In a recent piece, George Galloway MP suggested that Iran’s democracy was more healthy than our own. The proof is thus, says Galloway:
More than 85 per cent of the electors turned out to vote – compared with 35 per cent in our own elections recently. That’s nearly 40million Xs on ballot papers.
This massive exercise took place without trouble of any kind – the polling stations were kept open longer than required to facilitate the huge lines of people outside.
Indeed, that’s one of the reasons I discount the opposition complaints.
When a candidate is reduced to protesting that too MANY people were allowed to vote, you know he’s in trouble.
Well now Galloway must be thrilled. According to a report in The Guardian, even he has under-estimated the robust enthusiasm for democracy in Iran. In some areas, voter turn-out has exceeded one hundred percent!
It’s a staggering endorsement of democracy. If only we could match such a passion for casting ballots!
Galloway, of course, is something of an expert in the area of popular democracy. A staggering 81.6% of his constituents voted for him in the 2005 General Election. According to Electoral Reform Society statistics:
Representatives can get elected on tiny amounts of public support. In 2005, for example, George Galloway polled the votes of only 18.4 per cent of his constituents, yet ended up in the House of Commons
Oops! Did I say that almost 82% of his constituents voted for him? Sorry, of course what I meant was that 82% of Bethnal Green & Bow constituents didn’t vote for him.
