Something a little different.

Most of what i've chosen to write about has come from stories i've read on the day and felt like commenting on. Today i am going to editorialise on a relatively random subject, although it is an issue that has been under the spotlight recently after UK elections in May. I feel like making my thoughts known on the workings of democracy and how i think voting in parliamentary elections and democracy are in only a very small way related.

First off lets look at the results of the May election, Labour winning 356 seats, the Conservatives winning 197 and the Liberal Democrats 62. Labour winning with a much reduced majority and both the main opposition parties making net gains. So on the surface it seems as if the wishes of the electorate have been met, Labour stay in power despite a large degree of disatisfaction, with the Conservatives and Lib Dems making gains able to retain a degree of dignity in defeat and talk up their own results as improvements and a step in the right direction.

However on closer if hardly microscopic analysis we can see that there is a huge imbalance between the votes cast for each party and the seats returned. Labour got 35.2% of the vote, the Conservatives 32.3% and the Lib Dems 22%. If there was a one to one correlation between percentage of the vote and seats returned it would have given quite a different result. With Labour getting approx 227 seats, the Consevatives 208 and the Lib Dems 142. This obviously doesn't take into account that people well aware of the strengths and failings of our first past the post system might well vote differently if they though there vote would count. It is also feasible that it could encourage a higher turnout, with only 61.3% of the electorate decing to vote this time round. So with only 22% of the entire electorate voting for the Labour party they have still managed to keep a majority of some 67 seats. Not bad considering they managed to win this election with the lowest percentage share of the vote in history!

It is far from new this imbalance that more or less enforces a two party system, and although it has its defenders who will cite examples like the Italian government, where they have a system of proportional represention, which seems decidedly unstable and that it provides a strong and stable governement it is still at its core decidedly undemocratic and highly discouraging to a large section of the population. Personaly i voted for the first time in what was the third general election i was eligable to vote in, i have always lived in a safe Labour seat and even when i probably would have voted for them in 1997 i didn't feel any strong impetus to do so as despite 18 years of Conservative rule and a desire for real change(which sadly never came) there was never any doubt that the Labour candidate in my constituency wasn't going to win. So this time i was very strongly againt this current Labour party and voted against them and it was to absolutely no effect. Still i registered my vote and thankfully there is at least some desire for election reform, although i shall not be holding my breath waiting for it to happen.

Another large reason as to why i disasociate voting in our elections with democracy is the role of organisations like the WTO. I know i've linked to this page before and i'm sure if i looked harder i could find something different that could provide same and/or more up to date evidence but it does the job. The WTO has the right to overturn the decisions of the 'elected' members of a democratic government if their wishes are not in accord with the WTO's. The members of the WTO are not elected and their meetings are held in secret and observable by no one. There should be no place in this world for institutions like that whatever their intentions.