off to vote

election day in the uk. like many people who voted labour last time round i feel frustrated about the war in iraq - as more evidence has come out it is very hard not to feel deceived... on the other hand i definitely won't be voting tory - their campaign against immigration is nothing short of racist in my humble opinion. and are the other options plausible? i have voted green before but until proportional representation comes in there isn't much point. lib dems are not really a serious challenge in ealing where i live so i think it will be labour again. maybe i'll take the guardian advice and vote labour with a clothes peg on my nose as an act of protest?...
i actually think on issues other than the small matter of the war - economy, debt cancellation, aid, education, health, labour have done pretty well (it would have been an easier choice if tony blair had stepped aside and we'd been voting for gordon brown).

Comments

[Wulf]

Does it matter if the party you want to vote for doesn't stand a hope of winning? Personally, I think the LibDems have a long history of suffering not just from the lack of proportional representation but also because so many people have dismissed them as the third horse...

As far as a protest vote, I think the Greens would be an excellent choice. They're very unlikely to win (even though I suspect a lot of people would like to protest at this election) but a strong Green vote will probably have a positive impact on the environmental policies of whoever does win.

I agree with you though that it would be more palatable to vote for Gordon Brown than Tony Blair. As it is, I'm planning to go yellow...

Wulf

[Paul Tilley]

I am also struggling with who to vote for. Though we don’t have a Lab rep in North Devon (well Torridge) so for me its either LibDem or Green. LibDem have very little to say about environmental issues, and as a parent surrounded by the sea and beaches this is a big issue for me so I think it’s go Greens… is it a wasted vote.. maybe, but I will have a clean conscience…maybe!

[Brodie]

Just because the person / party that you vote for is unlikely to win does not mean that it is a wasted vote. If smaller parties such as the Greens or Lid Dems get a good proportion of the vote then the "winning" party may just sit up and take notice and ask why people have voted the way they have.

I hear what you're all saying about Gordon Brown. I too like him, think that he's probably the best person in the UK to politically help make poverty history, but he was in the cabinet that agreed to go to war. He's not as innocent in that matter as perhaps we'd like.

[Dave]

Jonny,

I'm not sure I agree with the 'not much point' for a vote for the Greens. In addition to Wulf's point about having a positive influence on the environmental policies of whoever is elected and putting the issues higher on the agenda would it not be a Good Thing if a party like the Greens have a stronger showing than, for instance, the BNP?

I won't mention that I missed out on my vote by moving house at the wrong moment.

Dave

[Paul Roberts]

I guess the greatest shame is that this election is going to be decided by a comparative handful of voters in marginals such as the one in which I live (Bristol NW), where LibDem and Labour are slugging it out neck and neck. I felt really cross this morning thinking that my vote would have a bigger impact on the final result than someone else's in another constituency. However, I'm not sure I'm convinced that voting *purely* along the lines of satisfying one's own conscience is a particularly moral approach to democratic duty - surely it's the moment when we take the role of deciding what is in the overall interests of the whole society, rather than what is going to make us feel personally at ease. Sometimes those two things aren't exactly the same thing. We have to be careful not to forget the social responsibility we share in - not just my desire for a quiet mind, which would succumb to individualism of the worst kind.

[Timothy Wright]

My frustration is that no one is Pro-Life in a total sense. From Womb to the grave. Great childcare, early intervention with kids having problems, opposed to abortion, etc.... How do I stand before God when I have to vote for people who are for ignoring the poor, killing babies in the womb, etc... I feel stuffed on this one.

Tim

[will]

Jonny,

If you'll allow the comment on your election, at least you have a viable choice. When we voted in the US last fall we had to choose between two utterly horrible alternatives.

I like the idea of voting with a clothespin on the nose. Might try that next time around.

[Brodie]

Paul - Think your right that who we vote for should take into consideration not just our own selfish needs. For us in Scotland, much of the politics that "directly" effect us is devolved (so we're not voting for it)- so in that sense it's been easier to think bigger, to think which party is going to do the most for developing countries, etc.

[Fernando Gros]

sure the whole iraq thing is a "stinker," but what is the alternative to another labour gov? the lib dems are not yet in a position to take it and the tories would be a step backwards on just about every issue that really matters.

[Kathryn]

For the first time in my life I'm in a constituency where the Lib Dems have a real chance of being elected (the sitting MP is Lib Dem but has just retired)...but thanks to an independent candidate standing on the ticket of controversial hospital ward closure, I suspect the Tories will get it.
And my daughter voted for the first time today: it would have been so lovely if she had been able to feel that her vote had actually secured the candidate of her choice, but I fear not.
This whole campaign has been so depressingly negative, there was a moment when MRL seemed decidedly attractive :-)

[Mike Rose]

I'm so fickle. I want the reds to beat the blues. Reversal in two days!

[Richard L]

Aside from the war in Iraq (would the other parties have fared better?), I reckon Labour have done not too badly in many areas ... they need more time to follow through on international development promises for one. Also, they inherited 9/11, and the world has changed since, and whoever is in power is going to get the cr*p for that.

[lisa c]

I hate to admit voting tactically - it seems that we should instead be voting for some sort of ideal.

However, I do feel labour's past majorities have threatened the idea of democracy (so many of any one party in parliament is not good for our country). So, I am glad their leadership has been dented. Though I feel the best party has won the 4 year contract.

Lisa C

[St]

I have much respect for people who vote for candidates who can't win. In Leamington and Warwick though the Conservatives nearly got in (fell 306 short) as the 'couldn't win' vote reached nearly 10,000 total. Conservative ideology seems to me to be racist, elitist and selfish. As you say, apart from the war (clothes peg time), New Labour have genuinely embarked on a process to move people out of poverty. Does anyone really think the Conservatives will take International Aid and Environmental Issues more seriously? We need PM Brown sooner rather than later, a move to single transferable vote and a good night's sleep. As Boris (how many other MPs do we know by Christian name only?) memorably said in 2001, 'Go back to your constituencies and prepare for breakfast.'

[Anon]

it makes me smile really, hearing people saying that they are struggling about who to vote for...as though they really do struggle, as though it really is a hardship in thier very nice middle-class environment...it's usually the same people that were ranting and raving about tony blair being the best ever 7 years ago...i hate pious christians...get a clue the lot of you

[jonny]

pompous anons really come across well as well ;-)

[John Davies]

Let's just say that if you (I mean the 'royal' 'you') hadn't already registered your protests against the Iraq war, like, two, three, five years ago, then you're probably not a Labour voter anyway. Their record on day-to-day stuff (hospitals, children, anti-poverty legislation) is excellent, and on redistribution of wealth. If it weren't for the fact that the vile Thatcher coined the phrase, I'd be tempted to say, 'there is no alternative'.