Elections Again

I went to vote this morning and I'm slightly dismayed about how complex it was. In the Leicester South ward we had to make 6 votes, first and second choice for city Mayor, two counsellors, a new MP as ours is standing for Mayor and the referendum on the alternative vote.

I was slightly perplexed one because the colours of the lilac mayoral ballot paper and the grey AV ballot paper were far to similar for someone who is colour blind (severe Red Green) so well done government for failing in the inclusivity stakes and secondly there was a first and second choice for city mayor, yet in none of the electronic propaganda material had a second option been mentioned so I didn't read up on a second candidate as I know our previous local MP would make an excellent job.

So what should I do about the second option I was in a quandary? Well I didn’t put one but then I felt bad for not using my second option, this is of course the problem with the Alternative Voting system that is being proposed and the reason for referendum vote today.

So what did I put for the referendum, well after reading the form twice due to the poor and slightly biased and leading wording I put NO? Why well simply because it is a vote against the uneducated and those who have firm convictions, it will lead to chaos and cost millions to introduce and it isn’t even the original proportional representation that was promised and it has been introduced by the most untrustworthy politician of our day the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg who lies, compromises and misleads for breakfast.

So to break this down I felt stressed and perplexed by the number and complexity of the votes today and I am completing a PhD, I have had to explain the proposed system to many of my peers who didn’t understand it and they all have degrees many of whom are postgraduates and if they don’t get it how will the majority of our working class population. A vote for AV is a vote to restrict the ability of the common man to engage in and affect national politics.

The AV vote will also cause the population to become even more indecisive, I am a person with strong political beliefs and I knew I only wanted one man for Leicester Mayor but I felt awkward not putting a second option. So faced with 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and even 6th options for national elections I would be overwhelmed and feel very awkward if I only made one.

At the end of the day I believe that whilst the current voting system has awkwardness with hung parliaments situations like we have today the alternative voting option is not a solution, why should we have 2nd or 3rd placed votes then there will be very little difference. The three main parties will get the majority of the votes still and there could still be a parliament that has no overall majority but will result in fewer parties as the lowest parties votes will be removed.

Lastly I’m not sure of the impact that a NO outcome would have on the Liberal Democrat party but hopefully it will bring an end to this charade showing their leader to be a failure, yet I might even hope that it will signal an early general election and bring back some common sense and dignity to this country.