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Letdown for many voters
Having, like many other pensioners, voted in the city council election on May 1, I was keen to know the results, especially in my own ward, where the contest was close, we were told.
I therefore tuned into BBC Radio Oxford at 6.20am on Friday, May 2. After a while, the announcer said that shortly after 8am, there would be a "round-up of election results".
Eventually, Shabina Akhtar said that Labour had gained four seats and would lead the council, but no individual wards or winners were mentioned.
Later, I telephoned to complain and was told that "sadly, it would have taken too long".
Actually, it would have taken just two minutes to name the winners and their party in each of the 24 city wards - two minutes, or four minutes if repeated, out of hours of broadcasting every day of the year. I thought public service was part of the BBC's job.
So, I went early to the newsagent to buy the Oxford Mail.
I added up the colourful figures you printed and worked out that roughly 35 per cent of voters had voted Labour, 23 per cent Lib Dem, 20 per cent Conservative, 17 per cent Green and five per cent others.
If seats had been awarded in proportion, Labour would have had eight and a half, Lib Dem five and a half, Conservatives five, Greens four, and others one. In fact, Labour won 12, the Lib Dems eight, and Conservatives NONE!
How unfair! As a democrat, I find it disgraceful that 20 per cent of Oxford voters are now unrepresented in the city council.
This is a result of the old-fashioned, first-past-the-post system which every other European country abandoned long ago.
It means that at the next General Election, the Government of the UK will be decided by a few thousand floating voters in some 50 or so 'marginal seats' - voters who probably have little knowledge of politics, but are open to bribery and intimidation, not to mention phony postal voting!
MICHAEL HUGH-JONES
Headley Way
Headington
Oxford
3:00pm Sunday 11th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Dave, Oxford on 5:14pm Mon 12 May 08
Let me make the obvious point that with PR we would never have another Tory government with a workable majority.
For that reason alone I would support it.
In the meantime lets just celibrate and congratulate the people of Oxford for failing to elect a single Tory.
What a civilised place this is.
Let me make the obvious point that with PR we would never have another Tory government with a workable majority.
For that reason alone I would support it.
In the meantime lets just celibrate and congratulate the people of Oxford for failing to elect a single Tory.
What a civilised place this is.
Posted by: alan page on 5:53pm Mon 12 May 08
Of course PR no longer stands for proportional representation any more anyway.
Mind you all of today's parties try to thrive on it. Not convinced by it myself .
Of course PR no longer stands for proportional representation any more anyway.
Mind you all of today's parties try to thrive on it. Not convinced by it myself .
Posted by: Worried on 2:12pm Wed 14 May 08
While Dave makes his peurile points on here, he like the rest of the self-interested morons miss the point entirely.
Labour has a minority vote in a general election and yet is in power with a sizeable majority. The Labour Party of today is not the party of socialist views it once was, but is more akin to the fascist dictatorships of S America in the way it is manipulating and controlling the populace for the sake of the wealthy.
While Dave makes his peurile points on here, he like the rest of the self-interested morons miss the point entirely.
Labour has a minority vote in a general election and yet is in power with a sizeable majority. The Labour Party of today is not the party of socialist views it once was, but is more akin to the fascist dictatorships of S America in the way it is manipulating and controlling the populace for the sake of the wealthy.
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