Making Room for Mr Cock-up: UK General Election

Cranky returning officers, with names such as Longbottom. Solemn punters awaiting the results of their candidate’s performance with funereal dignity. Then, calls of ‘Yes we Khan’ (in favour of Labour member Sadiq Khan) stopped when they became too effusive. ‘Let me finish please,’ snapped the returning officer in the seat of Tooting. Even the bond markets opened in the middle of the night, yearning for a stable resolution to the tight vote count. Another British election is evidently been conducted, and the result: a hung parliament, the first since 1974.

During the evening’s proceedings it became obvious that the chatterati had been confused, as, for that matter, was everybody else. Predictions ebbed and flowed. ‘The people have spoken and we don’t know what they have said,’ came the comment on the BBC from a bemused Labour minister Ed Milliband of the Department of Energy and Climate Change. ‘What do you think is going on?’ questioned the normally certain and decisive newsman Jeremy Paxman. No one had a coherent answer.

An election light in electoral policies other than the promise for scything and cutting public expenditure, and the paradoxical nonsense of ‘change’ with ‘conservative government’, was made somewhat more interesting with the way the votes have been counted. In a country where the trains specialise in not running on time (marked by the occasional, planted apology by operators), it was clear very early on that the electoral system itself was under enormous strain and stalling.

For a country that prides itself on being one of the first in the ranks of the democratic system, this must be something of an embarrassment. Nick Robinson on the BBC was disturbed by this very fact, and shot off a message. ‘What a tragedy that, after a campaign which engaged and energised many who were previously cynical about politics, tonight’s story may be being overshadowed by the extraordinary revelation that Britain cannot competently run the most basic part of the democratic process.’

The problems started coming thick and fast as polling continued throughout the day. Hackney, London, Withington in Manchester, Sheffield Central, Weybridge in Surrey and Liverpool all witnessed disgruntled voters. Thousands of voters have been disenfranchised, with disputes such as a very public one between constituents in Islington South being documented. Many in Nick Clegg’s constituency were turned away. Paper ran out in Wavertree. The police were called in to remove indignant voters.

Polling stations have been poorly manned, showing how the electoral office is almost as competent at making predictions as party pundits. One particularly disgusted voter was told in her constituency of Hackney South and Shoreditch in London that she should have ‘posted her vote’ (BBC News, May 7). Jenny Watson of the Electoral Commission has promised an inquiry.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, buoyed by an increased majority of almost 5,000 votes in his own seat of Kircaldy immediately saw an opening to extol the voting right of the British citizen. In what amounted to a valedictory speech, he still noted his ‘duty’ in doing his part to assure Britons that they had a stable and principled government. He is now going to exercise his option to take first bite at the cherry in making offers to create a power sharing government. The Conservatives and Lib Dems are proving indifferent to that, pondering a power sharing arrangement that will turf him out of office.

Clegg of the Lib Dems, who might have been seen to be walking on water, most conspicuously sunk. The ‘two party’ vice has been clamped, restricting the representative clout of the third force in British politics. Long needed electoral reform will have to be put back on the table, something Brown had himself mooted. The Tories are claiming that Britain should have its youngest prime minister since Lord Liverpool was elected in 1812. They will fear electoral reforms and the prospects of proportional representation. Time will tell whether Britain will continue to remain allergic to coalitions.

Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com

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