[Archived] Election

[Paul]

A Lib/Lab coalition in these circumstances throws up some huge questions.

Firstly, until 9.59pm last night, they hated each others guts and were urging people to vote for their own parties under any circumstances, and indeed Nick Clegg has stated very clearly (during the Lib Dem surge) that the most popular party is the party with initial legitimacy to form a government.

According to the BBC, and I don't listen as closely as they do, Nick Clegg stated the party with the most seats and votes "should seek" to form a government, not that that party "should" form a government. Not trying to be pedantic here merely repeating what the BBC have reported to clear up the popular conception Clegg said the party with the highest number of seats / votes should form the government.

Cobbling together a Lib/Lab pact in order to defeat the winner of the popular vote - in both percentage terms and number of seats - would therefore be untenable.

Because of the Lib Dem stance on PR, it would be even more difficult - the winner in percentage terms of this popular vote being ousted by a Lib/Lab coalition just doesn't work - because the Lib requirement for PR flies in the face of any potential coaltion with a deposed Labour government ... which would clearly be against the % popular vote nationally.

I know how the first past the post system works and most, all?, UK governments have been formed by a party with a minority of the popular vote. It isn't true to say the Conservatives, on this occassion and on others Labour, have won the popular vote. In percentage terms yes but not overall......as it stood when I last listened to the news. I don't know whether a coalition is a good or bad thing but I suspect the outcome will be a Lab / Lib coalition if only because Brown as the encumbent gets first shout.

As a side note I found myself in the interesting position of voting Labour in GE and Conservative in CC elections. Why? By chance I know the CC candidate's work quite well. I was very surprised to find her standing as a Conservative as I did not know her political leaning. Just goes to show the importance of knowing the candidates and of the candidates getting their message across to the electorate.

[Guest Kamy100]

I find it amazing that despite the economic crisis, unpopular government and crucially virtually every newspaper backing the Tories, they still didn't manage to gain the 326 seats needed to form a government outright. It shows to me that still there are many people out there who deep down do not trust the Tories enough to give them the mandate to govern the country outright.

[tcj_jones]

Well the Tories had a massive swing in my constituency, putting them back in overwhelming control.

At least I was in and out of the polling station in five minutes with nobody ahead of me in the que.

I'm amazed thag the Lib Dems have done so badly, I really thought they were going to push on after the TV debates. Hopefully a Lib/Lab coalition can be formed, because I really don't want the Tories in power.

[koi]

I find it amazing that despite the economic crisis, unpopular government and crucially virtually every newspaper backing the Tories, they still didn't manage to gain the 326 seats needed to form a government outright. It shows to me that still there are many people out there who deep down do not trust the Tories enough to give them the mandate to govern the country outright.

The economic crisis may have gone against them; I spoke to a number of people who wanted GB out but felt it was too much risk to change now, very similar to 1992 really. A more buoyant economy may well have helped the Tory vote.

I'm thoroughly depressed by all this. GB may well manage to limp on for a while and that would be a travesty. The ridiculous desire for reform that Labour are pedalling this morning is just the lowest of the low, talk about death-bed change. To make matter worse, Labour could replace GB with yet another unelected PM.

I am glad to see the nation has seen straight through the lies that the Lib Dems have been spinning. I felt their lies caught up with them last week and I was correct. Still, they will no doubt end up with a decent say in government. Oh and that idiot Limpbek Opik or whatever he's called is out, thank god for that.

Depressing.

[ABBEY]

if its a well hung parliament I should be PM

[American]

I know how the first past the post system works and most, all?, UK governments have been formed by a party with a minority of the popular vote. It isn't true to say the Conservatives, on this occassion and on others Labour, have won the popular vote. In percentage terms yes but not overall......as it stood when I last listened to the news. I don't know whether a coalition is a good or bad thing but I suspect the outcome will be a Lab / Lib coalition if only because Brown as the encumbent gets first shout.

Looking like Labour and Lib Dems won't have enough to form a majority between the 2 of them.

Mandelson just threw Gordo under the bus.

[Sandiway Blue]

Glad to see Labours Janet Anderson kicked out of Rossendale and Darwen in favour of a LOCAL conservative lad Jake Berry.

[JAL]

Glad to see Labours Janet Anderson kicked out of Rossendale and Darwen

Three jeers for the sponging fat bitch and good riddance.

