European Parliament Elections 2014: Where the hell were the 66%?

‘Majority’ of 34.19% of the British population send UKIP to Brussels: spot the oxymoron, writes Livvy Hooper.

Less than 35% of the UK’s 63 million strong population – around 46 million of which can – bothered to vote in the European Parliament Election on Thursday; despite this, pundits on BBCs Vote 2014 coverage through the night were declaring UKIP’s gains as an indication of “a clear majority for independence” and focussed on how the votes of that 35% had changed hands. I’m not going to go into the ramifications of UKIP’s gains – I’ll save that for another time – but will instead focus on the really worrying part; the turnout.

 

Firstly, what does this mean for the looming 2015 General Election? Well, the best case scenario is that everyone who wanted UKIP in any position of power already went out and voted, and so were in that 34.19%: around 4.3 million people voted for UKIP in this European Parliament Election, which is (very) roughly less than 10% of the population, so the hope would therefore be that that 10% of the UK can be seen as UKIP’s only hope. But then there is the talk of a Conservative/UKIP pact, which could transpire as an arrangement in areas where there are candidates from both parties, one of them steps back. In other words, a wholly abhorrent and entirely anti-democratic structure between two parties already showing complete disdain for the electorate. Should we be surprised? Probably not, but we certainly shouldn’t stand back and do nothing.

All the talk on the Vote 2014 show was of how parties can claw back votes from the parties that have ‘taken’ them without even the briefest of mentions of the majority of the public who did not turn out on voting day. Instead of “what can X party do to get those Y number of votes back from Z party” we should be hearing – and feeling – something more along the lines of “what can we do to get those 40+ million eligible voters to vote for us”.

 

If you went out and voted on Thursday, I thank you. Yes, even if you voted for UKIP, or the BNP – because at least you voted. I may well find your views on women, homosexuals, ethnic minorities, the poor, the disabled, etc., wholly abhorrent (and I am not alone in that) but I cannot argue with your right to vote, and at least you bothered to get out and exercise it.

If you didn’t; where the fuck were you? Over 30 million people who could vote (that’s around half of the population, just for perspective) didn’t bother to vote. Why? Non-voters are often characterised as either lazy, confused, or apathetic, and there are remedies for all of these voter ailments. And yes, I think the system itself needs an overhaul in order to make voting easier; I’m against compulsory voting as that has a pretty bad track record, but it needs to be easier for people to vote. Polling booths open for 2 days, or simply not on a weekday; booths in supermarkets or other easily and often accessible locations: booths in hospitals for those physically unable to make it to the polling stations! – I’m not an expert, but when people have only got one day to vote on which they work, its easy to make excuses.

But that’s just what they are; excuses. People died to vote, quite literally – and before anyone accuses me of getting on a certain route of the travelling feminist bandwagon, I’m not just referring to women’s suffrage – people all over the world evennow are fighting for democracy: we have it, so use it! Okay so it isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s the only democracy we’ve got and – until we actually all pull our heads out of our arses – the democracy we deserve. When the General Election comes around in 2015, dragging its limp, party-politicking arse across the campaign trail and leaving a smear of hot, stinking, insincere rhetoric across the front pages, I urge every single one of you to take to the polling booth and pick up a pencil. Exercise your right, and tell them what you really think.

There are options aside from a Russell Brand-style bearded drain-pipe revolution through abstention that we should look at, because I believe that a) the right to vote is a hard fought one that should never be squandered and b) it simply doesn’t work: can the majority of the British voting public claim that their absence from the booths on Thursday 22nd May was a form of revolution? Are the actual mathematic majority of the British public happy that more UKIP MEPs will be marching off to Brussels to represent us? I doubt it. The only way to voice your dissatisfaction with the status quo is to vote for it, not to stay at home and cry lazy revolution after the fact.

 

I know that for many, part of the problem is a lack of party that does anything for them and in whom they feel they can invest that hard-fought electoral cross, and while that is a very real and pressing problem I cannot help but feel that for the majority of voters the right party for you is out there; you just have to look past the big three. While the 2010 hung parliament hasn’t exactly worked out too well for everyone (read: anyone who isn’t a white, rich, male) I stand by my belief that it does send a signal to those that want the power we can give them that they have to work a lot harder for it. In 2015, your voting for whichever party does it for you – be it Green, Pink, Black, or Rainbow – will top that message up. In 2010 the majority of the British electorate (and at 61.5% it can actually claim to be a majority, if by a slim margin) did not vote for a Conservative government, so they had to call in reinforcements. We all know what happened next, and while some might yearn for the days of a clear top dog in office in the name of simplicity and less in-government fighting (ha!), I find myself believing that only by a sustained overt display of voter dissatisfaction with the big three, by placing our votes in less power-corrupted hands, can we the public even start to show the government the error of their ways.

And if still none of the parties do it for you? Get down to polling station, ensconce yourself in that voting booth, and spoil that ballot paper. Spoil it good and proper with an undeniable NONE OF THE ABOVE right across it. Don’t waste time voting for a party you think “isn’t that bad” or “will never get in but they use a nice shade of purple” because that’s how accidents happen. In 2005 a mere 188,000 spoilt ballots were counted – and they do get noticed. Imagine if everyone went out to the booths and used those slips of paper for what they wanted to say, be it “YOU’RE ALL RUBBISH”, “VOTE JEDI” or “NONE OF THE ABOVE” – someone’s going to see that, and they’ll have to take note.

 

Maybe I’m being naive, but there has to be some form of democratic revolution other than sitting at home and letting the louder (read: ruder) members of the electorate decided everything for everyone else.

In the last General Election, we the voting public showed the politicians there was no one party that we wanted to lead us, and they have not made any changes to convince us otherwise. We may well be headed for another hung parliament in 2015, and if that’s the case, make it count; split that board up good and proper. Cast your vote of no confidence with a NONE OF THE ABOVE, or vote for a smaller party – if you and how many others think they won’t get in but vote anyway, you’d be surprised what that can do – just please, for the love of all that makes our country worthwhile, get off your sofa and vote; make it count. 

Find more from Livvy at: thesegoodghosts.tumblr.com