Everyone loses
In the recent election in the UK, everyone lost. The Labor Party under Gordon Brown certainly lost because they lost 91 seats, one of the largest losses in history, and hence can no longer claim to have a mandate to govern. The Liberal Democrats (LibDems) lost, because they were predicted by the polls to receive a far larger proportion of the votes and seats in the House of Commons than usual, up to 100 seats were predicted, but in fact they actually lost a few seats and ended up with 57 seats. The Conservatives won the election by being the largest party with more seats than any other at 306, but they failed to secure a majority (that is 326). So to rule, Conservative leader David Cameron has offered LibDem leader Nick Clegg to form a joint Government, either with an arrangement or a Coalition. This is very unusual in British politics where either one of the two largest parties have usually obtained a majority and ruled.
Nick Clegg now has a major decision to make. Either he agrees to form a coalition with Cameron, or he goes into the political wilderness again and leaves Camercon to try to form a minority government. If this happens Clegg will be blamed for leaving the country in the lurch with a hung Parliament. However, if he does form a coalition with Cameron this will be very unusual, since the LibDems have usually cooperated with Labour, with whom they have a closer political affiliation. Also, many of the LibDem supporters will regard such a move as a historic surrender of principles, especially given how Clegg attacked the Tories during the campaign. Most people seem to feel however that Clegg has little choice and he must do this for the betterment of his policies, his party and his political future. Of course, Nick Clegg could elect to form a coalition with Labour, but that would not give enough votes to form a majority and is considered extremely unlikely, especially since he excluded any cooperation with Gordon Brown continuing as PM
There are some unexpected outcomes of this election. If the LibDems form a coalition with the Conservatives, then there will be LibDem Ministers around the Cabinet Table (if they only form a cooperative arrangment then they would just vote together). This might result in NIck Clegg himself or one of his colleagues becoming Foreign Minister, and he has made no secret of his overt support for the Palestinians. He has called publicly for Israel to remove the blockade of Gaza (I wonder if he has also criticized Egypt for its blockade of Gaza) and this could be something of a disaster for Israel.
Another good outcome is that George Galloway's Respect Party lost. He has been a constant pro-Islamic irritant in British politics. The UK Independence Party that opposes British memberhship in the EU also lost, as did the extreme right British National Party (they got only 1.9% of the total national vote). For the first time the Green Party did win one seat. The Scottish National Party won 6 seats, the Welsh National Party (Plaid Cymru) won 3 seats and three Irish parties won 13 seats between them. These small national parties might support Labor, but they cannot always be relied upon.
Another unusal outcome of this election is that there were for the first time many hundreds of people who did not get to vote because of the slow processing of voters. It is a mystery why an advanced country like Britain still uses paper and pencils for voting, there are no computers in sight. So this will require some major changes in order to avoid in the future such scenes of people being turned away from polling stations at 10 pm. Another major issue is that the voting system is unfair. For example, the LibDems scored 23% of the vote yet have received only 57 seats, when accoding to the proportional representatation system they should have received 23% of 650 seats or 150 seats. They regard this as eminently unfair and so one of their conditions for joining a coalition is that electoral reform to a more representative system than the British system of "first past the post" must be implemented. Not surprisingly, the Conservatives do not want to change the system that has stood them in good stead for many years. The irony is that in Israel where we have a purely proportional representation system, there is also pressure for electoral reform in the opposite direction. Maybe the ideal is somewhere in between the two extremes.
Nick Clegg now has a major decision to make. Either he agrees to form a coalition with Cameron, or he goes into the political wilderness again and leaves Camercon to try to form a minority government. If this happens Clegg will be blamed for leaving the country in the lurch with a hung Parliament. However, if he does form a coalition with Cameron this will be very unusual, since the LibDems have usually cooperated with Labour, with whom they have a closer political affiliation. Also, many of the LibDem supporters will regard such a move as a historic surrender of principles, especially given how Clegg attacked the Tories during the campaign. Most people seem to feel however that Clegg has little choice and he must do this for the betterment of his policies, his party and his political future. Of course, Nick Clegg could elect to form a coalition with Labour, but that would not give enough votes to form a majority and is considered extremely unlikely, especially since he excluded any cooperation with Gordon Brown continuing as PM
There are some unexpected outcomes of this election. If the LibDems form a coalition with the Conservatives, then there will be LibDem Ministers around the Cabinet Table (if they only form a cooperative arrangment then they would just vote together). This might result in NIck Clegg himself or one of his colleagues becoming Foreign Minister, and he has made no secret of his overt support for the Palestinians. He has called publicly for Israel to remove the blockade of Gaza (I wonder if he has also criticized Egypt for its blockade of Gaza) and this could be something of a disaster for Israel.
Another good outcome is that George Galloway's Respect Party lost. He has been a constant pro-Islamic irritant in British politics. The UK Independence Party that opposes British memberhship in the EU also lost, as did the extreme right British National Party (they got only 1.9% of the total national vote). For the first time the Green Party did win one seat. The Scottish National Party won 6 seats, the Welsh National Party (Plaid Cymru) won 3 seats and three Irish parties won 13 seats between them. These small national parties might support Labor, but they cannot always be relied upon.
Another unusal outcome of this election is that there were for the first time many hundreds of people who did not get to vote because of the slow processing of voters. It is a mystery why an advanced country like Britain still uses paper and pencils for voting, there are no computers in sight. So this will require some major changes in order to avoid in the future such scenes of people being turned away from polling stations at 10 pm. Another major issue is that the voting system is unfair. For example, the LibDems scored 23% of the vote yet have received only 57 seats, when accoding to the proportional representatation system they should have received 23% of 650 seats or 150 seats. They regard this as eminently unfair and so one of their conditions for joining a coalition is that electoral reform to a more representative system than the British system of "first past the post" must be implemented. Not surprisingly, the Conservatives do not want to change the system that has stood them in good stead for many years. The irony is that in Israel where we have a purely proportional representation system, there is also pressure for electoral reform in the opposite direction. Maybe the ideal is somewhere in between the two extremes.
posted by Jack Cohen at 5:54 PM
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