Yesterdays elections

According to HBC twitter, Tony Dobson held his seat. Some Labour gains elsewhere and apparently a bit of agro at the count :rolleyes:
 
Seems like having party politics at the local level does have the advantage of revealing the mood of the voters. I don't know if I'm correct, but I see them acting in the same way that the US mid term elections do ... as a comment on how well the ruling party (current administration) is doing. I was bored last nite, and a little stoned; so I followed the elections on the "Guardian" web site. Some things I found significant, foremost among them the size of the vote for the UKIP, even tho' it didn't translate into many seats. This seems to have goaded some tories in proposing that the party move further to the right.:rolleyes: This will probably not sit well with their coalition partners. Labour did well; however, it does appear that lots of voters voiced their displeasure by voting for a move to the right, rather than to (slightly) left of centre. The low voter turn out is also surprising, given the economic mess the country is in.
 
Eric said:
Seems like having party politics at the local level does have the advantage of revealing the mood of the voters. I don't know if I'm correct, but I see them acting in the same way that the US mid term elections do ... as a comment on how well the ruling party (current administration) is doing. I was bored last nite, and a little stoned; so I followed the elections on the "Guardian" web site. Some things I found significant, foremost among them the size of the vote for the UKIP, even tho' it didn't translate into many seats. This seems to have goaded some tories in proposing that the party move further to the right.:rolleyes: This will probably not sit well with their coalition partners. Labour did well; however, it does appear that lots of voters voiced their displeasure by voting for a move to the right, rather than to (slightly) left of centre. The low voter turn out is also surprising, given the economic mess the country is in.
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Eric, voter turnout is falling all the time I would say - terminal apathy rules. Folks don't seem to understand that they need to get out there and make their voice heard. By the way I didn't vote - there was no election in my ward!
 
Well it doesn't give the turnout but looking at the figures it seems to have been very low, lower than usual less than 1000 voting in St Andrews ward, its usually 50%+ in that ward
 
It's becoming more and more apparent, even at local level, that it no longer matters who is elected, as Europe are pulling all the strings when it comes to the governing of this once great country. Sad . . . but so very true.
 
Stumped said:
It's becoming more and more apparent, even at local level, that it no longer matters who is elected, as Europe are pulling all the strings when it comes to the governing of this once great country. Sad . . . but so very true.
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Ya but I bet there would be a great turnout if it was for a referendum on whether we stayed in the European Union or pulled out, but our elected member stabbed us in the back in that issue
 
I looked at the twitter feed earlier in the day and recall reading 'the police have allowed a conservative councillor to re-enter the hall'. That entry is no longer there but there appears to have been some hassle.

EV Tel -
"10:56
Twitter
StuartPike78:
Drama at the #hyndburn count as pushing and shoving near a big group of men at front of hall. Disgraceful scenes. [via Twitter]"

and

"1:09
Twitter
StuartPike78:
Temperatures seem to have calmed down now after scuffle at the #hyndburn [via Twitter]"
 
I think the apathy is down to people feeling that whatever they vote won't influence what the political parties do(or perhap more relevently, don't do).
People feel that their vote makes no difference at all.

Their is very little difference between the three main parties. The electorate needs to be able to shake them up, out of their complacency...but I won't hold my breath waiting.
 
mobertol said:
I think most people are just fed-up and that translates into apathy, Eric.
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No. I can't accept that. All generalizations are flawed;) Let's say we are talking about 70% of eligible voters who did not show up at the polls. To say that apathy ... terminal apathy ... is the sole cause just doesn't make sense to me. Assigning one, single cause is to ignore what might be a complex of reasons. One can counter that single generalization with a set of them. And come to a different conclusion which may or may not, in the opinion of a few, or maybe more than a few, explain the low turnout. The wealthy tend to vote, they have lots to protect; so, they vote for the party of the right which will best serve their interests. The educated tend to vote because they are aware not only of the issues, but also of the importance of voting. The middle classes will quite often vote because, although not as secure as the wealthy, they still have something to protect. The ones that don't vote are the ill- or under-educated, and the poor who are too busy struggling to get by to have any time to inform themselves about what is going on in politics. It seems that this large ... and becoming ever larger ... non-voting underclass may form, along with the truly apathetic and lazy, the non-voting mass. The policies of right-wing governments tend to push more and more people into this class. I'm not about to argue whether this is by accident or by design; but I do see that poverty and ignorance can combine with, perhaps even create, what seems to be an apathetic bloc.
 
