Mayoral reactions : Election shocker – People care!

I couldn’t resist picking up on a few of the reactions to the Mayoral election results. It’s refreshing to see this democratic exercise has actually made people feel passionately about politics!

Here are some of my favourites:

• A Henley-on-Thames view can be read here. Ending on the comment: “Whether (in spite of his goodwill and determination) Boris will really be enough to reduce the number of young black men being shot in London remains to be seen.”
• ‘Have we elected the snorkmaiden?’ Find out here as JonNagl points out – ‘he’s the kind of candidate Nathan Barley would vote for isn’t he?’
• A Lib Dem standpoint from James Graham of quaequam blog can be read in the Guardian’s Comment is Free
• David Thompson’s round up of comments worth a look, including an interesting quote from Vivienne  Westwood saying the results “expose democracy as a sham. Especially if people don’t vote for Ken.” Which does seem to indicate a delightful misunderstanding of the entire democratic system.
• An alternative, green viewpoint from philobiblon
• ‘What a disgrace!’ – an angry reaction against Boris’ racist comments from Charcol Ink
• ‘Bertie Wooster elected!’ runs the headline on John Naughton’s blog. He also makes the point that ”Labour has been in power so long that it’s become boring. The man on the Clapham omnibus thinks it’s time for a change. It’s nothing to do with a belief that Cameron & Co are wonderful, or even competent.”
• A totally different mini-insight into the election observers – backroom bods behind the headlines.
• A brief thank you to Ken from Miranda Grell.
• News Post India’s view on Boris’ win, the successes of the BNP and the acheivements of Ken

 

London mayoral turnout – up up and away!

Ken is probably feeling glum this morning and wondering what he’s going to do on Tuesday instead of donning the chains of office. Perhaps a spot of gardening….

Boris is probably nursing his hangover this morning and wondering what he’s going to do on Tuesday when he actually has to go to …. work ;)

Meanwhile, London Elects are in all likelihood rejoicing at the part their high profile awareness campaign played in ensuring voters were registered and able to turn out at the polling booth.

Although the historic Tory victory is naturally the main story of the day as far as most are concerned. For me, the excitment and engagement of the public in traditional politics as reflected by the unprecedented turnout of 45% is just as interesting.

Hopefully, a sign of things to come … whoever wins the next General Election.

At last, there’s a real contest afoot!

Best of a bad bunch ;)

Unsure which London Mayoral genius to vote for?

Check out what the folks over at Unlock Democracy have come up with… a rather nifty interactive tool to help you uncover which mayoral candidate’s policies best match your own priorities. Excellent stuff….clear interface and tangible, useful outputs. Just how I like my eDemocracy in the mornings… mmmmhm.

PS. This is what they have to say about it:

What is Vote Match?

Unlock Democracy has teamed up with the Netherlands-based Instituut voor Publiek en Politiek (IPP) to launch Vote Match UK (http://www.votematch.co.uk/). Our first project will be based around the 2008 London Mayoral and Assembly election

Vote Match is a short quiz that voters can fill in to match their views with the views of the election candidates. In the interests of minimising any unintended biases, the tool is intended to be as transparent as possible:

• Candidates and parties will be asked to provide their own answers based on their own published policy.
• Users can include and/or exclude parties and candidates from the survey as they see fit and add extra weight to those issues which they consider to be important.
• The website does not simply give you an answer – it shows you how the results are calculated.

Vote Match is not about telling people how to vote and we do not support any political party. Rather, it is about encouraging voters to consider which issues are important and informing them about where the parties and candidates stand.It ha sbeen shown that in every country Vote Match has become an important part of the political landscape (Such as the Netherlandsand Germany) turn out has increased after people used Vote Match. In fact in the Netherlands over 35% of the Electorate use the tool during general elections witha 15% higher turnout amongst those who used the tool then those who didnt.  

Vote Match 08 website: http://www.votematch.co.uk/about/.