Someone wrote in response to the previous entry on this blog “Nice blog entry - a bit circuitous but vaut le voyage as they say in the Michelin guide (apparently)”. Well, stick with me because this voyage is also a bit circuitous…
One of the most interesting things about the London mayoralty election, other than the election of a larger-than-life upper-class racist homophobic liar, was the increased turnout, by comparison with other local elections in the UK. This is put down in part to the focus on two famous characters, but may also have something to do with the fact that that -- unlike other local elections in England -- the system of voting is not one based on "first past the post". Instead (as most will know, but a few won't, so please forgive me) the alternative vote system meant that if no candidate got more than 50% of the votes on the basis of first choices, then second choices for the bottom candidate were redistributed, until someone (in this case, the l-t-l,u-c, r.h.l.) got a majority. There’s a theological debate about whether this is proportional representation or not, but it does mean that your votes count even if your first choice candidate isn’t elected.
The problem with FPTP is that most people vote the same way in most elections, voting being to a large extent a tribal thing - “We’ve always been Labour here…”. Accordingly, most constituencies are ‘safe’ for one party or the other and for most people there doesn't seem much point in turning out on a cold wet Thursday night. The relatively small number of people classified as "the swing vote" tend to be those who spurn the real rubbishy tabloids and read what they regard as a ‘proper’ newspaper -- often the Daily Mail. And to a significant degree, the Mail is about prejudice -- prejudice against anyone who isn't like its interpretation of "us", be they poor, black, homosexual, foreign etc etc. Thus it is that if you want to win FTPT elections in England, you have to pander to an agenda based on prejudice and hate. Which is why foundations interested in social justice should also be interested in electoral systems.
The day after the third Thatcher victory, my old employers, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, happened to be meeting and tearing their collective hair out over yet another kick in the teeth (Ed: isn't that a mixed metaphor? SB: don’t be an old pedant) for those who were poor and or otherwise socially excluded. One of our trustees, now retired, Grigor McClelland, proposed that the Trust should embark on what became a programme of funding to address what the trustees all saw as a democratic deficit. And while the JRCT couldn't and, I guess, wouldn't claim credit for all the constitutional reform which followed once the Labour government came to power in 1997 -- including systems of (possibly) proportional representation for elections in the UK other than local elections in England and Parliamentary elections -- the work that people did with Trust funding surely contributed to changing the climate, and establishing a dynamic of reform. Of course, as a charity we were limited legally by what we could support -- but to use that as an excuse for doing nothing would have been an unnecessary copout.
The turnout in London last week may have produced a result which many of us intensely dislike, but FPTP would have given Boris an even larger majority. In the long run, greater social justice demands that those who suffer injustice see it as being in their interest to vote for the political party most likely to improve their circumstances. And in a first past the post system, for much of the time there really isn't much reason for most people to vote. FPTP also creates disincentives for governments to address social injustice. Ipso facto - because this blog wears its minimal learning on its sleeve - when foundations work within charity law limits to support work to change the way we conduct our elections, they are working to promote social justice.
There! Nous sommes arrivés. Hope you enjoyed the journey. I certainly feel better.
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