I attended the local county council election count last Friday and the local european election count last night. Both counts seemed to go on for an interminably long time although I must admit the counting staff did an excellent job under difficult circumstances. Neither event were particulalrly good news for the party I support, the Liberal Democrats. And, no doubt everybody in the UK must be aware by now that the BNP has managed to grab two seats at yesterday's european election counts. One in Humberside and one in the Northwest.
I heard a commentator on BBC Radio Five Live last night state that this was "a dark day for British democracy." Whilst I don't agree with the BNP I feel that the commentator is extremely wide of the mark. The electorate in those two regions elected the BNP in fair and democratic elections. Whilst people may argue about the fact that the seats were won under a proportional representation system, the fact is that that is the system in place. As much as I, or anybody else, may dislike the BNP and what their mandate is, the fact remains that they have as much right to be on the ballot paper as any other political organisation.
It may be a dark day for British politics, note I said politics and not democracy, and a sorry indictment of the British electorate but it is the end result of a wholly democratic process. I may be extremely disheartened that the BNP have won 2 seats in the European Parliament but I recognise the fact that the democratic process remains intact.
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