How badly have Brown and Anderson done in their reszpective jobs, delivering us into the financial abyss and still in Gordons case be allowed to work, I know that I wouldnt have been allowed to carry on in my work consistantly delivering such a shockingly poor performance .

Well done though to Jack Straw for increasing his vote in Blackburn.

[Sandiway Blue]

looks like we are looking at a Lab/Lib pact.....

God help us all....

[LeChuck]

So it looks like we're going to be stuck with the same old ######.

I was hoping the Lib Dems would gain enough votes to have enough power to push for reform, but that hasn't happened.

We barely live in a democracy, two party choice isn't democracy. It's obvious that a lot of tactical voting has taken place, people are simply voting Labour to keep the Tories out because that's how our system works.

Pathetic. I don't even want to live in this country at the moment. Although I do take solace in the fact that neither won my constituency.

[pg]

I'm amazed thag the Lib Dems have done so badly, I really thought they were going to push on after the TV debates. Hopefully a Lib/Lab coalition can be formed, because I really don't want the Tories in power.

Well they've done quite well in the primary vote. I have no idea why they don't have more seats...the UK parliament and electoral rules baffle me.

[Paul]

Well they've done quite well in the primary vote. I have no idea why they don't have more seats...the UK parliament and electoral rules baffle me.

It's actually very simple, and I'm not trying to teach you how to suck eggs. The basis is each constituency puts up a candidate for the seat and the people vote for the person who is best able to represent their, the peoples', interests. The number of votes cast is only relevant in the constituency and has no relevance in Parliament. Now this is probably a very outdated method for the 21st century but that's what we have, pure and simple.

The principle of voting for the person "best able to represent one's interests" can lead to interesting sitautions. As I said earlier locally I voted for a Conservative candidate, I know the person through local activites we are both involved with and I believe she will make a very good County Councillor even if her fundamentals politics defer from mine. Nationally I voted for Lindsay Hoyle, Labour, because I know he's a damn good MP and does represent my constituency well, obviously he belongs to the party I support. If the County Councillor ever went on to stand for Parliament it would be very interesting!!!!

[cletus]

looks like we are looking at a Lab/Lib pact.....

God help us all....

If it means keeping the Conservatives out, then i`m for it. Just one look at George Osbourne frightens the life out of me. How can he be chancellor when there`s obviously NOTHING ZERO ZILCH going on in his head. He reminds me of Homer Simpson in the dentists chair...."chair goes up, chair goes down, chair goes up, chair goes down, chair goes up, chair goes down, chair goes up, chair goes down etc....." The guy is a complete ####ing useless & clueless idiot of the highest order!

[only2garners]

A Lib/Lab coalition in these circumstances throws up some huge questions.

Firstly, until 9.59pm last night, they hated each others guts and were urging people to vote for their own parties under any circumstances, and indeed Nick Clegg has stated very clearly (during the Lib Dem surge) that the most popular party is the party with initial legitimacy to form a government.

Cobbling together a Lib/Lab pact in order to defeat the winner of the popular vote - in both percentage terms and number of seats - would therefore be untenable.

Because of the Lib Dem stance on PR, it would be even more difficult - the winner in percentage terms of this popular vote being ousted by a Lib/Lab coalition just doesn't work - because the Lib requirement for PR flies in the face of any potential coaltion with a deposed Labour government ... which would clearly be against the % popular vote nationally.

I'm not clear why you think a Lib/Lab pact would be untenable and against the national popular vote - together they are looking like getting 52% of the vote against 36% for the Conservatives. It's also fairly clear that Labour will be more than happy to give a referendum on PR to the Liberals. Though for most of them it's been a rather rapid conversion to PR and actually their proposal for AV isn't really PR at all (although to answer someone else above Mandelson has been in favour of PR since before the 97 election).

However, there will be practical difficulties. Firstly Clegg has said that the party with the highest number of seats and votes should get first dibs at forming a government. I think he will stick to that and if Cameron talks to Clegg I don't think he will get a deal unless he offers PR, which I can't see him doing. I see no reason why Labour can't get a deal with the LDs, particularly if Brown stands down, as they will give a PR referendum but the real problem it will have is that this will still not provide a majority of MPs. They probably stand a better chance of picking up votes from the other parties than the Tories do, as they can only really rely on the Ulster Unionists (and even then probably only with some "bribes"), but it will be very difficult.

STOP PRESS Clegg has reiterated his statement that the party with the most votes and seats has the right to make the first attempt to form a government. Still all to play for.

