Euro elections results

[policywonk]

Here's one prediction www.predict09.eu/default/en-us/state_analyses.aspx#united

Cheeringly, it reckons that the BNP won't win a seat. Here's hoping.

hate to say it..but the labour party are going to the wall..

i'm worried it will simply be used as an argument that we can not reform our voting system to pr as it will let the loonies in.....

It would be nice if one could vote for a nice minority party (like the greens) in a general election and have ones vote count.

under the current system for westminster elections ones vote only counts if one is in a three way marginal constituency and this doesn't seem right.

It would be nice if one could vote for a nice minority party (like the greens) in a general election and have ones vote count.

oh ffs, you cannot have 'nice' or 'nasty' parties. That's democracy for you. People can vote for who they wish.

I agree. I don't understand how they get their numbers, but it doesn't seem (in my rather limited understanding of it at least) very accurate. Although saying that, maybe if they were counted differently then the bnp would have got more seats.
YUCK

lol...you can vote for a nice minority party...but what will you get?... a few more copies of the guardian in the library.?..people want a party who (they think) will actually do something..

People can vote for who they wish but their vote doesn't necessarily count under the current voting system which is not that democratic.

Do you mind not swearing at me too SG.

I agree with you HoochieMooMa, those that didn't vote should also be feeling ashamed of themselves.

The ones who did not vote are probably also the ones who complain the loudest but won't get off their butts to do something about it.

hey hoochie...come on, don't worry too much about it...

the BNP i mean...not your spelling...

Sorry, I just found your post a bit odd. If you want people to have a voice, you can't add the proviso 'only if it's one I agree with'.

The UK system isn't particularly proportional anyway. Using the German system the BNP would have got 4 MEPs last time and 5 this time.

That would be far more democratic - clearly a proportion of the population agrees with the BNP, and they should have a voice. I don't have a particular issue with this - it reflects people's views, and I don't think the country is going to turn into Nazi Germany just because two or three BNP members get elected.

The way to counter them is to offer better alternatives.

In the past the Tories have moved right to kill off the far right. Look what happened under Thatcher - the NF were nowhere. The Tories have abandoned this because the BBC have made it clear from their past behaviour that anything vaguely right wing will be slagged off.

Although I think now the BNP are getting their support from working class ex-Labour supporters, I'm not sure the swing voting patterns between Labour, the Tories and the BNP.

The fact that Labour are basically run by Lord Voldemort himself, Peter Mandelson, he of "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich" fame doesn't help in providing an alternative to the BNP.

sign the not in our name petition against the BNP

Good post, someguy, totally agree with you.

Someguy - the point I was making was not that you should only be allowed to vote for certain parties.

It was that some people have been implying on TV that we can't now move towards any voting reform/ proportional representation for westminster as look what happens it will let extremists in.

They are therefore using the fear of the rise of the BNP to put the brakes on any debate about voting reform.

I think if everyones vote counted it would put pressure on the three main parties to come up with better policies. They would also have to canvas everywhere not just marginal constituencies.

Immigrants tend to settle in poor areas because the housing is cheaper. The type of immigrants settling in these areas are also more likely to be uneducated, less likely to speak English because the type of work on offer tends to be blue collar.

Tensions between say Pakistani Muslim communities and working class white communities seem in my view to be inevitable. Therefore I do not believe you can stop the BNP, because the conditions in certain areas are very productive for them.

There was a journalist on TV last night who pointed out that whenever he writes about such issues he gets a mailbag full of racism and bigotry, and as such a 7-8% vote for the BNP just reflects that there are lots of racists in this, and in every other country. It's pointless to pretend that there aren't and that the BNP voters must have made a mistake. Nope, reality is there are plenty of racists about. We've all met them. I was amused that my wife got told "this is not your country" by the man of Indian/Pakistani extraction in the corner shop when she went to buy something there and he couldn't understand her accent. People quickly forget.

well yeah...they're are idiots of all colours......who is the biggest one atm?....robert mugabe..

or maybe you'd describe him as "tribest"

this is all getting a bit boring now...let's just wait and see what happens next general election...wont be long.

lol..hoochie...they'll never take me alive!

I was at the count for the Green Party at Swindon last night (along with about 8 BNP activists, nice). The results for the south west worked out as follows:

Conservative 468,742
UKIP 341,845
Liberal Democrat 255,253
GREEN 144,179
Labour 118,716
BNP 60,889
Pensioners 37,785
English Democrat 25,313
Christians 21,329
Mebyon Kernow 14,922
Socialist Labour 10,033
Misc 39,702 (6 other groups mostly around 7,000)

1st seat Conservative with 468,742
2nd seat UKIP with 341,845
3rd seat LD with 255,253
4th seat Conservative with 234,371
5th seat UKIP with 170,923
6th seat Conservative with 156,248

Greens 12,070 votes short of a seat

Spread across 49 parliamentary constituencies that is 247 votes short per constituency. Each constituency is about 60,000 electors, typically divided into 20 wards of about 3,000 for local elections. So, if you live in the South West, your ward we needed an extra 12 votes and probably 1,800 people in your ward didn't bother to vote.

Small consolation for us was that we beat the current party of government into 5th place. We also increased our vote by more than enough to have won a seat last time when there were 7 seats in the SW.

I'm feeling so let down by people this morning, not just the ones who voted BNP but the ones who didn't vote at all and let them win. I'm devastated, disappointed, despondent, depressed, dejected, distrustful, distressed, disillusioned, distraught, disenchanted, downhearted and probabily a whole other bunch of words beginning with d that I can't think of right now. I haven't had the guts to call our candidate this morning.

Jennimiles - I agree. I did vote and I voted for the Green Party. I'm pleased they gained vote, but utterly disgusted that more people are concerned about hating their fellow man, then helping the environment.

However, it's made me vow to become more politically active. The BNP must be stopped.