Democracy?

[mgbcooky]

8 seats per 1% of vote for conservatives and labour,2 seats per 1% of vote for lib dems. If that happened in Africa we'd be calling it a banana republic....

[DTE]

We dont have democracy ath e moment. Conservatives will betray the people, we should have reform so that we live in democisy.

[ryoden]

We dont have democracy ath e moment. Conservatives will betray the people, we should have reform so that we live in democisy.

What sort of reform would you like? Proportional representation?

[stevectaylor]

My idea, the one who gets the most seats governs, even if it is just 1. They govern until the seats are equal or worse.....

[uncon]

My idea, the one who gets the most seats governs, even if it is just 1. They govern until the seats are equal or worse.....

so you could have one person win a seat on 8 times less votes than another?

Is first past the post such a great idea?

[stevectaylor]

In theory yes as I am not sure how proportional will work when you vote your local to represent you in the chamber.

[Streetwalker]

In theory yes as I am not sure how proportional will work when you vote your local to represent you in the chamber.

My local MP is of another party to the one I vote for and therefore dose not represent me in anyway.
My council is run by much the same as is My Government.

May as well give proportional rep a go then

[Major Sinic]

8 seats per 1% of vote for conservatives and labour,2 seats per 1% of vote for lib dems. If that happened in Africa we'd be calling it a banana republic....

If people were locked out of polling stations and polling stations ran out of ballot papers, in Africa it would be a banana republic.

[Alister Poole]

We are a banana republic !! Conservatives have NO mndate to govern in Scotland. Devolution was supposed to stop Scotland being governed at Westminster by a party totally rejected by the Scottish people - ie the Tories and yet here we are again - bring on Independence

[Streetwalker]

We are a banana republic !! Conservatives have NO mndate to govern in Scotland. Devolution was supposed to stop Scotland being governed at Westminster by a party totally rejected by the Scottish people - ie the Tories and yet here we are again - bring on Independence

O I quite agree ,England is governed by a party totally rejected by the English people as well.It is only the labour votes from Scotland that prop them up. Independance for Scotland would be great,then we could deport Brown and his cohorts back to where they belong.The man Brown has never won an election of any disscription (including even between his own party) in his life in England. Yet we face the prospect of the clown being in charge of our country for over 10 years. (im waffling now).
Some form of democracy this is

[Tete123]

We are a banana republic !! Conservatives have NO mndate to govern in Scotland. Devolution was supposed to stop Scotland being governed at Westminster by a party totally rejected by the Scottish people - ie the Tories and yet here we are again - bring on Independence

Have your independence then but remember when you are an independent nation you must pay for your own schools and health - no more 'FREE' uni or prescriptions when the English stop propping up the Scot economy with State funds!

[Tete123]

If people were locked out of polling stations and polling stations ran out of ballot papers, in Africa it would be a banana republic.

Those 'locked' out of polling stations had 15 hours to vote. I expect a late surge in voter activity caught out the respective stations and therefore those who turned up at 9pm+ and were unable to vote deserved it; also, the Returning Officers were quite right to close the doors at 10pm in line with the law.

[hhhhancock]

Democracy? You must be kidding. We put an X in a box every 4 or 5 years supposedly based on a parties manifesto which they almost always fail to adhere to. We do not live in a democracy, perhaps an elective dictatorship, but certainly not a democracy.

[Major Sinic]

We are a banana republic !! Conservatives have NO mndate to govern in Scotland. Devolution was supposed to stop Scotland being governed at Westminster by a party totally rejected by the Scottish people - ie the Tories and yet here we are again - bring on Independence

Although undoubtedly from opposite viewpoints, I fully agree with you. The Conservatives received a resounding mandate to govern England, but Scotland's voting patterns skewed the result. The sooner the Union is dismantled and Scotland gets full independence the better. Unfortunately most Scots don't seem to agree, no doubt because of all the subsidies flowing out of Westminster north to Scotland.

[Major Sinic]

Those 'locked' out of polling stations had 15 hours to vote. I expect a late surge in voter activity caught out the respective stations and therefore those who turned up at 9pm+ and were unable to vote deserved it; also, the Returning Officers were quite right to close the doors at 10pm in line with the law.

Many didn't arrive home from work until 7 or 8, and were queuing for anything up to an hour and a half. You don't mention your views on polling stations running out of ballot papers. Certain aspects of the polling mechanism were an absolute shambles and an international embarrassment.

[Tete123]

Many didn't arrive home from work until 7 or 8, and were queuing for anything up to an hour and a half. You don't mention your views on polling stations running out of ballot papers. Certain aspects of the polling mechanism were an absolute shambles and an international embarrassment.

In terms of the first point its simple 7am-10pm that's 15 hours and although I know it's difficult for some to make it to the polling station between those hours there are various options put into place - postal or proxy votes for example. As for the second point, I completely agree that it's unacceptable to run out of ballot papers, but I wouldn't go quite as far as saying we're an international embarrassment ~ these things happen in all elections across the world.

[mgbcooky]

If nothing else the fact that this election has forced the voting issue to be talked about by so many people is a really positive development

[ryoden]

We are a banana republic !! Conservatives have NO mndate to govern in Scotland. Devolution was supposed to stop Scotland being governed at Westminster by a party totally rejected by the Scottish people - ie the Tories and yet here we are again - bring on Independence

Damn right, Scotland should be independant. It would save us a lot of cash and we could do with it now.

[uncon]

In theory yes as I am not sure how proportional will work when you vote your local to represent you in the chamber.

To be honest it doesn't which is why the Jenkins report was in favour of AV.

I'm more concerned that we may have to train up certain people to learn to count in order to rate who they are voting for...an x they were used to...its how they sign their name!

[SaveTheUK]

We are a banana republic !! Conservatives have NO mndate to govern in Scotland. Devolution was supposed to stop Scotland being governed at Westminster by a party totally rejected by the Scottish people - ie the Tories and yet here we are again - bring on Independence

I disagree. If they have no mandate to govern Scotland they also have no mandate to govern Birmingham or Manchester, the UK is one country and whoever gets the most seats has a mandate to govern the whole country IMO.

[uncon]

That is based on the assumption that you want Scotland to be part of Britain. It would be financially chaotic to put it mildly not to be, but Alister would be very silly to suppose that Scotland can financially support itself

[SaveTheUK]

I think an independent Scotland could work as we'd keep more of the profits that currently go to Westminster, I just don't believe that the fact it could work should automatically mean we declare independence.

[uncon]

Problem is that you see more money coming in than goes out to Westminster, and you also have a good power base to demand more this period

[joethfc]

I generally think it would be better if there was more collaboration in westminster; everybody who is an MP was elected to do so by the people yet the country gets dictated to by one party's philosophies which clearly don't represent everybody's beliefs

This country will just keep going from left to right on regular intervals and where are we after all that

surely politics should be about a good compromise for everybody's views but we will have to see how this coalition pans out

[rinks]

Democracy is a political form of government carried out either directly by the people (direct democracy) or by means of elected representatives of the people, as if the people and the elected person were one, linear line of decisions. (representative democracy). The term comes from the Greek: δημοκρατία - (dēmokratía) "rule of the people",[1] which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos) "people" and κράτος (krátos) "power", in the middle of the fifth-fourth century BC to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens following a popular uprising in 508 BC.[2] Even though there is no specific, universally accepted definition of 'democracy',[3] there are two principles that some definitions of democracy include: equality and freedom.[4][dubious – discuss] These principles are reflected in all citizens being equal before the law and having equal access to power.[5] and the freedom of its citizens is secured by legitimized rights and liberties which are generally protected by a constitution.[6][7]