06 May 2008

49% Turnout Would Have Stopped BNP.

Turnout in the London elections was just over 45%, 8% higher than 2004 (another example of PR elections bucking the first-past-the-post turnout decline), but had it reached 49% it would have...
stopped the BNP from getting a seat. Just 161,000 voters, out of the extra 450,000 London voters who turnout at general elections were needed to stop the BNP in the London assembly election (there are almost 2m registered voters in London who never vote). I wonder if these voters, especially the vast majority that dislike the BNP, feel guilty? (Also a turnout over 50% probably would have re-elected Ken and saved us from Boris).

Some other interesting facts - Ken managed to get more votes in London than Labour did in the general election in 2005 - 1.2m versus 1.1m. Sadly and amazingly Boris managed to double the Tory Mayor vote from 2004 and get nearly 400,000 more votes than the Tories got in the general election in 2005.

Just to prove Cameron and Johnson's progressive credentials are bullshit - only one of their 11 London assembly members is a woman. This is in keeping with their 8% of MPs who are women. The Tories are still the worst in the Commons for representation of under-represented groups. In contrast Labour have 25% of their MPs who are women and 50% of their assembly members.

4 comments:

  1. you tosser.

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  2. I thought you were hoping for a high turnout to beat the scourge of the BNP just the other day!

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  3. How do you know that those 1601000 voters wouldn't have voted in the same proportion as those who did vote? What would have happened if they all voted in a way that got the BNP an extra seat?

    You really should calm down and stop casting for a voting system that suits your own prejudices.

    You should also have more faith in the great british public, they know what they are doing and by and large they will use the system to get what they want, ie tactical voting in 1997.

    Boris won, Ken lost. Get over it.

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  4. Snafu: Although 8% up, 45% is hardly high turnout. The BNP would have got 3 seats without this increase in turnout but a GE level of turnout at 60% would have finished them and just 49% would have stopped them getting a seat. It is a shame that more people didn't vote, especially ethnic minorities.

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