[broadsword]

The only certainty thus far is that David Dimbleby is anchoring his last election night programme on the BBC. He's making more basic mistakes than John Motson does. I still prefer BBC coverage to both ITV and Sky though.

David Stumblebum.

I have no idea what the BBC thought they were playing at, but it appears part of my licence fee went on rubbish 3-D graphics and a showbiz jamboree by the Thames, but not very much at all went on content. ITV was much better. I'm gradually getting turned off the Beeb and look forward to a day when we don't have to pay a licence fee.

Well, I'm glad I went to bed at half one cos that wasn't worth stopping up for. My local (labour) MP got wiped out. I'm very sorry to see him go, he was a very good, hard-working, approachable MP.

I think we desperately need an overhaul of our democratic system, it's archaic. If I wanted the Tories to run the country, but a local Labour MP, then how am I meant to vote? It's deeply flawed.

[American]

The main problem is the whip system. Your MP should be able to vote as is best for his constituency, not his party.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Conservatives have a huge majority in England in seats and votes, its the tactical voting in Scotland and Wales that has stopped a Con Majority UK wide.

[broadsword]

I'm a bit worried about the Tpories getting in down here, because in 2005 one of tehir campaign pledges was to sell off the Port of Dover. What a disaster that would be.

[Hughesy]

Glad to see Labours Janet Anderson kicked out of Rossendale and Darwen in favour of a LOCAL conservative lad Jake Berry.

Dont see why anyone would want conservative in locally!!

[Rovermatt]

I think the Conservatives' failure to win a majority is evidence that, even in the midst of this recession and with a pretty useless Labour government bumbling its way from disaster to gaffe and back again, there are still a hell of a lot of people around who remember how things were the last time the Tories were in Downing Street.

I voted for Sylvia Hermon who successfully ran as an Independent following the Ulster Unionist Party's decision to hop into bed with the Tories to form the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - New Force (that's right: UCUNF). She's pleasant, hard-working lady who has been returned to Westminster by North Down three times now. She attended a symposium at my school back when I was in Upper Sixth and came across as a perfectly reasonable woman who was keen to foster relations with the catholic community and was far removed from the unpleasant record of her (former) party. Even my dad - a staunch nationalist and a dyed in the wool SDLP man - has been voting for her since she ran back in 2001.

Just heard a pundit on the radio predicting we'll have another election next year.

[modes98]

Conservatives have a huge majority in England in seats and votes, its the tactical voting in Scotland and Wales that has stopped a Con Majority UK wide.

Tactical voting in Scotland and Wales? Pull the other one. If the Tory party was that well liked they would have polled over 40% of the public vote and won by a landslide. The fact is the campaign was very poorly run, which there will be Tory moans about later, and the public don't trust the Tories, Labour or the Libs to run the country (includes NI, Wales and Scotland).

Another Labour gain in Bethnal Green.

[LeChuck]

I think the Conservatives' failure to win a majority is evidence that, even in the midst of this recession and with a pretty useless Labour government bumbling its way from disaster to gaffe and back again, there are still a hell of a lot of people around who remember how things were the last time the Tories were in Downing Street.

Yet even with those two parties being so repulsively unattractive, they still end up with the vast majority of seats.

If electoral reform doesn't happen this time round, I'm not voting again until it does. It's pointless.

[Amo]

Our local Conservative MP was re-elected here, doubling his majority, with Lib Dems second and Labour in third. He's represented us since 1992... Gah, you'd think people would wanna shake things up here, but there must be more high-rollers down here then I had imagined.

[Sandiway Blue]

Dont see why anyone would want conservative in locally!!

Because in the 18 years she has represented Rossendale and Darwen,we have had the local swimming baths closed,our local leisure hall is up for the chop and there are boarded up empty shops all throughout Rossendale (and have been for the last 7 or 8 years,well before the recession!).

She has no idea whatsoever about local issues,as she is from down south and doesn`t even live in the area! I can honestly say she hasn`t made any positive difference at all to the area and has never even tried to sort out local problems.

And don`t even get me started about her wrongful expenses claims.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/5078358/Labour-MPs-twice-round-the-globe-mileage-claim.html

[only2garners]

Conservatives have a huge majority in England in seats and votes, its the tactical voting in Scotland and Wales that has stopped a Con Majority UK wide.

Of course it is - it is so unfair that a party supported by just over 1 in 3 voters and about 1 in 5 of the electorate can't just do what they want.