But that's not really what this post is about - no, its about the General Election being held today in the UK. And the rather odd fact that I get to vote in it.
Yes, that's right, I get to cast a vote. My flatmate, who is American, has been in the UK for 6 years or more and is here on a permanent work visa is not able to vote. Me, who is here on a 2-year visa and have been in the country for 5 months, is allowed to vote. Why? because I'm from a Commonwealth country, is basically the crux of the matter - Mother Britain extends the privelage of voting to those from the Colonies should they be living in the UK at the time. I have a moral quandry with this, for I personally don't believe I should be entitled to vote in a country that I do not have some kind of permanent ability to stay in or a passport for - I'm a foreign national visiting the country for a while with no clear ability to stay on, and I wouldn't like it if people visiting NZ on the same terms were able to have their say in an election - I almost feel like you get to have a say in defining how a country is run, and don't have to stick around for the consequences. On the other hand, they have deigned me eligible to vote in the election and I'm a firm believer that those who have the right to vote should exercise their civic duty to do so, because in so many places voting is a luxury that many people do not have. So I'm voting.
This election in particular is quite interesting. UK elections are once every 5 years, so 2 years longer than an NZ Parliamentary term (for some reason I thought the UK was 4 years, but no its 5). The UK uses First Past the Post (FPP), the old NZ electoral system before it was changed to MMP - so one vote only. With that, takes some wrapping your head around how your vote will count, or not count compared to NZ - I am voting for the person representing the electorate, or "constituency" as its called here and not a party as such. In general you'd vote for the candidate of the party you want to win, and if they win the constituency then it gives that party a seat in parliament and helps them on their way to a possible majority - and if they achieve that, then they form the Government. If you vote for someone who doesn't end up winning the constituency, then your vote dies - it doesn't get counted towards anything else, no party total or anything. So you've got to bear that in mind when you vote. What else makes this election interesting is usually FPP favours two parties and any other parties barely get a look in. In the last UK election, both the main two parties (Conservative and Labour) failed to achieve an outright majority, and the Liberal Democrats had the balance of power and chose to form a coalition government with the Conservatives (who achieved the most votes, just not a majority). The British public don't seem to understand what coalition goverments mean or what can happen as a result - leading to a situation where the majority of the British public seem to think either the Conservatives or Labour will "win", despite all the polls showing both parties are practically neck and neck (with maybe Conservatives getting slightly more than Labour) and neither is going to be anywhere close to a majority alone as there are a plethora of other parties which look like they are going to achieve representation in Parliament. The Liberal Democrats are trailing behind the very much fringe and anti-immigration UKIP party (which has pretty much come out of nowhere, and want people like me to not even be working in the UK), which neither of the main parties want to go into coalition with but they look like they could play a significant role in the "kingmaking" - and the other one to note is SNP, the Scottish National Party which is seeking representation in the national parliament. SNP looks set to take all of the previously Labour-held Scottish constituencies, and have said they won't support a Conservative government - so they'd only entertain a Labour government, which potentially gives Labour a solid coalition partner and could help them be well on the way to forming a coalition government - even if they achieve fewer votes than the Conservatives. When you see that most of the other parties likely to achieve decent representation are more likely to side with Labour than the Conservatives, it paints an interesting picture. Another interesting aspect - if Scotland chooses to keep their seats with Labour and not SNP, that probably would give Labour more votes overall than Conservatives (but probably not an outright majority). There is no proportionality or 5% threshholds here - you either gain a seat, or you don't and its that simple and clear cut. What looks almost certain is there will be a Coalition government, or at the very least a Minority government with confidence and supply arrangements with other parties - and it will require at least 3 parties to get that across the line (maybe 4 parties in the Conservative's case). And you can be sure the UK public will be very surprised and unhappy with the result, simply because they don't understand the process but you can be sure that they'll definitely get a crash course this time round for next time - whenever next time might be, because there is some talk that if neither party can stitch together a workable coalition or formation, the country will be forced to go back to the Polls.
I did have to think hard about how I'd place my vote, looking into what kind of a seat my Constituency was and who might be likely to win - and whether I would go along with the likely winner, or vote in such a way that might lead it to not count in the end. Tactical voting, which I have become good at in the last two NZ elections is not an option in Wimbledon under FPP. Last night I finally came to my decision, which I am happy and comfortable with and accordingly early this morning before work I cast my vote. There are a number of differences between NZ elections and UK elections and how they are held - for starters, its on a weekday and not a Saturday; because people have to work, the polls are open from 7am to 10pm which is far longer than NZ. You can mail your vote in advance if you wish, similar to NZ; but on the day you have to go to a particular polling station that you have been allocated near your home, you can't go to another one in the Constituency nor any polling station outside your Constituency - there is no Special Voting. Having worked in a polling station one Election day in NZ while I was a student, I found the lack of Special Voting curious - until I remembered that Special Votes require a book full of the entire voting public of the country, which is much more achievable in a nation of 4.5 million than it is in a nation of 64 million. There were other things I noted too from having worked an Election day - the voter register was a couple of double-sided A4 sheets of paper with a staple in the corner, instead of a single-sided pad of paper with a hinge along the top (I guess partly the difference between only needing the names of people who can vote in the specific polling booth vs having the names of everyone in an electorate); the voting paper was a fairly simple A5 sized piece of paper, all in black and white so no colour logos or anything; and whereas you put a tick for who you want in NZ with a provided felt marker, in the UK you put a cross with a provided pencil. Yes, a pencil - that writing instrument which you can easily remove written marks from a piece of paper with an eraser, unlike a felt marker. Even a biro pen would have been better, surely? The booths themselves were fairly flimsy looking wooden stands, facing the room and all side by side - in NZ we have those cardboard stands, which face away from the room giving you more privacy, as well as being spaced out. However this is how they always have done it, and I'm sure NZ was probably no different once up on a time! Lastly, upon leaving the polling station some ladies asked me for my candidate number - these people are called Tellers, they act generally on behalf of a party to find out how many people have voted at the polling station and later on in the day go round to the houses of those who haven't voted to encourage them to go and vote. I did read that they sometimes ask who you voted for, to form "Exit Polls" however you don't have to tell them - had they asked me I wouldn't have said as I feel I'm entitled to not share who I voted for, and for that same reason I'm not going to tell you either!
So now, we wait until the Polls close at 10pm; the counting will go on all night, and by the time I wake up tomorrow morning there should be a fairly clear idea of what kind of a mess Britain's got itself into and who each of the two main parties need to go into negotiations with to try and form a Government. There isn't any point in staying up late to see what happens - it will be 2 or 3am before a decent picture begins to emerge and it will all be a bit dry anyway. However if the coverage was more like this Monty Python sketch, it would be worth staying up (and doesn't Michael Palin look a bit like a zombie Maggie Thatcher, risen from the grave?). Enjoy!