From: Paul Cockshott (clyder@GN.APC.ORG)
Date: Sat May 05 2007 - 13:40:57 EDT
Quoting glevy@PRATT.EDU: > Hi again Paul C: > > Could you give us a short evaluation of the meaning of the results in > today's election in which the Scottish National Party (SNP) won more > seats than any other party? > > I heard on the news that there were some "irregularities" with the > counting of votes made electronically. While it may or may not have > been important in today's election (I just don't have enough information > to know), I think that the transition to electronic voting has important > potential and real consequences for the political process and civil > society under late capitalism. > > In solidarity, Jerry > I take it to have in large measure an expression of disillusionment with Blair and the Labour party because of the war. Blair knew they were up for a pasting which is why he is resigning next week. The nats squeezed out the socialists and the greens. From having 6 and 8 respectively they are now down to 0 and 2. I think two factors combined here - 1. The socialists had split into two parties competing for the same votes 2. The socialists and greens are also pro independence, so there may have been tactical switching of votes to the SNP as they were the party best placed to beat labour. It is also possible that the regional list system gives a non-linear response to slight changes in the votes of smaller parties. It is still unclear who will form the next govt, SNP or Labour since although SNP had one more seat, they do not have a majority and would need a coalition with the Liberals and the 2 remaining Greens to form a govt. The Liberals say that under no circumstance will they countenance a referendum on independence so there seems to be stalemate. Salmond is, in my view, much the ablest of the Scottish party leaders. He was at one time a socialist of the left social democrat sort, in 79 he was expelled from the SNP as a left winger, but I would say he is more of a centrist social democrat now. www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~wpc reality.gn.apc.org ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
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