the true measure. Absolute numbers need to be normalised, as you say, for population size.