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Eric, in the last general election I didn't vote..or perhaps to be more precise I spoiled my paper. I did this because, in all conscience, there wasn't anyone I felt reflected my core values.
I wasn't too idle to go to the polling station...I had appraised myself of the various candidates who were up for election.......and found them all wanting.
I have many political discussions with my daughter - who tried her very best to get me to vote for someone rather than spoil my paper.
I felt that my vote would count for nothing, it would make no difference.

I have no political affiliation and support no party. At each election I try to weigh the candidates against my own values. I cannot see me putting a cross against any of them any time soon. But I might write 'none of the above'.
We need some major changes to shake the parties out of their complacency.
They need to start listening to the electorate, they need to start telling us(the electorate) the truth(rather than what they think we want to hear), they need to start living in the real world.
 
Margaret Pilkington said:
Eric, in the last general election I didn't vote..or perhaps to be more precise I spoiled my paper. I did this because, in all conscience, there wasn't anyone I felt reflected my core values.
I wasn't too idle to go to the polling station...I had appraised myself of the various candidates who were up for election.......and found them all wanting.
I have many political discussions with my daughter - who tried her very best to get me to vote for someone rather than spoil my paper.
I felt that my vote would count for nothing, it would make no difference.

I have no political affiliation and support no party. At each election I try to weigh the candidates against my own values. I cannot see me putting a cross against any of them any time soon. But I might write 'none of the above'.
We need some major changes to shake the parties out of their complacency.
They need to start listening to the electorate, they need to start telling us(the electorate) the truth(rather than what they think we want to hear), they need to start living in the real world.
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Indeed ... and this is a group I didn't mention ... it adds weight to the argument that there is more than apathy at the root of the low voter turnout.
 
jaysay said:
Well it doesn't give the turnout but looking at the figures it seems to have been very low, lower than usual less than 1000 voting in St Andrews ward, its usually 50%+ in that ward
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36.8% across the borough I think I saw
 
Eric said:
Indeed ... and this is a group I didn't mention ... it adds weight to the argument that there is more than apathy at the root of the low voter turnout.
Click to expand...

Hmmm.. I think apathy is the root cause, the majority of people realise that local and national politics are seperate entities. However, it's ingrained in the English psyche, reinforced by the media, that local elections are a yardstick of public opinion on the incumbent government, and, lets be honest, more people read the redtops than the broadsheets.

Local politics is thus tied to National politics, and so most of the time the majority of the voting public vote for the party and not the best person for the job.

Having the local MP knocking on doors in an allegedly hotly contested ward (by party, not by personality) shows this to be true.

Logic also dictates that if this were not true then more independents would be voted in, and there would not have been such a backlash countrywide against the Libdems in these 'local' elections.

Therefore, some 65% of the local population cannot be 'arsed' (apathy), because some minority elected oik will eventually claim that 95% of the people agree with him.
 
I think that party politicians like to make mileage out of the results of the local elections, despite the fact that the two animals are only very lightly yoked together.
It is just another excuse to employ media hype and sling insults at one another - it benefits no-one...and certainly not the electorate.
It is generally the case, that at the midterm of a government, local elections will show that the opposition party are favoured. This is often regardless of the policies implemented by the governing party.

Many people vote blindly for a political party in both local and general elections......regardless of who can best do the job...and who can best do the job has as much relevance in local elections (probably more relevance when I think about it) as it does in general elections.

If by some chance we could take party politics out of local elections then I think (just maybe) more would get done locally...there would be none of this 'walking out' of meetings because a party didn't agree with what the ruling party were proposing.
More work would get done, more results would be achieved...there would be less mud slinging and in-fighting.
 
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