Shame on anyone who didn't turn out to vote

[flymo]

Originally Posted by leedsmatt7

Flymo i get your argument I really do, but I wasnt refering to the uk as a whole. I wasnt been genuine it was purely and example to try explain my point for why these two countys have resulted in right wing representation.
If I stick with your analagy then, I was in fact refering to a little island on its own, well 2 little islands surrounded by other islands I of course am refering to Yorkshrie and Lancashire, on these 2 'islands' my analagy stands.

But thats all it was, I wasnt arguing for UKIP, I wasnt saying the BNP even have a point with their policies I was simply explaining my reaction to the OP, which is to say I can understand why in these countys those parties won, it honeslty doesnt suprise me.

Thats fair enough.

Originally Posted by flymo

That aimed at me Baph or the website?

The website mate.

[flymo]

Originally Posted by Baph

The website mate.

Good.

Seriously though, I plucked one site out of thin air and mentioned it. There are many many sources of factual information out there covering the BNP and other similar parties. I'm not going to sit and construct a well researched article with references to back up all the facts, I dont think its necessary.

I'm going to put my faith in our voters to see sense in the future elections. A protest at the more generally acceptable parties can backfire pretty badly as has been proved this time around.

good'o

[Mark_h]

Talking about it on Radio2 now!

I'll be completely honest, I didn't vote in the EU elections. According to the OP, it's my fault that the North West seat went to the wrong person.

Why? (hopefully I've demonstrated above I have enough of an understanding as to what's going on!)

Well, no vote is better IMO, than a wrong vote. For those that think that's wrong, or even "appauling," I'd love to hear a reasoned argument as to who I should of voted for. EDIT: Imagine what would happen if no-one bothered to vote, at all! (OK, realistically the EU Parliament would just not have UK represenation, but that's a good step along the way to encouraging the UK government to think about what they're doing in Europe!).

If anyone looks at the figures for my region (Wales), the order was Conservative, Labour, Plaid Cymru, UKIP, Lib Dem, Green Party, then BNP. BNP had 5.4% of the votes. Also for my area, there were a total 684520 votes, with an electorate of 2251968. So 30.39% of the electorate bothered to turn out.

I think that last sentence speaks volumes about the EU elections. Almost 70% of people just aren't bothered about voting.

Funnily enough, 31.726% of the electorate bothered to vote in the North West too. Just that those who did, had more "BNP supporters" (or vote protestors - either way) amongst them (8% of all votes).

Also, perhaps it's relevant to point out that the Green Party gained more votes this year compared to last, than the BNP did in the North West. Labour & Lib Dems took a big hammering.

[Spiderman]

Originally Posted by lazymanc

....People not willing to vote Labour anymore should at least make the effort to pick their least-disliked party from the other major two to stop this kind of thing happening.

And shame on you for thinking thats what a democracy is. No one is meant to vote for the lesser of 2 evils. We should all have parties that appeal to us as voters and get our votes. If there was a party that said it would look after motorcyclists and their needs first and foremost in every area like parking, security/crime, road layouts, road quality etc then i'm sure almost every biker in the country would go an vote for them, right?

You however suggest i vote for some other bunch of scumbags that i detest in order to ensure another lot of scumbags that i detest dont get it. That makes no sense, hence i didn't vote.

now if they had an option saying "I think the parties preseent dont represent m in any way" and i could tick the box for that to show my feelings then i would happily trot along and vote.
isn't that the point of voting after all...for the people to have their say and not to play tactical games for other parties?

Originally Posted by Spiderman

now if they had an option saying "I think the parties preseent dont represent m in any way" and i could tick the box for that to show my feelings then i would happily trot along and vote.
isn't that the point of voting after all...for the people to have their say and not to play tactical games for other parties?

Across the two area's I've highlighted, roughly 70% of the electorate did just that, effectively.

EDIT: I've just had a quick scan of the rest of the restults, most of them, around 1/3rd of the electorate bothered to vote.

Irish vote is now in... Sinn Fein win the first seat. Two others to come...

I reckon a lot of people think the BNP are just against Immigration, which doesn't sound that bad. But if you listened to one of his speeches you'd want to punch him in the face, no matter how much of a skinhead nazi fascist you are.