POSTAL voting on demand, one of Tony Blair’s key reforms, risked undermining the long-established faith in British democracy, international observers of the general election said yesterday.
The secret ballot, a basic human right, was thrown into doubt by rule changes that resulted in six million people voting by post on May 5, they said. The Government had placed more emphasis on improving turnout than maintaining the reliability of the results, the observers said. Turnout rose overall, especially in close-fought seats. Labour, which traditionally fears stay-at-home voters, won a historic third term.
In the aftermath of the election, victorious ministers promised an urgent review of the system. But a Bill promised in the Queen’s Speech failed to materialise. Whitehall blamed the new priority of defeating terrorism. A worrying picture of the voting system emerges from the first mission to a British general election by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
...
While ministers denounced The Times for its investigations highlighting the dangers of mass postal voting, the observers agreed that the system was insecure and should be scrapped. “Although the election process and procedures overall enjoy a high degree of trust, the introduction of postal voting on demand in 2000, without the need to present a reason for the application, has demonstrated the vulnerability of any trust-based electoral process,” their report says.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1723158,00.htmlOnce again, the slightest excuse to ignore the crappy state of postal voting is taken by a government that's more interested in its voting numbers than whether they are legitimate. A facade of democracy is all that interests them.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
