…to bring you a comment or two on London’s Mayoral election.
If you live outside of London, other than the suburbs and even then, only if you are a commuter, the elections for London mayor are probably of no interest to you whatsoever, some might say rightly so. I would probably be one of them.
Let’s get things straight, I believe in the power of voting, I believe it is wrong to not vote and then sit back harping on about how rubbish so-and-so [insert name of winning candidate here] is. If you don’t exercise your right to vote you have no cause to complain. In my eyes, you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Checking the BBC website for news of the results a few things struck me. The first made me chuckle quite heartily. It stated there would be a delay in announcing the results because there had been a huge increase in voter turnout… a whopping 45% had chosen to vote. Now, fuck me sideways and call me Jesus, but 45% is less than half and half of something is really nothing. So besides people creaming their pants at the thought of 45% of Londoners getting up from the TV or crack pipe, or both, long enough to vote the other factor that struck me was everyone whinging that it looks like Boris Johnstone will win… Oooo how everyone hates the blonde haired, ‘dimwit’. I wonder if the predictions of a Conservative win would be true is there had been a 100% turnout of voters?
So I’m left pondering these thoughts as I await the ‘official’ result. Is it a case that the majority of that 45% voted for Boris? Perhaps it’s more a case that the majority of that 45% didn’t want another 4 years of Ken Livingstone? Of course, until the result is announced officially I can only speculate that Boris has won but I have to say personally, Ken got neither of my 2 votes. Primarily because I don’t want the prat to be elected again, 8 years is enough. Now, before you left-wing nut jobs pounce on me for being a right-wing nut job I’ll declare I didn’t vote for Boris, nor did I vote for the BNP and obviously I couldn’t vote for the English Democratic Party, not least because the clown who was representing them left the party a few days before the election!
Part of me thinks it won’t make too much difference who gets in, after all, one is as bad as the other, right? Regardless of who gets in taxes will rise, promises will be broken and there will be a blatant disregard for the electorate and why? Most probably because whoever gets elected will sit back and say, “Ha-ha, serves those stupid fuckers right! Only 45% could be bothered to get up off their fat arses and vote.. they all deserve what they get!” And you know what? I agree!!
Assuming the winner gets 50% of the vote, which isn’t even likely, that means 50% of 45% of the population of London has chosen the person who will govern the capital city of the UK. If you want to talk numbers instead of percentages I’ll put it another way…
In 2006 there were an estimated 7,500,000 people in London, of course we know there are more but these are only the ones who’ve admitted to being here! so if we stick to that figure, only 3,375,000 voted and of that 3,375,000, at best, only 1,687,500 voted for the winner… that means 22.5% of the voting public voted for the winner…pathetic isn’t it?? If you are reading this and you are one of the 55% who couldn’t bothered to either register to vote, register for a postal vote or get up off your arse to trot down to the voting station… hang your head in shame, not because Boris may win but because you forfeited your right to complain, not that it will stop you!
I would also like to add that some might even see the apathy as warranted, after all, when you look at the candidates it’s the proverbial ‘pig in a poke’ hardly a decent choice amongst them but that’s no excuse for not voting, even if you go down and strike through your ballot paper, you’re registering a vote, you’re saying, “None Of The Above” and it’s counted as a spoilt vote. I have a feeling if everyone voted you’d find that most votes would be spoilt because people are sick of the same-old-same but there is no alternative offered to them, or more accurately, no viable alternative. Sure the green party has a few good ideas but let’s face it, other than banning cars, meat and bombs, what else are they going to do??
Well, whatever happens, we’ll be stuck with it for the next 4 years, just in time for the Olympics.. yet another farcical waste of money… but that’s another blog entirely ;)
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