Lewisham Election Results

[stuart]

Whitewash for Mayor. Labour gets 54% on first preference so second preference doesn't count:
http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/ ... D=42792346

First 45 seats all gone to Labour.

Forest Hill Labour vote more than twice the nearest party (LibDem):
http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/ ... D=42795534

Even bigger majority in Bellingham (over Cons):
http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/ ... D=42796867

Sydenham still counting.

Stuart

[sydenhamgardener2]

Here are the results for Sydenham.

http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/ ... D=42795534

[robbieduncan]

And there we are. Another monoculture with no dissenting voices, no variety of opinion and almost 40% of the voting public unrepresented. Another few years with no oversight or control over the policies of one viewpoint.

[stuart]

And there we are. Another monoculture with no dissenting voices, no variety of opinion and almost 40% of the voting public unrepresented. Another few years with no oversight or control over the policies of one viewpoint.

The really depressing statistic is the 39% turnout. The clear majority cannot be bothered with it. And some people believe the majority should rule. Which puts us in a strange place.

The quirk in our ward is the split in votes for the LibDems. Traditionally people tend to vote a block with the candidates appearing near the top (The ABCs) having a slight advantage. Whereas we have Jane Russell polling well ahead of her other ticketeers.

Why?

Stuart

[Spark plug]

All seats won by Labour - madness.Putin could not get this result,are all Lewisham residents just brainwashed or is it social cleansing the opposite way?

[JGD]

We might argue to doomsday about the absence of checks and balances in our last and this new council of elected members and on the potential impact on how we might judge individual members and the council as a whole on how well - or badly - they perform.

In other places the word hegemony has been applied to the last council.

The response to that is it that for the last and for the new council - it is an elected hegemony.

And that means that the constituency - and that comprises of our friends and neighbours et al - has chosen to elect the body that it has.

If that fundament was different - we would have a a greater variation in the political spread than that for which we just voted for once more.

You can argue for the next four years why that is what it is.

[mikej]

We need proportional representation (not that it would have made any difference in Sydenham).
That should mean more people might vote, more get engaged. You might even get canvassing!

[Syd_Stone]

I haven't looked at the results but I can tell you one thing without doing so - borough wide, around 40% of those who voted did not vote Labour. The way people are represented at local and national level continues to embarrass. Our electoral systems force absurd majorities rather than the calculated compromise that is so often the actual will of the people.

When a party that has 55 to 60 per cent support takes 100% of the seats, only the most tribal of party loyalists can say it's a good thing - and this is from someone who's Labour minded.

Usual response to anyone anti proportional representation - why should where I live determine the value of my vote?

[stuart]

The problem is we democratically rejected a mild form of proportional representation. If you accept referendums you have to accept that however illogical that may be.

Also by not voting you are implicitly accepting the choice of those that do (unless it is part of an organised boycott). So our councillors were only opposed by around 20% of the electorate.

Hence Lewisham has got the council of its democratic choice. Not liking it is ok. Undermining it's legitimacy is not imho.

Any blame has to be with the electorate. Which is a bit of an issue if you believe in democracy.

Stuart

[JRW]

It will be interesting to see how the proposed boundary changes to parliamentary constituencies affects Lewisham. Sydenham is going to be lumped in with Dulwich. A rather less safe seat for Labour!

[Syd_Stone]

Agree to a point Stuart, in that we were served up the most insipid, poorly considered option in a referendum on (national parliamentary) elections by a Lib Dem party clearly looking at its own short term gain at the expense of any long term impact.

And indeed, voter apathy is the issue. The question is, how do we change that? It's not an easy thing to bring about, but sensibly representative representation would, IMHO, make the person on the street more likely to engage. Surely anything more likely to be representative of actual preferences would stir a smidgeon of greater interest?

We need common sense to be zealously promoted. Trouble is, the sensible among us typically let the zealots - all tribal and ideologically bent - get on with promoting their extremes. And so again, we'll just let this absurd one-party whitewash continue because, you know, what are you going to do?

[mosy]

In a stronghold, whether Labour or Tory (Lib Dems tend to have swing seats), there's a presumption that it does represent the majority vote because the apathy non-vote is twofold, being either (a) no need to if a supporter anyway and (b) no point if a protest vote or other party vote is insignificant. By definition, a stronghold means other parties will be insignificant. Isn't that where marketing comes in? More people would vote for a minor party if they thought it was in with a good chance. Or, if it really is a stronghold, then no amount of marketing or proportional voting would make a difference.

At council level, all councillors or would-be councillors want the same obvious improvements when it comes to vote winning in cash-strapped areas. Voting Tory might be said to be an advantage when it's a Tory government as now, but hard to believe when even their flagship councils are moaning or bankrupt. So who should apathetic voters get out to vote for?

[mosy]

It will be interesting to see how the proposed boundary changes to parliamentary constituencies affects Lewisham. Sydenham is going to be lumped in with Dulwich. A rather less safe seat for Labour!

I'd be surprised if boundary changes rear their head until nearer the next general election scheduled for 2020. The last attempt was scuppered by regions being unable to agree and I suspect the proposed equal numbers approach might well fail due to nonsensical dividing lines in inner city and untenable travel acreage in remote areas, plus the significant hitch of not accounting for newly registered voters. If something happens before then, you can knock me down with a feather.

[Syd_Stone]

"If it really is a stronghold, then no amount of marketing or proportional voting would make a difference."

I'll respectfully take issue with that one point.

I've now downloaded the results. Based on nothing but party votes allocated proportionately, the seat allocations would have been (rounding errors aside) 33 Labour, 8 Conservative, 7 Lib Dem and 6 Green.

Of course, people vote for individual candidates etc. so this is a very basic proportional assessment. And of course, a 60% vote would make this a 'Labour stronghold' whatever proportional system was in use.

But just imagine it; 21 seats on council to at least do some democratic holding of feet to the fire to the 33 seat majority. Accountability, demonstrably seen to be built in to the system, is everything to battling apathy (let alone actually tempering poor decision making), and viewed proportionally the people of Lewisham voted for exactly that. But then we all do, really, each and every time. And we just sigh and accept the absurdly unbalanced outcome. Yet again.

The forcing of winning pluralities at ward level leading to the 100% dominance of one party? I mean, that can't be right, can it? We talk about democracy and then blithely accept the demonstrably undemocratic. What we as 196,656 voters voted for (of which 118,554 Labour, btw) isn't in any way reflected in the resulting council chamber.

[Pally]

That is really interesting Syd-Stone....and an argument for PR certainly!

[Tim Lund]

I voted for PR when there was a referendum on it, although I didn't think it some silver bullet for the flaws in our democracy.

If we had PR for Lewisham Council elections, there would be a different dynamic to local politics. At the moment, from what I can see, not being a member, the action is within the Labour Party. Follow Damien Egan on twitter, on on Facebook, and look out for critical replies. That's as good a clue as outsiders are likely to get