It's no to AV - Alternatively so!

Alternative Vote Prize!

The country voted NO to the Alternative Voting system. No to 1-2-3 instead of X marks the spot. I was slightly annoyed to see that I was being asked whether I wanted the "first past the post" method. This is a rather derogatory expression for the Simple Majority method of election. No doubt the Electoral Commission thought they were "with it" by expressing the question so. Or maybe that helped the No campaign.

1-2-3? Maybe as confusing as 3-2-1 with Ted Rogers. The Yes Campaign get to play with Dusty Bin!

UK votes today for a mixed bag in mixed bag elections

Scottish sweet seller spotted in Holyrood candy store

Some pundits in electoral sciences are calling this "Super Thursday" as a take on America's Super Tuesdays. Not a lot super about it really. For some they've only got the AV referendum to think about. People like my sister and she's not said much about it. On the other end of the scale are the voters of Leicester South who get to vote for an MP, a new fangled city mayor, and councillors too. They might have to phone a friend when in the polling booth. No good asking the audience. It will be interesting to see which contest gets the higher turnout.

Alex Salmond might be a happy bunny. He thinks he's on his way to independence. But voting SNP does not necessarily mean supporting SNP. Voters do what they do on the day and we get far more floating voters these days. If they float in his direction, that's probably because his candy store has more tempting goodies in it today. And, if he's selling anything sweet, it's a hard thing to say no as he's capable of persuading you that black is white.

I'm not finding it hard to say NO to the Alternative Vote. "X" marks the spot!

Alternative Vote Referendum

Tomorrow is the referendum on the alternative vote system. I'm voting no because it's a hasbeens and losers charter for success if it is implemented. What we should have been voting on is whether we want our existing system or a proportional representation system. AV just allows second choices a chance to play second fiddle. So I'm saying no. I hope others agree in their droves.

Alternative Voting or Voting Alternatively?

The Alternative Vote is being hailed as a kind of John the Baptist in the British voting mechanism. It isn't quite the proper saviour, that would be Proportional Representation in all its glory. No, the AV system proposed by the Liberal Democrats and others (new converts to the Janus political thought - look both ways at the same time!) is a forerunner. It is not the real thing, but it will do for now.

Julia Gillard, who had an impromptu audience with the Queen during the Royal Wedding celebrations, is the Australian example of voting alternatively. It may work reasonably well in Oz, even if a couple of drongos get to give her the green light. Most Australians just vote for the candidate of their choice anyway. There are not that many second and third preference votes to give away to losers. And, apart from Australia, there are no democracies opting for this method as the epitome of high electoral practice.

I am hoping for a resounding NO vote on Thursday in the referendum. That may well upset the LibDems for a day or two, but they will not leave the Coalition over it. This was never the best choice to wave in front of the electorate. I prefer voting alternatively to the alternative vote. The former gives me a result I can identify with even if I changed my party allegiance. The latter gives me an MP who could have come third at first but gets to win because a whole group of fair weather friends just thought he or she might be reasonably sort of you know okay! But the moment some crisis occurs these half-hearted voters will be causing merry hell. It's a recipe for a democratic deficit.

Vote NO, that's the thing. And here's Pamela Greener with a ditty (and a couple bum notes for good measure!) on the whole thing -

Say No to the Alternative Vote

I've put up a poll on the Alternative Vote. Of course, it's the real one that counts on May 5th. I'm voting No. Not because I'm negative but this is all a bit of a joke. It's not proportional representation, which is what the LibDems were after. All it will do is give those at the bottom preferential treatment in deciding the eventual winner. I bet those LibDems in favour think they will get Labour, Green and others voting for them as second, third preference. That's what's motivating them. It's not "plumping" for a candidate, as the late Arthur Marshall might have said. It's more plumping up the votes of losers and hasbeens.

So I'll be sticking with the system we have. It may not be perfect but it suits me and hopefully many more. Remember, if only 5% turnout and the Ayes get it, don't think the Apathy Party can plump up the No vote. They can win on virtually nothing. It's all a fix, a fudge and a f......!

Black poet wiped from "Yes to AV" leaflet!

