Please help me understand

[glitch]

There seems to be so much concern and unhappy people around and we get the chance to vote on Thursday (ok so only county council elections rather than a general election) and yet less than 30 percent of people in my area bothered.

It is hard to choose who to vote for at the moment. I don't feel like any of the parties particularly stand for me at the moment however I go and either vote or spoil my paper (I want them to know if I choose none of them).

Why don't people vote? I am pretty clueless when it comes to politics but I have a say so I use it. I just don't understand why others don't and it is starting to trouble me. Any thoughts?

[Sirzy]

I didn't vote this time for the first time. The final straw for me was when the nearest option lived 10 miles away in an area which is rather different than here. Not one of the 3 candidates so much as put a leaflet through my door either. Basically a lot of apathy on my behalf contributed to by apathy of the candidates

If we had had a UKIP candidate locally then I would have gone out to vote for someone other than them.

[glitch]

Do you think that is the feeling of a lot of voters staying away? Just that none of the candidates are right?
That sounds like a horrible mess if so.
No idea why it has got me quite so het up this year. Perhaps the fear of Tory vs UKIP future.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Idleness, disconnection and a 'CBA' attitude.... Local elections are seen by some as irrelevant. The type happy to sit home moaning there's nothing and no-one worth voting for but who aren't prepared to stand for election or get involved themselves. When you see people in other countries like Syria or Libya literally dying in the streets for the right to a democratic vote, it's shaming.

[MiniTheMinx]

"Of the world's 100 largest economies, 51 are now corporations, only 49 are nation-states. The sales of General Motors and Ford are greater than the gross domestic product of the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, and Wal-Mart now has a turnover higher than the revenues of most of the states of Eastern Europe. Yet few of us understand fully the growing dominance of big business.

Widely acclaimed economist Noreena Hertz brilliantly reveals how corporations across the world manipulate and pressure governments by means both legal and illegal; how protest is becoming a more effective political weapon than the ballot-box"

I read this www.amazon.com/Silent-Takeover-Global-Capitalism-Democracy/dp/006055973X?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 The Silent Take Over by Noreena Hertz, a while back. Very interesting and it answers your question.

In recent years there has been a rise in NGOs, charities, organisations like corporate watch, lobby groups, single issue political activism and organising, anti-capitalists groups, fringe political parties etc,...and it seems that identity politics is also partly responsible, both in terms of organising but also in people feeling that mainstream parties do not "talk" to them.

Plus anyone with any sense realises that democracy isn't about casting a vote at the ballot box, even more so when corporations have so much power over mainstream parties and national economies. Democracy needs to be wrestled back into our hands.

[ttosca]

Damn right.

[Mrsdavidcaruso]

It depends where you are- we only had a 30% turn out on the Isle of Wight- BUT we did manage to turf out a totally useless prick of a councillor - job done IMO