The Bad News, The Good News

[poliphilo]

We stayed up till 4, by which time the shape of the outcome was apparent. At 10 we had an appointment to test drive a Renault at the dealership on Manchester Road- and that's where we were when the numbers clicked over to the total beyond which the Tories lost any hope of an overall majority. Shortly afterwards the result from our own constituency (Oldham East) came in. Phil Woolas, the Immigration minister, is back after a double recount- and  I can take down the orange poster in the front bay window which says, Liberal Democrats Winning Here; it lied.

The bad news for democracy is that the third party breakthrough didn't happen. The good news for democracy is that there was an unexpectedly large voter turn-out. The bad news for democracy is that a lot of polling stations in urban areas- including parts of Manchester- couldn't cope with demand and hundreds of people were deprived of their vote. The good news for democracy is that in a climate of opinion where there is scant enthusiasm for any of the parties, no party won.

Comments

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I'm woefully ignorant of UK politics, but I think another win for New Labor would have been as bad as a clear Tory win. It's selfish, but I have an extremely difficult time forgiving Labor for enabling George W Bush.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I have the same difficulty.

But the Tories would have backed Bush too- in fact they did. The Lib Dems were the only major party to oppose the Iraq war.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

Well, it's hard to spit at Tony Blair and the Tories at the same time, isn't it? I have the same problem with the Republicans and the Clintons.

For the record, I may have made my peace with the Clintons.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

Is that a dragon or a lion?

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

"Lion d'or rampant", allegedly.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

Here are a few more!

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

"...couldn't cope with demand and hundreds of people were deprived of their vote."
How could that happen? Eligible voters should be able to vote even if the polls need to stay open past regular closing time. If they ran out of ballots, there is NO excuse for that! Government should be prepared for 100% voter turnout, even though the actual numbers fall far short.
Urban areas -- aren't these more likely to go Lib-Dem (they do here)?
If everyone who had the right had been allowed to cast a ballot would not the outcome have been very different?
I will be following the aftermath on BBC News, watching to see how a coalition government might be formed.
I still maintain that a coalition government would be a good thing over here. Our two party system has resulted in what amounts to a state of civil war in the houses of Congress, with little being done. One party almost unanimously says "yes" while the other, just as unanimously says "no".

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Typically, urban areas tend to vote Labour, rural areas tend to vote Conservative. There are exceptions to this.
Have a look at the map here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/

The geographical view makes it look like it should be a massive Tory landslide. But if you click on the proportional view, you see it's far more balanced.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Nothing like it had ever happened before. Queues were forming outside polling stations. In at least one instance they ran out of ballot papers and had to run off some more. The law says no-one can vote after 10.00, but election officials interpreted that rule with varying degrees of latitude- leading to the likelihood of legal challenges.

My impression is that the seats where this happened were ones where there's either an entrenched Labour majority or else the battle was between Labour and the Lib Dems. No-one has yet suggested that the outcome of the election has been compromised.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

I've just heard someeone from the Electoral Commission talking about it - more in terms of compensation for loss of right to vote than in terms of affecting the outcome
Has anything like this ever happened before?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So far as I know this has never happened before- and certainly not on this scale.

I don't believe any of the affected seats were marginals.