The Election

[carmen_lj]

I like how we still don't know who the next government is going to be. Is it wrong to hope for Prime Minster Balls just for Cheap Laughs? (Actually though, I would probably vote Labour in a General Election if Harman was in charge.)

Very glad I didn't vote Lib Dem though cause a vote for them would Really Very Much Not have meant a vote to prop up a Tory government. I like how the third and fourth least popular (the SNP, despite winning less seats than the Lib Dems were second in the popular vote) parties in Scotland are going to be in charge probably. Thank you Middle England! I'm not even being entirely sarcastic: the lack of a Scottish mandate for any Tory government will, I suspect, increase nationalist sentiment and should help secure the SNP a second term in Holyrood.

Mostly it's not as bad as I thought it'd be: I was perfectly terrified of a Tory majority but even with the Major Fuck-Ups of Labour in the past few years plus the ridiculous expenses scandal (which I couldn't care less about unless they've actually done something illegal, and think they should be paid a lot more anyway) the Tories are still almost entirely out of Scotland and couldn't win enough support from the rest of the country to secure a majority, so hurrah for that.

Also, many hurrahs for Brighton Pavilion and Barking and Caroline Lucas and Margaret Hodge. It wasn't exactly the funnest election night ever, but those were two most cheering results.

I want voting reform. It really is appalling looking at the results and seeing just how incredibly inequitable the system is. The Tory's won 10.7 million votes and got 306 seats, Labour 8.6 million and 258 seats, while the Lib Dem's won 6.8 million and only got 57. It's a horrid 18th century relic of a system and I want it to go away almost as much as the phrases "public interest" and "stable and secure government."

Comments

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

The Guardian's front page informs me that Balls is set to make a leadership bid and that Boulton loses his rag as Clegg coos at Labour. Yes, I am a giggling third-grader right now, thank you.

"The Tory's won 10.7 million votes and got 306 seats, Labour 8.6 million and 258 seats, while the Lib Dem's won 6.8 million and only got 57."

So is this what they mean when they talk about a "first past the post" system, as opposed to proportional representation?

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Yes. Under the current system each seat goes to the person who gets most votes in that seat, which leads to parties whose support is less geographically concentrated being less represented than they would in a proportional system (and also means that any gerrymandering has really, really bad results).

[calapine.livejournal.com]

So is this what they mean when they talk about a "first past the post" system, as opposed to proportional representation?

It's even more fun when your party gets the most votes but not the most MPs.