Irshadgul News report,
Local council elections took place a few weeks ago, where everyone has the opportunity to wear something blue or red… or maybe yellow or green, if you’re feeling particularly brave.
It feels like a mini World Cup tournament, dressing in the colors of your chosen team, waving flags and supporting your chosen people, in which people get over-excited and do stupid things they’ll soon regret.
But unlike a football tournament, it’s extremely dull and after only a few days, no one really remembers the final score line.
Looking back, it appears that this time the Red Team came out victorious. Using our football analogy, it really looks like a match between two teams. Those living in Scotland will fully understand, in fact only Celtic or Glasgow Rangers have won every major trophy since 1901. Or those who follow the Thames Boat Race!
So the Conservative blues were thumped by Labor reds. This eventually had to happen, with only two teams competing. For many years the winning team will eventually become complacent, or frustrate everyone it serves, before the other team is finally promoted to seek glory.
It is about time that the voting slip was given a third option. An option that effectively states ‘I don’t want to vote for any of these’.
The problem with current voting protocols is that disgruntled voters are advised to vote for someone other than red or blue. Which ends up with the green or yellow party getting some extra votes, but blue or red still winning the district.
Many people don’t vote if you’re really unhappy with the two main choices or use your vote on one of the minor choices. But when the numbers are checked, the low turnout is only used to indicate that too many voters have turned into couch potatoes who have to expose their bodies to the voting booth in order to tick a pencil in a small box. Shouldn’t even bother to scrape.
Either way, your protest doesn’t really register anywhere and red and blue go on completely oblivious to how bad they really are – and that people only vote for those who are the ‘least bad option’. ‘ Were.
So, it is time we give voters a chance to show how unhappy they are. If the third option won more votes than either red or blue, it may finally be the wake-up call that is needed. It would be a clear message that neither Red nor Blue has the confidence of voters and it is time for some drastic changes.
Unfortunately, it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever get a third option on our voting forms, as it would require a change instigated by either the blue or red team. Which is like asking Oxford or Cambridge if they want to add a ‘qualifying round’ to a regatta. Which leaves us paddling in a boat that is unfit to race, as we watch both teams disappear further down the river!