Don't vote.

[Michael]

What are the chances of the Lib Dems getting in, realistically?

I mean, I imagine Labour are going to be getting alot less votes than ever, so the majority of those who would have voted for them will now vote for either Conservatives or Lib Dems... surely they stand a greater chance this time round from that alone?

Besides that, i've never voted, or until recently given politics an active interest. I will be voting Lib Dems, I imagine I am not alone in this... partly because of the 5 friends i've asked recently, all of them are also voting Lib Dem. Is this because they are going for the youth vote and I happened to ask people 18-25, or are they actually in with a chance of getting into power?

Edit: And look at that poll in the other thread. 47.27% in favour of lib dem.

Exciting

[kalniel]

What are the chances of the Lib Dems getting in, realistically?

Nill.

They really need a stepping stone where they become the main opposition party first, then they have a much better chance.

[Michael]

Nill.

I'm going to convince another 5 new voters to vote lib dem. We'll see.

[scaryjim]

What are the chances of the Lib Dems getting in, realistically?

The same as in 1997, when 50% of the population said they'd vote for the Lib Dems if they thought they could win.

[TAKTAK]

I'm going tactical TBH, don't want Lab or Con, so the next in line for my seat is LibDems so it looks like they will be getting my vote.

A few friends have been saying that the will be voting Labour because they don't want Conservative... Most of them seem to have changed their minds when i explained my thinking to them...

Sure LibDems probably won't win this time around, but if they increase their numbers, then at the next gen elec, they become an entirely feasible party for the idiots saying 'wasted vote'

[TeePee]

I'm a big supporter of proportional representation. As an expat, my vote is counted as being from my last UK address, which happens to be one of the safest Tory seats in the country. My vote is irrelevant, and I think this is a big reason why people don't vote.

I will be voting Lib Dem. Not out of support for their policies (since my vote is worthless), but simply to increase the disparity between the popular vote and the allocation of seats.

[psu1]

Lib Dems are getting my vote this time around.

[Saracen]

It's a fair point, though some would argue it's a blair/brown split. But in either case at least they have something about it in their manifesto - you say the conservatives support reform but if that's the case why don't they mention it rather than pledge that they would reject reform? The only significant change I can see is this ability to vote out MPs before they've had a chance to show what they're doing.

There's a whole chapter on political reform, and it goes far beyond reforming just the voting system.

It's part of whole 'power to the people' theme (my phrase, not a quote). The remarks I mentioned earlier, for instance, about reforming constituency boundaries are in the manifesto,. I know because I just went and looked. So is a commitment to reform in the Lords to a "mainly elected" Lords. So is the ability for citizen petitions to be put forward leading directly to debates in the House and, possibly, new laws. So is a rebalancing of power in the Commons away from government and back to committees and the full house, instead of government and the whips. And, increasing free votes, protecting free votes on issues of conscience, and so forth. And by remodelling quango power, and generally devolving power downwards instead of deciding everything in Whitehall or Downing street.

They do support the retention of first past the post, but that's only one part of electoral reform.

This is what I meant earlier. They do want reform, not just the reform Labour (of LD) want.

You can argue that they want reform that suits their vested self-interest, and I wouldn't entirely disagree. But I happen to think that is vested self-interest happens to include more power for us, and to include removing some of the existing built-in bias, then it may be self-interest but it's also right.

Also, ask yourself why Brown wants AV?

The answer, in my view, is that those most likely to drop out in the first round, supporting say LibDems, would be more likely to cast the second vote for Labour than Conservative. I'd venture to suggest that most people will ignore minor or fringe parties, and concentrate on the big three. Labour would be likely to pick up a lot more votes from LibDem second choices a than the Tories would. It works for Labour, but does little to address many of the problems, like the built-in bias.

Electoral reform isn't only about the voting system.


As for the Blair/Brown split, in the first 10 years or so, perhaps. But Brown's had power directly for a couple of years, and as I said, has made several speeches promising reform, the Bill of Rights, etc but what has happened? Nada. Zip. Bupkiss. SFA.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks, has webbed feet and spends much of it's time swimming on ponds, it ain't an elephant.

