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April 24, 2005
Salvaging a bit of optimism
Probably the best thing that can be said for this election is that more and more people are becoming aware of the inadequacy of the British electoral system: they realize that however many of us want to see the back of Tony Blair we are not going to be able to make it happen.
An article on the Electoral Reform Society (ERS) site explains that we could call 425 of the results (outside Northern Ireland) with certainty right now. Another 54 constituencies would require swings of over 7 percent to change hands. Only 2 per cent of electors will have any real influence over what happens.
MakeMyVoteCount.org.uk, which is linked to the ERS, are campaigning for reform and are asking people to sign their petition. The site is endorsed by Charles Kennedy: “Make Votes Count have done a fantastic job … . The last General Election showed clearly why the need for a proportional voting system is as great as ever. Under First-Past-the-Post voter participation is declining, as more and more people are finding that their vote simply does not count… .”
I have mixed feelings about the Joseph Rowntree funded POWER ‘an independent enquiry into Britain’s democracy’, as this frequently seems to fall back on an establishment viewpoint.
On the entry page they say: “We seem to be entering an era of permanent political disaffection and mistrust, where the gap between citizens and political power is getting ever wider. … This growing disconnection between the governors and the governed threatens to undermine the vitality and legitimacy of Britain’s Democracy.”
This rather begs the question of when exactly the system did enjoy vitality and legitimacy.
The POWER blog has some good comments, but the questions can be patronizing “Do young people actually know what the word democracy means?” and the people running the site don’t appear to have the expertise to send proper email notifications etc.
Perhaps I should put forward Holledge’s Law? The more people are involved in publishing a website, and the more they are paid, the more amateurish the website will be.
www.electoral-reform.org.uk/news/05-04-19-seats.htm
www.makemyvotecount.org.uk/home.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at April 24, 2005 07:37 PM
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