Comment by 4ndrewl
1 day ago
Tell me about this "quirk" and winning by "default" (and how this never applied to other recent elections).
1 day ago
Tell me about this "quirk" and winning by "default" (and how this never applied to other recent elections).
Less than 30% of the electorate voted labour. The problem is that the opposing party consistently ran as opposition but then executed on labour's policies instead so most people just didn't vote because they didn't see anyone running to vote for.
The electorate legitimately did not want these people or their policies, they effectively weren't given a choice. To call that democracy delegtimizes democratic elections.
Everyone also had the choice to vote Green or Liberal Democrat. I believe both promise electoral reform.
They can promise whatever they like knowing there's very little chance they will be put to the test.
The last time the Lib Dems got a taste of power in 2010 it was by going into coalition with the Tories at the cost of dumping key election pledges. Next election they were dumped by the public and their leader Nick Clegg was hired by Meta - presumably for his connections as he has no particular talent to sell.
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That's how our representative democracy works though. Even if just one person votes in each constituency.
I say that those who didn't vote knew it was a foregone conclusion and would have voted in the same proportion as those who did vote.
You say they weren't given a choice, but there are now more parties represented in parliament now than before.
What percent of the electorate voting for the biggest party would be acceptable to you?
>The electorate legitimately did not want these people or their policies
> so most people just didn't vote because they didn't see anyone running to vote for.
Probably shoulda voted then
It was a win under the rules but a memorably shallow one. Labour won a big majority of seats in 2024 on fewer votes (grand total) than when they lost handsomely in 2019.