12 Jan 2010
Simon (one of our founder members) has started a petition here."We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to amend the general election ballot paper to include an 'abstention' option in addition to the named local candidates."
Submitted by Simon Mortimer Deadline to sign up by: 05 May 2010 Signatures: 41 to date.
"Faith in politics and our system of democracy is badly shaken in this country following the expenses scandal, the Iraq war 45 minute claim, the failure to regulate the banks and the failure to protect our troops to name but four.
It is proposed to empower the electorate of this nation to positively register an objection to the current choice of leadership by including an option to express a lack of faith in all the candidates presented.
It is hoped that obtaining such information would spurn us to take a long, hard, honest look at ourselves and our existing systems of government and in so doing add to the democratic process.
Democracy only works if there is a viable choice available for the majority of the people to vote for.
Democracy does not work when the electorate feels forced to choose between the lesser of broadly unsatisfactory options.
As a democratic nation we should be actively exploring if this is the situation that has arisen so that we can consider doing something about it.
It will incur no significant additional cost to add an 'abstention' option onto the ballot paper."
See also the The None of the above party ....
"Current political parties hold an effective monopoly on power. The victorious party swaggers into Downing Street having won a 35% share of the vote, of which a significant percentage voted for them as the 'least worst' option. If you then consider that there may have been a 50 - 60% turnout for the election, what type of mandate is that?
Millions of British voters refuse or simply don't bother to vote, feeling that nobody represents them but that they have no alternative choice. These members of the electorate are often accused of apathy, but in reality are often driven by a considered rejection of policies or politicians on offer. These disenfranchised voters need a channel by which they can express an important view.
Democracy cannot allow poor quality political parties to take office - the country cannot afford it. No longer should some party be guaranteed access to power irrespective of policies or performance.
The bar is currently lying flat on the ground - it is time to raise it..."
The ideas may be a few years old but still fairly valid.
comments . . . | |
| 23 Jan 2010 John Bray | 47 signatures so far. |
| 14 Mar 2010 John Bray | 51 signatures so far. |
| 14 Jan 2010 John Bray | I've always avoided voting for two reasons (admittedly not my original ideas): 1 - "It only encourages them" (the authorities can claim a certain legitimacy if people take them seriously.) 2 - "It's not really a democratic process" (if it were we'd be able to vote for NO government at all). In 2005 the Government made it illegal to register "The None of the Above Party". Interestingly, there's no obvious restriction of forming a political part called "No-one" (new organisation - ordinary non-entities?). If "no-one" was an option on the ballot paper I would probably vote for them :o) More people vote for no-one than any other party already so they'd have a good chance of winning. And, of course, if things were ever to go wrong they would not be able to claim that no-one was to blame! |