Summer on Radio 1

[E*F*4L]

yes election time is coming up again & its the European elections

The UK Independence Party could topple Gordon Brown by beating Labour into fourth place in next month's Euro elections, says leader Nigel Farage.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8040168.stm

which party will receive your vote ?

you don't have to post who are voting for if you don't want to thats why i have put up a poll, but you can say if you want

i don't want to be in Europe, i don't have anything against French or Spanish people etc, but i think that its gone to far now nothing wrong with trade agreements & all that but the Euro & all these rules put on us by people we haven't elected, i don't like it !

therefore i will be voting for UKIP

[me_54m]

I have had no infomation from any party as of yet. - Only my voting card from the council.

[E*F*4L]

we had a Conservative bloke come round the other day

[DC]

i have no doubt that the conservatives will win and end all of the problems in the world. however i will not be voting for them, if the monster raving looney party are still in force then i'll look at them.

[me_54m]

Ooop ive found a candidate:

http://www.youtube.com/user/GoddersVision

[Nik B.]

Boycotting this election, so no one

[E*F*4L]

Boycotting this election, so no one

are you abstaining then as a protest ?

[Nik B.]

Spose.

[me_54m]

How many people do you vote for?...

Who am I voting for?

Between three and ten Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to represent your region. The UK is divided into regions, one for each of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and nine covering England. Each region is allocated a number of MEPs according to its population.

Yorkshire & the Humber is allocated 6 MEPs.

... 6? That doesn't make sense.

[Lucinda]

As I understand it (what my housemate said - he researched this while avoiding revision) you vote for a party and it works as a sort of proportional representation. The parties have a list of candidates and if the party gets enough votes one of their candidates gets on etc.

I will probably be voting either Lib Dem or Green Party. The top person on the Lib Dem list here used to be a Conservative so not entirely convinced by that.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7819889.stm might help explain it a bit more.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8040446.stm tells you who your candidates are.

[E*F*4L]

yep it's proportional representation for the Euro's

[Grace]

I would explain PR but I hated that module so I don't want to.

I'm not old enough to vote unfortunately, and statistically I never will (vote, that is, not be old enough to vote).

[DarkAngelMJH]

Well if you never vote you can never complain about the goverment elected can you?

[Nik B.]

Well if you never vote you can never complain about the goverment elected can you?

Yes. It's called being a communist.

[E*F*4L]

Well if you never vote you can never complain about the goverment elected can you?

exactly, if you can vote then you really should.

if you don't want to vote for any of the candidates because you don't think they have your interests at heart etc, then just abstain by placing a cross in each box on your voting form

people say that democracy doesn't work & that's is correct up to a point, but & i don't want to sound preachy a lot of people died for our right to vote.

i have always voted every-time i have been asked to & many a time i have invalidated the form, to prove a point that none of the candidate represents my views.

Yes. It's called being a communist.

not strictly true, the government we have now are communist's & somebody voted them in, because they wanted a change.

[Nik B.]

Oh go on, nitpick some more...

[Grace]

Yes. It's called being a communist.

Communist countries often hold elections actually. Just with only the one party to vote for. And voting's compulsory.

if you don't want to vote for any of the candidates because you don't think they have your interests at heart etc, then just abstain by placing a cross in each box on your voting form

people say that democracy doesn't work & that's is correct up to a point, but & i don't want to sound preachy a lot of people died for our right to vote.

i have always voted every-time i have been asked to & many a time i have invalidated the form, to prove a point that none of the candidate represents my views.

:yeahthat:I get so annoyed by my friends who say they aren't going to vote, it's probably one of the only things that really offends me. By all means, turn up and spoil your paper, but the right to vote should never be taken for granted, it's one thing that many people will never possess.

not strictly true, the government we have now are communist's & somebody voted them in, because they wanted a change.

I must have missed that communism memo...

[Emma]

I would explain PR but I hated that module so I don't want to.

I'm not old enough to vote unfortunately, and statistically I never will (vote, that is, not be old enough to vote).

Proportional Representation? Also hated that topic! I'm voting the Conservatives as per.

[Nik B.]

Grace, I bow my head. You out geeked me.

[E*F*4L]

i have to say its pretty close in the voting, like to see all members take part to see what the results would be like

[DarkAngelMJH]

Yup I get annoyed by people not bothering to vote too. There's only one time I haven't voted since I was able to, and I was out of the country at the time.

What would the government do if someone like you or me took charge of their expenses and they actually had to pay for things like cleaners out of their own money! Shock, horror!!!

[Lucinda]

not strictly true, the government we have now are communist's & somebody voted them in, because they wanted a change.

Only according to Private Eye... Comrade Brown is a bit of a change from the Vicar Blair.

I've voted in both elections I've been able to since I've been old enough. I think it's a lot of effort though to go to a polling station just to abstain.

[KingTutsWWH]

I truly can't believe people who don't bother to vote. Makes me pretty angry (that's putting it mildly). We are so fortunate to have a vote. However, I also consider spoiling your voting paper as a waste of time too.

We haven't received our voting forms yet, nor any information on the elections. When do they take place incidentally?

Once I have read the info, I imagine I shall still probably be voting for the most powerful pro-Europe party. Don't know who that is yet. We'll see.

[E*F*4L]

I truly can't believe people who don't bother to vote. Makes me pretty angry (that's putting it mildly). We are so fortunate to have a vote. However, I also consider spoiling your voting paper as a waste of time too.

if you don't believe any of the candidates represent your views then it is the only way to show this, as the alternative is not to vote at all which really is a waste, they should have a box entitled 'none of the above' & that would get round this, but they don't want this they would rather you didn't vote at all.

there is a important message here from one of my fave films;

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not voting at all is basically taxation without representation.

[Lucinda]

Election date is Thursday 4th June. Coincidentally the same day as my last exam. The polling station isn't far away though so I should make it to vote there between panicking and celebrating.