Election

[annwfyn]

Right now, the election results are making me happy.

• Jeremy Paxman is savaging anyone who will talk to him. He's such a fantastic human attack dog.



• A hung parliament, as far as anyone can tell.



• A Green MP, which makes me exceedingly happy.



• The BNP vote dropped by 6% and they got nothing. The UKIP also got nothing.



• The Conservatives are talking about constitutional reform, and this is the best chance we've got for PR in a generation.

About the only thing that is making me sad is that the Lib Dems actually lost seats. I'd been beginning to harbour faint hopes for Nick Clegg.

As a final note, I don't believe in telling anyone how to vote, but I have been thinking one thing tonight.

If you voted for the BNP or for the UKIP, I think that we probably may have a bad case of Irreconcilable Differences, and it might be for the best if you quietly remove me from your friends list. I shan't make a fuss (which is rare for me) and I shall just remove you back. I don't think this is likely to come up, but I wanted to say it.

Comments

[eniel]

Following the election from abroad, while knowing I'd be living in the country in a couple years, has been a strange experience for me. Am now reconsidering whether or not to apply for UK citizenship when the time comes...

Oh, and I love the icon.

[slick-mink.livejournal.com]

More then likely to have another election by then, based on these numbers. The Government wont be able to function well, so they'll call it again to try and get a better majority.

[seph-hazard.livejournal.com]

Under a Labour government or lib/lab coalition, apply. Trying to apply under a Tory or con/lib coalition, however, strikes me as an invitation to chaos and unhappiness.

[eniel]

Oh, but the questions on the citizen test are so delicious, I couldn't stop giggling yesterday... Kept wanting to tick the box "I don't know, but I bet you don't either".

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

About the only thing that is making me sad is that the Lib Dems actually lost seats.

You can probably guess how happy this does not make me. The worst of it is losing Dr Evan Harris in Oxford West and Abingdon; he's the kind of person this country needs in the Commons. Ah well.

I guess that at least the country hasn't swung irrevocably to the BNP :)

[span1el.livejournal.com]

And losing ground to Andrew Smith in Oxford East.

It's wierd. Everywhere I go in Oxford I see Lib Dem boards and posters up and almost nothing for Labour but on the day it went the other way.

That said, I did see a number of people with clip boards going house to house yesterday evening so I'm guessing this was elements of the Labour party drumming up the last bit of support they could.

I really can't see Cameron going for PR though. He'll either offer a referendum and campaign massively against it (more money available for that campaign than the Lib Dems) or just flat out refuse to give it away. It loses him too much power.

And while you feel down about the Lib Dems losing seats they did actually increase their share of the vote. It just didn't happen anywhere that would make a difference in the current system. To have 25% of the electoral vote but then to have around 8% of the seats in the commons is a continuing travesty.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

That is something I agree with utterly. Labour had something like 29% of the vote. The Tories had around 36% of the vote. For this to turn into the seat distribution in the way it did is just utterly ridiculous and makes a mockery of the notion of our democracy.

We need electoral reform and we need it now.

[adze.livejournal.com]

My friend Nick crunched some numbers this morning on what PR would have resulted in:

Party Votes Actual Seats PR Seats
Cons 10,035,618 288 223
Labour 8,024,022 241 178
LibDem 6,361,341 51 141
UKIP 858,484 0 19
BNP 631,907 0 14
SNP 482,000 6 11
Green 262,000 1 6
DUP 168,000 8 4
P Cymru 165,000 4 3
S Fein 150,000 4 3
SDLP 107,000 3 2
Allianc 42,000 1 1

I'll try that again, and see if I can make it more legible

[adze.livejournal.com]

Re: I'll try that again, and see if I can make it more legible

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

So, under that system, how do independents get in?

Re: I'll try that again, and see if I can make it more legible

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Same way everyone else does, I guess; they get people to vote for them :)

But you're right, it would be harder for them.

I guess there isn't actually a system that's fair on everyone.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

To have 25% of the electoral vote but then to have around 8% of the seats in the commons is a continuing travesty.

Absolutely. It disenfranchises almost a quarter of the voters in Britain.

[ginasketch.livejournal.com]

Was just about to comment on your previous post with "don't care who anyone votes for, as long as it's not BNP or UKIP!"

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I spent last night thinking about this, because I didn't much like the 'please don't vote Tory/Labour/Lib Dem' posts. And I disapprove of them.

But after much consideration I decided that although I had said that people should be allowed to vote as they will, I can't be OK with someone basically using their vote to say 'these people you care about? They shouldn't be here'. That and several people I cared about put up similar posts saying 'if you are voting BNP, get off my friends list', and I decided that maybe I should show support.

Am not sure if this makes me a hypocrite, or just prone to changing my mind on occasion.

[ginasketch.livejournal.com]

I don't think it makes you a hypocrite. After all, basic human rights aren't something to bargain with, and the BNP and UKIP certainly want to snatch that away from so many people.

[melsner.livejournal.com]

But is it a well hung parliament?