Communicator (communicator) wrote,
Communicator
communicator

June voting strategy

An excellent comment piece by always-good Gary Younge in the Guardian today. It speaks to those like me who have great loyalty to the Labour Party, but have strong anti-war beliefs, and a left-wing agenda.

Younge argues that we should vote for the Respect coalition in the forthcoming Euro-elections. He gives many good reasons for this in the article, which I am inclined to agree with:

This is not a solution but a strategy... Given the likelihood of replacing Labour with a more progressive force is unlikely, the solution is to replace Blair. Who comes in his place is less important that why Blair goes out. If the pressure to remove him comes from the left, that is where Blair's successor will have to look for support.

The disadvantages for not voting Labour in June will be negligible and the advantages could be considerable. The European parliament has extremely limited power, so the legislative repercussions will be minimal. The election is under proportional representation, not first past the post, so No for another party will not, in and of itself, let the Tories or the British National Party in.

Meanwhile, the upsides are relatively clear. First, simply by showing up and voting for someone else, rather than staying home and sulking, it will make it harder for both the Tories and the BNP to get the requisite number of votes...

But primarily it sends an unambiguous and timely message... that a drastic change in course is needed.
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