There doesn't seem to be much interest in this thread considereing the 400 million (?) people who live in the EU.
From what I saw of the results it looks like most of the incumbent parties did badly in most countries.
Seems to be a protest of some sort.
In Britain, Conservatives got their worst result since something likee 1830 and Labour their worst since 1910. I thought it was amusing listening to both parties still trying to make it sound good for them: Labour - yes be did bad but conservatives lost more of the vote (even though they ended up with more).
Originally posted by Varg"Seems to be a protest of some sort."
There doesn't seem to be much interest in this thread considereing the 400 million (?) people who live in the EU.
From what I saw of the results it looks like most of the incumbent parties did badly in most countries.
Seems to be a protest of some sort.
In Britain, Conservatives got their worst result since something likee 1830 and Labour their worst since ...[text shortened]... yes be did bad but conservatives lost more of the vote (even though they ended up with more).
No, not at all. They are simply not interested. They don't know what it is all about.
Originally posted by ivanhoeThen how come the voter turnout was the highest ever? (At least in Britain - I heard that in Slovakia it was something like 19%! And low in Poland, too. I thought that the new members would be enthusiastic).
"Seems to be a protest of some sort."
No, not at all. They are simply not interested. They don't know what it is all about.
The biggest increase in Britain was for a single-issue party that wants to withdraw from the EU altogether. Although they only got something like 16% of the vote, it was an increase of about 9%.
Though I think the UKIP are the BNP by another name (their website and literature I saw correlate EU membership with asylum, immigration, and 'overcrowding' - all BNP terms) they were the only party who really talked about Europe. Have a feeling that must have helped their vote. It still amazes me how few positive speeches are made on Europe by anyone - there were more under the Major government. Has allowed the Mail and Express to determine the debate. Ah well, I have a German passport as well as UK - I won't lose my rights of movement and work when we do pull out.
I'm also suprised at the turnout in Eastern Europe - thought that they would be less jaded than they actually seem to be. They all voted in fairly large numbers to join the EU not too long ago.
In Scotland at least, there's a definite class element to the problem of the low turnout. In the poorest areas, the turnout was very low (maybe 10% ), while in the middle-class areas, it was much higher. In my constituency, we say less than 10% in some wards and mid-40s in others.
The poorest working class people just don't see the EC as relevant to them.
Originally posted by Varg"Then how come the voter turnout was the highest ever?"
Then how come the voter turnout was the highest ever? (At least in Britain - I heard that in Slovakia it was something like 19%! And low in Poland, too. I thought that the new members would be enthusiastic).
The biggest increase in Britain was for a single-issue party that wants to withdraw from the EU altogether. Although they only got something like 16% of the vote, it was an increase of about 9%.
It still wasn't very impressive here on the continent, with the exception of Belgium of course. Those poor people have a duty to vote.