Thursday 5th May
Here we are again: Canvassing completed. Leaflet deliveries undertaken. Flag-boards up. Rosettes dusted off. Yes, election day has cometh.
Locally, I sense that the Conservative Party is on pretty safe ground. The canvassing that Natalie, Rebecca & I have undertaken seems to suggest so, with even some past Liberal voters either pledging Tory support or suggesting that they may not actually go out to vote this time. At least in Lightwater.
Notwithstanding the massive poll drop in Liberal support nationwide, I also think that the local Labour & Liberal Party machines have made a mistake in not coming to some sort of agreement regards the location of their respective candidates. By both parties standing their candidates in Tory marginal wards, the effect will be to split the anti-Tory vote & thereby actually return Conservative candidates in those wards. Bagshot, Frimley Green & Mytchett may very well be blue by tomorrow afternoon, with the Conservative Party maintaining and in fact increasing it's majority at the Town Hall.
It will be interesting to watch the new Councillors make their respective marks thereafter.
The only negative spectre I can forsee is that of a low turnout. Local elections generally receive the least public interest in terms of voters heading out to the polling stations, with the result that little over of a quarter of the electorate actually vote. I find this to be a great shame, for even though the Borough & Parish responsibilities are fairly limited, one can truly influence the decisions these bodies make by way of electing one's local member.
And as for AV? Well, see below.
For me its either 'First Past the Post' or 'Full Proportional Representation'.
Not this AV hybrid.
And not a system that saw Ed Miliband elected as the Labour Leader.
See you at the Polling Station!
PS -
Natalie MacLeod & Rebecca Jennings-Evans are the Conservative Parish candidates for Lightwater West.
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