Thursday 3 May 2012

The Choice Is Simple - #neveragainKen

There are myriad reasons not to be all that happy with Boris, but they pale in comparison to the reasons to be fearful of the prospect of another dose of the disaster that is Ken, who even the Labour Party had to hold its nose to select as candidate, despite many members misgivings.

And one of the chief reasons is this:
Police officers are to be stationed at every polling station in Tower Hamlets after the Met launched an official investigation into allegations of electoral fraud.
Officers will man all 70 polling locations in the borough on Thursday alongside borough enforcement officers to prevent voter intimidation.
Did anyone ever expect to see this in their lifetime?
Police sources today admitted the measures were unusual.
They forgot to add ‘for this country’…
The Met said it would investigate claims the poll in the Banglatown and Spitalfields ward had been rigged — giving victory to Gulam Robbani, an independent candidate backed by the borough’s mayor Lutfur Rahman. He won by just 43 votes.
One-in-seven of the postal votes cast in the by-election was rejected.
It’s no comfort that this – like the recent upset in Bradford - is mainly affecting Labour, either.

It’s tempting to chuckle at their discomfiture, to give in to unseemly glee as they are hoist on a petard of their own making. But it would be wrong.

This isn’t an attack on Labour, it’s an attack on the way our country is run and on how our electoral system works. It’s an attempt to subvert ‘one person, one vote’ to the communalist and corrupt systems preferred in the Third World. It must not stand.

So I’ll be voting for Boris today, with UKIP as second preference.

18 comments:

Curmudgeon said...

Might your vote actually convey more of a message if it was the other way round - UKIP first, Boris second?

Mrs Erdleigh said...

If you want to send a message re UKIP, best to vote UKIP first and Boris second. However close the result Boris is bound to be in the top two after the first round.

As for Tower Hamlets, I'd like to think that the fraud will be properly investigated and dealt with, but I'm pessimistic. Still, it's a little more likely to happen now that Labour is the victim.

jaded said...

Vote early and often (Tower Hamlets only)

Anonymous said...

Tower Hamlets twinned with Harare

Captain Haddock said...

"Police officers are to be stationed at every polling station .. "

"Did anyone ever expect to see this in their lifetime? " ..


I seem to recall, that years ago it was the norm ..

Umbongo said...

I'm with Captain Haddock here: certainly in the 60s this was the norm. However, AFAIAA, it was a public relations exercise to demonstrate that "authority" regarded the polls and the process of polling as sacrosanct. I don't recall any reports of the policemen on such duty being involved in sorting out manifest corruption.
I suspect that the Tower Hamlets police presence is another PR exercise but not to reassure but to fool us into thinking that the manifest corruption in the process is somehow being "dealt with". It isn't, because the major source of corruption is in the proxy/postal part of the process although it wouldn't surprise me that "vote early, vote often" will figure untouched by the local coppers.

jaded said...

Technically speaking there has to be a policeman at every polling booth.The ruling fell by the wayside a few years ago and it is replaced (in my borough) by a van that travels round visiting each one at random.In my early days I do remember standing in a polling booth on election day.

Anonymous said...

Technically speaking, a Jaded stationed at each and every polling station, would be a feeble measure against the problem of electoral fraud and intimidation.

What may not be entirely obvious to plod numpties, technically speaking, is the fraud and intimidation which takes place behind closed doors and within extended families.

Umbongo said...

jaded

Are you saying that there is a law - or legal regulation - which states that there must be a PC outside every polling station? I'd be interested in a reference for that since if the regulation in question still applies (even "technically"), a travelling van doesn't constitute compliance.

Anonymous said...

@ Umbongo

Clarification of a legal point from WPC Jaded? Good luck with that.

jaded said...

Melvin I think you are being deliberately obtuse,which I assume is your normal angle. A PC at each polling station would not prevent postal fraud and I haven't suggested that.Who's the numpty?

Umbongo-I have tried to research the exact act but I can't find it.When I was posted to a polling station many years ago I was briefed that the returning officer could insist on being policed.However in practice they rarely ask as there is no point.Also think of the logistics of doing it as well.
I have also attended the town hall when the votes were being counted as a large contingent of BNP were there and trouble was expected.

jaded said...

MTG-stick with classical myths of swans shagging virgins,that's much more relevant.Who didn't learn about that at school? Oh yes-nobody-except you.

Anonymous said...

Having reached an age when it is apparent you will never master the one language, you could still grasp the significance of the double negative. It makes abiding nonsense of your comments, Jaded.

jaded said...

Boring and pompous as always.
Nonsense comments? I salute the king of nonsense comments on the internet.

blueknight said...

In some parts of Britain, postal voting is not appropriate. That is the sad truth..

Anonymous said...

Sorry...could you repeat that please, blueknight?

JuliaM said...

"Might your vote actually convey more of a message if it was the other way round - UKIP first, Boris second?"

I did think that. But I'm not sure anyone really studies the breakdown after they hear they've won, do they?

" Still, it's a little more likely to happen now that Labour is the victim."

Quite!

"I'm with Captain Haddock here: certainly in the 60s this was the norm. "

I haven't been voting that long! ;)

"I suspect that the Tower Hamlets police presence is another PR exercise.."

Well, they might have thought so, but it turned out they were needed!

JuliaM said...

"When I was posted to a polling station many years ago I was briefed that the returning officer could insist on being policed.However in practice they rarely ask as there is no point."

That may change now, in some wards!

"In some parts of Britain, postal voting is not appropriate."

Indeed!