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Rubaiyats of Lote-Tree

Hanging Parliament!

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by
Lote-Tree
, 04-21-2010 at 08:29 AM (1965 Views)
There is a General Election in the UK.

May 6th.

Voters here have become cynical due to recent expenses scandal of the MPs, the Banking Crisis, the Recession and the wars that the current goverment took us in.

Usually the race is between Conservative Party (equivalent would be The Republican Party in US and the Labour Party (equivalent to the Democrats in the US).

There is always a Third Party in the contention. And they are the Liberal Democrats. I don't know what would be the equivalent for this party in the US. But usually they are not taken seriously by voters here - not because they have bad policies - but because they will never have the chance to win in an election due to the First Past the Post voting system.

Anyway something remarkable has happened. First time in British Parliamentary Democracy the leaders of the main parties were put in a televised debate, like the way they do in the US (can't escape the Americanism! :-)). And the Liberal Democrats scored a hit with the Opinon Polls!

As a result of this there is now possibly a three way contest in the election with all three parties gaining around 30% of the vote each.

And that means there is more likely to be a Hung Parliament!

What does that mean? That means no party has overall majority. And only way to form a government is to go in coalition with other parties.

That will teach'em!

Hang the Parliament!
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Comments

  1. TheFifthElement's Avatar
    Yes, roll on the hung Parliament. Amen to that.

    And then perhaps they could stop all this ridiculous tribal posturing and get on with the job of running the country in a manner which is in the best interests of its people.

    And then perhaps someone will have the bright idea of abolishing the political parties entirely, and we might even get close to a democracy, in which the policies of government are set by the electorate and not the rich benefactors of the political parties and the shadowy figure of the Chief Whip.

    One day.

    Did you watch the televised debate Lote? I didn't, I watched QI instead.

    ALAN DAVIES FOR PRIME MINISTER
  2. Lote-Tree's Avatar
    I watched the highlights.

    I am not really a political animal...but liked to be informed...
  3. Paulclem's Avatar
    Are you going to watch the debate tonight? It'll be interesting to see if Nick Clegg can maintain the momentum.
  4. Lote-Tree's Avatar
    I will try to watch it...will you?
  5. TheFifthElement's Avatar
    Isn't it being broadcast on Sky?
  6. Lote-Tree's Avatar
    It will be shown on BBC too around 8.0 pm...
  7. Paulclem's Avatar
    Yes we'll be watching. We were surprised at how well Clegg did, and how poorly Cameron showed. I think everyone expected brown to crash and burn, but he held up against expectations.

    It'll be interesting to see how they have tweaked their performances and what strategies they employed. I bet Cameron tries to smile more this time.
  8. OrphanPip's Avatar
    Couldn't you guys just have a minority government instead of a coalition? We've had that for the last 4 years in Canada, as our parliament is split four ways and no one can get along enough to form a coalition.

    Unless the British Parliamentary system has become radically different than Canada's, if no one forms a coalition the party with the most seats could still form the government.
  9. Paulclem's Avatar
    All the laws would be blocked, there would have to be a lot of negotiation for each item of contention. In this time it's not viewed as good to have a weak gov - that's not my own view. I think a hung might just shake up the system a bit and stop the two party domination.

    The press seems to have a lot of sway here. Mosst annoying, but they do have an inordinate amount of influence.
  10. OrphanPip's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Paulclem
    All the laws would be blocked, there would have to be a lot of negotiation for each item of contention. In this time it's not viewed as good to have a weak gov - that's not my own view. I think a hung might just shake up the system a bit and stop the two party domination.

    The press seems to have a lot of sway here. Mosst annoying, but they do have an inordinate amount of influence.
    The Tories here use the threat of election as a way to get the opposition parties to vote with them, because after 3 elections in 6 years without producing a majority government people are just sick of paying for elections.