The farce that will be the police commissioner elections looms ever closer, with most people unaware that anything is happening at all, and in Dyfed Powys a choice between two Z-list candidates representing the Tories and Labour.
In Carmarthenshire the council has printed two sets of papers. One is bilingual, and the other is in English only. Apparently the council is waiting for instructions from the Home Office as to which set to use. Once it has received that guidance, the other set will be pulped.
What a great use of money this is turning out to be.
10 comments:
Where can I see a list of who is standing?
i'm disapointed that 'the party of wales' hasn't bothered putting up candidates in any Welsh PC elections.
Only the torries actually want these elections, Labour has been forced into it, the libs can't afford it, and Plaid have been silent (only to say that they would possibly back independent candidates).
The answer to the first question is that I can't find an "official" page, but the BBC carried the following report:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-19505524
priceless!! is carmarthenshire the only county this has happened to?
SO NO Choice shame Plaid i cannot vote for either party so you disfranchised me
You're not disenfranchised. You have opted out by vritue of the fact that you "cannot" vote for either party. You "can" but you don't want to. That's a different thing.
I am also a Plaid Cymru voter but don't consider myself to be "disenfranchised" by Plaid. Grow up.
I agree with you - the whole thing has become a farce with predictions of a record low turnout. As a Lib Dem, I'm disappointed we haven't fielded candidates but the cost is just prohibitive. You've had to find a Deposit of £5k, then the cost of printing, websites etc. and then there is no freepost so you are looking at around 30p per item for bulk delivery.
So, my back of the envelope calculation to run a decent campaign in the Dyfed-Powys area comes to around £75k. So,this Election is one that only the Tories and the Labour Party can afford. The rest of us are out of the game. I pity those Independent candidates in other parts of Wales - unless they have a very high profile locally they have absolutely no chance.
The Police Service is vital to all of us and the issues are very important. The way this has been organised by the Tories is a scandal and I am not happy that LIb Dems at Westminster went along with it. The Police Service deserves better then this. We all deserve better then this as many of us are effectively disenfranchised.
Thank you for that comment Selwyn - it puts things in a very different light.
Alarm bells ringing in my head over these elections. Independents can't afford to stand unless super-rich or receiving backing -- from security corporates maybe? Fund your own campaign, max allowed in Dyfed Powys is £72,622. Lose £5000 if fail to get 5% of vote. Costs a huge barrier. And how can one commissioner be better than a police authority of about 17? Personally I think there is a privatisation agenda. Do we want to cede more and more of public service to global corporations? I don't, but how to register a view? Not voting looks like apathy. Voting suggests you like the idea. So what to do?
Anonymous-There is no disenfranchisement if your party isn't fielding candidates, we all have another choice in writing 'None of the above' on the ballot paper. You exercise your democratic right to vote and express a preference or not for the listed candidates. In Dyfed Powys we have Christine Gwyther possibly the worst Assembly Minister ever against an unknown Marcher Tory with a qualification in Russian and Security Studies as candidates, two horrendously poor candidates even if there were other options available. I shall be voting by writing 'None of the above' on the ballot. Consider Ceredigion where 70% + vote Plaid or Lib Dem, if we can get a majority of spoiled ballots with 'None of the above' then it would send a powerful message about what we ink of this ridiculous system.
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