Elections

Articles

Vote early and often by Auntie (May 2005)

Dear Subcomandauntie,

I’m campaigning for a principled anti-war candidate in a marginal seat against a prominent pro-war Blairite. The contest is going to be very, very close, with just a handful of votes likely to decide the winner. However, the enemy is definitely cheating the postal vote system and fighting a very dirty campaign, and we are probably going to lose. Depressed at the thought of these "dogs of war" getting back in, I now have to engage in a little postal vote fraud myself to even up the score, but, predictably, I’m having a last-minute moral dilemma. Auntie, what should I do?

Not George Galloway

Rockin’ the vote: Billy Bragg for Blair? by Omar Waraich (May 2005)

‘Culture,’ Norman Mailer once said, ‘is worth huge, huge risks.’ Billy Bragg seems prepared to take those risks, and his rhymes of resistance and years of political campaigning have established him as the doyen of British protest music. But now that the rock star and songwriter is lending his talents to a string of pro-war New Labour candidates in their election bids, he has fallen foul of several of his fans and fellow campaigners. I also reached out in search of explanation. Fearing there would be no straight answer, I wanted to hear the crooked answer.

The election results dissected by Jim Jepps (August 2004)

If you want clear-cut analyses, the June election results are annoying. With Euro votes of 6.2 per cent for the Greens, 5.2 per cent for the Scottish Socialist Party and 1.7 per cent for Respect, the left did not break the mould of British politics. But there were some very significant results, especially in the local elections. The new electoral map reveals the real and different strengths of the Greens and Respect, and also how several left organisations have made local breakthroughs through sheer persistence and well-respected local candidates.