Thursday 26 April 2012

DESTROYING DEMOCRACY THROUGH PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

Next week I am expected to vote in the Scottish elections for local authority councillors. Why should I? It's my public duty. It's my democratic right. It's a social responsibility. Yes, I know all that. But what if my vote can't make any difference? What's the point in voting then?


For years we were told that the first past the post system wasted votes. If you lived in a strongly Labour or strongly Tory constituency then voting against didn't matter. The dominant party would win and other votes wouldn't count. I am fed up being told by pundits at general elections that most constituencies don't count since the winning party there always stays the same. So the choice of government is made by those where there is the possibility of a change. One commentator suggested that it was the floating voters in those areas that determined the outcome, so the choice of UK government was made by around 100,000 floating voters in marginal constituencies. Democracy. 


The solution to this, we have always been told, is PR where our votes will really count. Well in Scotland we have PR. And several varieties of PR. I think the system for the Scottish Parliament, while not perfect, works O.K. You get a constituency MSP and this group is added to by the list MSP's on a regional level to provide more accurate representation based on all votes, not just those for the winning candidate for constituencies. This system has produced Green MSP's and was instrumental in the very small Scottish Socialist Party having great success, until they imploded. 


There are drawbacks to the Scottish Parliament voting system. It favours parties over independents. The list MSP's seem to have less to do than their constituency colleagues. And my particular bug is that if a list MSP gives up their seat, their party just sends the next name on their list to the Parliament. I don't think anyone should be a member of Parliament without being elected. It's just wrong.


But the basically OK system for the Scottish Parliament is not what we have for Councils. The system for Scottish Council elections was the price forced by the LibDems to form a coalition with Labour in the Scottish Parliament in 1999.


This was a deal done in smoke filled rooms. The public wasn't consulted. It was just an arrangement that suited the politicians. If we had been asked, what would have happened? Judging by the AV referendum, a mixture of mostly apathy and the rest rejection. But, whether we wanted it or not, it's what we've got.


So the historic arrangement of wards in each Council area, with each ward electing its own local councillor, was just thrown away. Now the wards are four times larger, which seems a bit contrary to the LibDem principle of localism, and the voters rank the candidates 1,2,3 etc.The top four represent the enlarged ward/constituency.Together. 


So, this will bring about fair representation? Not if the parties can stop it. When it was the historic wards each party would generally contest each ward. Where I live, that would have meant a Tory candidate, an SNP candidate, a Labour candidate, maybe a LibDem, maybe others.Our MP is Labour and our constituency MSP is Tory. The council has been Tory/SNP,Tory and,before that, Labour. So you would think they all had something to play for. 


But, instead of this giant new ward having four Tory, four SNP, four Labour candidates etc., this is what we have:


2 Tory
2 SNP
1 Labour
1 Lib Dem
1Independent


This is the pattern replicated, with slight variations, across the whole local authority. There are only 44 candidates for 30 seats. In 1995 there were 75 candidates. Voter choice is being squeezed.  So, that means that no party can achieve an overall majority. Good, you might say, we should move towards a more inclusive European model where the parties get together after the election to assess who should form a coalition. Except that, the outcome isn't being determined AFTER the election. It has already been decided by the political parties. Labour and the LibDems aren't even fighting for control in my Council. They don't even have enough CANDIDATES to be the major partner in a coalition. A deal has been done. The Tories and SNP will jointly form the next Council administration. The only question is, who will be the major party? Now that doesn't feel like democracy. It feels like party political manipulation of a system that they put in place without asking the public. The politicians have already determined the outcome. So, back to my original question, why should I vote? 


And one more issue. Given the way that the political parties have have connived to fix the system to their own advantage, I did briefly wonder about what an independent candidate might offer. I had been reading that the independent candidate in the London mayoral elections was having some impact (though we'll see if she gets a place at the table on Question Time). So I contacted the independent candidate and asked where he was speaking and where there was a candidate debate. You will know how this goes. There is nothing. I don't understand how candidates can seek your vote without presenting themselves and their policies to you. So, why should I vote?  














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