[Saracen]

What are the chances of the Lib Dems getting in, realistically?
....

When I looked earlier today, the bookies were offering 300:1 on it. I think there's a hint in that.

[directhex]

What are the chances of the Lib Dems getting in, realistically?

I mean, I imagine Labour are going to be getting alot less votes than ever, so the majority of those who would have voted for them will now vote for either Conservatives or Lib Dems... surely they stand a greater chance this time round from that alone?

Besides that, i've never voted, or until recently given politics an active interest. I will be voting Lib Dems, I imagine I am not alone in this... partly because of the 5 friends i've asked recently, all of them are also voting Lib Dem. Is this because they are going for the youth vote and I happened to ask people 18-25, or are they actually in with a chance of getting into power?

Edit: And look at that poll in the other thread. 47.27% in favour of lib dem.

Exciting

People who think the Lib Dems are the best choice, and people who don't bother voting because they're all a shower of bastards, have a very large intersection.

Like I said, 1 in 5 non-voters, that's all it would take for the Lib Dems to win - but that's too tall an order for some folks

[directhex]

When I looked earlier today, the bookies were offering 300:1 on it. I think there's a hint in that.

They said that about RATM for Xmas!

[Zak33]

I agree, hex. I don't like the idea of not-voting. My problem is I'm having trouble finding someone to vote for.

Currently, my plan is to vote for whoever is most likely to turn out who I know I want out, which is the incumbent. I just hope :-

a) it works,
b) the new MP (and party) is an improvement.

I'm not confident of either result.

seconded... but that's not a suprise.. I think we're blood relatives

[floppybootstomp]

I'll just quote this post I made at another forum, explains my stance:

wot election?

Here we have six grey featureless persons who are party leaders.

Who will you vote for?

1) I'm grey person one and I abandoned all our party's policies years ago and stole all our biggest rival's ideas. We sold out our principles completely for a cheap ride.

2) I'm grey person two and I always say we care but we don't really, we just want the strongest and our friends in our network to make pots of money and to hell with everybody else.

3) I'm grey person three and I always promise lots of fresh ideas without the first faintest clue whether they'd actually work because ever since our party existed we've never been in power.

4) I'm grey person four and I want to outlaw car ownership, make everybody eat carrots and only allow cooking on open fires burning from compressed animal dung.

5) I'm grey person five and basically we hate anybody who isn't white unless they're from the eastern bloc and then we hate them too. We prey on people's fears and insecurities and use WW2 imagery to portray us as patriotic where the truth is we actually represent what Great Britain was fighting in WW2. Now there's a paradox eh?

6) I'm grey person six and I want everybody to believe in God. A God with my rules and regulations and if you don't then we'll shoot you. Or maybe send you to hell anyway. At the very least. Sometimes I forget the name of our prophets but that's not a problem as I have enough hate in me to make up for all of them.

And that's about it.

Vote?

Not me, at my age I am absolutely sick and tired of the whole sleazy rotten corrupt lot of them.

Influence, money, power - that's all they're interested in, they will only knock on your door come election time.

I know our forefathers fought for my right to vote and we tell ourselves we have freedom. But compared to what? Do we really have freedom? My belief is that America dictates our world influence.

So, it's unlikely I'll vote.

Colour me disillusioned.

[directhex]

Colour me disillusioned.

The irony being that you support the system you claim to hate more by not voting

[Saracen]

seconded... but that's not a suprise.. I think we're blood relatives

Knowing some of my ancestors, and what they got up to, that's a distinct possibility.

[finlay666]

I'm making a point to vote Lib Dem simply because every time I see them on TV they seem to be the only party that actually answer the question they are asked, and there is only the main 3 in my constituency, my Tory MP never bothered to show up for the DE Bill and my Labour rep has basically just been slagging off the Tories without providing any effective argument.

It might not change who runs my constituency, but it's better than doing nothing. As doing nothing is effectively pulling my pants down ready for someone in a red or blue tie to waddle over and shaft me along with the rest of the country