Alternative Poet not Alternative Vote

Those on the liberal side of politics sometimes get a bit too illiberal for my liking. When it comes to fighting elections, and that includes referendums, they can become the best there is in hypocritical behaviour. I well remember a Pakistani friend of mine, who had obediently joined the Labour Party on his arrival in the UK. He soon found out that they could be a nasty racist bunch if they wanted to be. He left them to join the Liberals (as they were then) and soon found they wanted him to be a local council candidate. In real life my friend was relatively light skinned. However, when the local Liberal agent saw the photos of the candidates he asked my friend "Couldn't you tone it down a bit?" implying that the photo was not conveying a likeness he liked. Goodbye to the Liberals! I first met my friend when he had been a Tory for a couple of years. Whilst there are some difficult types in the Conservative Party, nobody ever said a word, at least not in my hearing or his. He thoroughly enjoyed being a Conservative and may well be one still.

I mention this as today I read that the Yes Campaign for the Alternative Vote system (alternative as in alternative comedy?) has been accused of "airbrushing" black poet Benjamin Zephaniah out of leaflets sent to parts of the country. Apparently he was OK for London but not for Cornwall. Cornwall got Tony Robinson gawking at them. When confronted by this outrage a Yes Campaign spokesman said, "These allegations mark a new low for the 'No' campaign and their increasingly desperate smears. Let's put it this way, Operation Black Vote, the Muslim Council of Britain and a host of similar groups are backing the 'Yes' campaign. The BNP are backing the 'No' campaign. People can draw their own conclusions."

Well, I've drawn the conclusion that they DID think about this and that they DID decide that Zephaniah's face should be removed. Cynical in the extreme. Also, I doubt the spokesman passed the idea with the "host of similar groups". "Mind if we get rid of the black guy? He won't go down well in the West Country, you know".

Hypocrites!

And as for the BNP, well, this is a twisted remark. They are against AV but PRO the regional list system. Hardly enthusiastic supporters of the No campaign. Regional lists are as undemocratic as the alternative vote.

I say "Say No to the Yes Campaign" as they are what they are!

Democracy? Did we ever have it?

I'm of the opinion that democracy doesn't really exist in the so-called "western countries". Free speech is a far greater asset and one which the authorities allow and support. But they are woefully scared of true democracy. Witness the antics of the EU hierachy, all hellbent on getting YES votes in referendums, the very polls they fought hard deny most voters in the 27 countries. Witness also the ridiculous way in which a candidate in the USA has to get vast numbers of voters to support his/her candidature just to get ballot access. All manner of hoops and hurdles are placed in the way of parties which dissent from the agreed two-party arrangement.

I think it was summed up for me when something remarkable happened in East Devon in 1989. Stuart Hughes, now a Conservative councillor, although a maverick one, was a candidate for his Raving Loony Green Giant Party. Having fallen out with David Sutch of the OMLRP, he ploughed his own furrow. He stood against a matriarchal Conservative and beat her. She waspishly queried the result, saying "What have they done?" and then rounded on Mr.Hughes by stating he better not lark around in the council chamber. She took defeat very badly. Many have done so in the past and no doubt will in the future.

Democracy is not that welcome in the corridors of power. Free speech doesn't bother them. I'm entitled, allowed, or whatever, to sound off on this blog. That's not going to twitch an eyebrow. But if I mobilised an army of voters to unseat MPs, then I would be in trouble. It's a form of poking my nose in where I'm not welcome.

Daniel Hannan has a good line in his blog entry yesterday. He says -

"It’s not chiefly about Europe – it’s about democracy. Regular readers will know that I have always seen the repatriation of jurisdiction from Brussels as a means to an end. Having got the powers back, we should pass them down to local authorities or, better yet, to individual citizens. I want decisions to be decentralised, diffused, democratised. I want open primaries, popular initiative procedures, elected sheriffs, self-financing councils, an end to quangos, recall mechanisms and, yes, referendums – lots and lots of referendums."

An end to quangos? I seem to remember a lot of us campaigned hard for that when Margaret Thatcher came to office. Democracy is yet to be accomplished in full, but it will be achieved because of the free speech of people like Daniel Hannan.