So the results are in fro the UK General Election 2010 and no party has a clear majority. Not only that but the two parties which are generally considered to be left leaning, Labour and Liberal Democrat, cannot combine to form a majority. The pie chart below shows the problems. The number of seats are split straight down the middle with LIB/LAB on one side and CON on the other. In the middle are a handful of tiny parties.
UK Election Results 2010
However, what is even more interesting, is to see that the people who are eligible to vote but did not vote are the real majority. These are people could easily have swung the election one way or the other if they’d got off their arses. – Hey ho.
Apathetic
| Party | Seats | Votes |
| Conservative | 306 | 10,706,647 |
| Labour | 258 | 8,604,358 |
| Liberal Democrat | 57 | 6,827,938 |
| Democratic Unionist Party | 8 | 168,216 |
| Scottish National Party | 6 | 491,386 |
| Sinn Fein | 5 | 171,942 |
| Plaid Cymru | 3 | 165,394 |
| Social Democratic & Labour Party | 3 | 110,970 |
| Green | 1 | 285,616 |
| Alliance Party | 1 | 42,762 |
| UK Independence Party | 0 | 917,832 |
| British National Party | 0 | 563,743 |
| Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force | 0 | 102,361 |
| English Democrats | 0 | 64,826 |
| Respect-Unity Coalition | 0 | 33,251 |
| Traditional Unionist Voice | 0 | 26,300 |
| Christian Party | 0 | 18,623 |
| Independent Community and Health Concern | 0 | 16,150 |
| Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition | 0 | 12,275 |
| Scottish Socialist Party | 0 | 3,157 |
| Others | 1 | 319,891 |
| Eligible to vote but did not | 0 | 16,346,362 |
| Turnout | 29,653,638 | |
| Total eligible to vote | 46,000,000 | |
Data thanks to the BBC and Politics.co.uk
Currently the UK uses the First-past-the-post voting system for electing members to the House of Commons. Labour have expressed interest in moving toward a Single Transferable Vote system and the Liberal Democrats want Proportional Representation. Please vote and state which system you would prefer.
Art Photography
I object to non voters being labelled apathetic—-there are many reasons people dont vote: the systems disenfranchises many people in safe seats, who know their vote will never make a difference.
Another large group of people who dont vote are migrants from the UK, living in other countries: many feel that they arent up enough on the politics to vote—-in fact those who do vote arent really helping.
The voting lists arent that accurate: they are only up dated once a year, and include the terminally ill and transient workers (construction and hotels etc.). I’ve actually worked on making these lists and you get a bonus for each person you find—- the numbers arent under reported: put it that way.
I can fully understand how 3 parties with a similar agenda dont represent anyone.