On March 3rd 2011 the population of Wales took part in a referendum to decide on whether the National Assembly should have greater law making powers. The day of the referendum came, the ballots were stocked up on asking the country “Yes” or “No” and the people stood up, raised their voices and collectively declared an overwhelming answer of…
“We don’t care.”
While the Yes campaign won, with such a laughable turn out and level of apathy it could hardly be declared the mandate for governing claimed by some quarters within the Assembly. But we plodded on with life, and now stand once again at the precipice of history.
On May 5th 2011 there will be a UK wide referendum to make probably what is the biggest constitutional change to the United Kingdom so far this century, to change the election system for general elections – that is the way we elect our Members of Parliament (MPs) – from the current, traditional system of First Past the Post (FPtP) to the more modern and proportional system of Alternative Vote (AV).
Such a change (say the AV campaign) will mean that our politicians will not just get jobs for life in “safe seats” and will actually have to fight for re-election and perhaps even (god forbid) work for their constituents not the fat cats in Westminister who order them around.
Now while (as you can probably tell) I agree with the change to AV (and having an A Level in Government and Politics I am quite well acquainted with both our current electoral system and the other proposed models), but to convince you to agree with me on this is not the purpose of this blog. My message is a simple one though:
Decisions are made by those who show up.
So I implore you this: Please turn up, please vote in this referendum. Despite what people say, we do not live in a Democracy – we do not make the decisions ourselves, we just decide those who make them for us – so referendums are probably the closest the most of us will come to true, pure democracy. This is your chance to make a difference, to make a decision. We stand on the brink of history, so lets not forget or be too lazy or too occupied watching Eastenders to turn up.
This will also mean that politicians can be held more accountable to us. They work for us, and when they ignore us or make mistakes they should pay the consequences for it.
Decisions are made by those who show up. So please, show up. Take part in the process. Make the decision. Take part in democracy.
More info on the proposed changes and the differences between AV and FPtP can be found here