This election and our electoral system have left me in an impossible dilemma. If I could list my preferences in order they would be 1. Green, 2. Labour, 3. Lib Dem. I would not vote for any other party.The Greens are the closest to my political outlook. They want to see PR, a citizen's income, reduce car use, greater redistribution of wealth and improve overall quality of life. I want to vote for them.
But I live in Hove - a Tory-Labour marginal. Realistically only these two can win here. The best chance of stopping the Tory is to vote Labour.
Yet, Celia Barlow our Labour MP has barely a 450 majority, realistically the seat is almost certainly already lost to the Tories. So out of the losing parties Green, Labour, Lib Dem - I might as well vote for the one I like the best - i.e. Green.
Yet, if the Lib Dems can maximise their vote nationally and even top the poll in votes this will highlight ths absurdity of our present electoral system. If Labour are going to lose this seat anyway then maybe maximising the Lib Dem vote is the best way to put pressure on getting PR.
But the demographics in this area are of a young transient population. A lot of the Tories are old and dying. Labour might still be able to pull off a shock and if people think like me and vote Green and Lib Dem, the Tories might win a seat they might not have done so.
All this talk highlights the dilemma that first-past-the-post puts on voters - who have to try and second guess what everyone else is going to do. It puts barriers in the way of how you want to vote. I would love to vote Green and build their vote here, so that next time they might be in the position the Greens are in in Brighton Pavilion where Caroline Lucas has a real chance of winning.
So should I go with my heart and vote Green, vote Labour in the remote possibility that my vote might keep the Tory out, or vote Lib Dem so they top the vote and PR becomes a national debate as the result highlights how absurd it is to the wider public. I honestly am torn as to what to do. What do you think?
If Labour were to pick up a bit in the polls from their present level, I think I'd vote Labour in your position, if I thought there was any chance at all of keeping out the Tory. On the other hand, if I lived in Brighton Pavilion I would certainly vote Green!
ReplyDeleteGetting voting reform matters to me far more than anything else, as I have set out at
http://peezedtee.blogspot.com/2010/04/why-progressives-should-vote-libdem.html
Cheers PZT, I am going to write another post on what I have decided to do.
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