Research commissioned by John Hemming, Liberal Democrat MP for Birmingham Yardley, has revealed that the democratic mandate (proportion of citizens voting for the government) of the Blair Government is the lowest of the Countries that are members of G8 and lowest of all, but Poland in the EU.
Taking all the countries in the EU and G8 only Poland's government has weaker support in the electorate at 19%. The elections in Poland, however, resulted in a minority government. Only four countries the UK, Poland, Latvia and Canada had support from less than 1 in four of the electorate with Latvia's government having slightly more support than the Blair government. Canada, however, also has a minority government.
The Czech Republic, Ireland, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia has support from between 1 in 4 and 3 in 10 of the electorate. The USA, Japan, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden has support between 3 and 4 in 10 of the electorate. Only Austria, Belgium, Malta, Netherlands, Cyprus and Russia had support of more than 4 in 10. France's second round elections had support for the winner of 65.5% of the electorate, but the first round only had 1 in 4 support.
"This shows clearly how low the number of people is that supported Blair", said John Hemming, "he clearly does not have a democratic mandate for any radical changes against the will of the other parties in parliament. One area he needs to urgently consider is to ensure that we move towards a proper democratic system for elections."
(I know this all exists earlier on the blog, but this is the form of the press release. There is a vigil tomorrow on Electoral Reform and another vigil on Wednesday on Make Poverty History, both of which I hope to attend.)
Taking all the countries in the EU and G8 only Poland's government has weaker support in the electorate at 19%. The elections in Poland, however, resulted in a minority government. Only four countries the UK, Poland, Latvia and Canada had support from less than 1 in four of the electorate with Latvia's government having slightly more support than the Blair government. Canada, however, also has a minority government.
The Czech Republic, Ireland, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia has support from between 1 in 4 and 3 in 10 of the electorate. The USA, Japan, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden has support between 3 and 4 in 10 of the electorate. Only Austria, Belgium, Malta, Netherlands, Cyprus and Russia had support of more than 4 in 10. France's second round elections had support for the winner of 65.5% of the electorate, but the first round only had 1 in 4 support.
"This shows clearly how low the number of people is that supported Blair", said John Hemming, "he clearly does not have a democratic mandate for any radical changes against the will of the other parties in parliament. One area he needs to urgently consider is to ensure that we move towards a proper democratic system for elections."
(I know this all exists earlier on the blog, but this is the form of the press release. There is a vigil tomorrow on Electoral Reform and another vigil on Wednesday on Make Poverty History, both of which I hope to attend.)
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