This extraordinary mail has been sent by all but one the Electoral Commissioners to the government today (I added the highlight in the main body of the text):
I do not think we could get a clearer statement than that the Commission thinks that the government is intent on undermining representative democracy in the UK.
We have been warned.
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This sort of thumb on the scales for the governing party is exactly the sort of corrupt election practice that one sees in “managed” democracies around the world.
The government controls the press, to make sure the public sees mainly messages favouring the government and denigrating the opposition. It controls the boundaries of constituencies, to gerrymander the results by putting opposition supporters in one place, and giving bare majorities for the governing party in as many seats as possible. It controls who gets to vote, by imposing requirements on voter registration or identification requirements at polling stations that differentially discourage supporters of the opposition. It controls the body responsible for supervising elections.
Once you have done all of that, you can hold seemingly “free and fair” elections, confident that the result will be the one you wish.
(Only the most paranoid dictator feels the need to stuff ballot boxes, let alone vet election candidates first, or put opposition leaders in jail, or brutalise their supporters – it is all done quietly, behind the scenes, in advance of polling day.)
True
And we are getting there, fast
Other than the stuffing of ballot boxes everything else has already happened in Scotland, although you missed the jailing of journalists.
As some of your readers may know, in the US since the election of November 2020 states that are controlled by Republicans have systematically sought to change the laws and procedures that govern voting such that they undermine the right or ability to vote of many thousands of citizens in districts that traditionally vote Democrat. For example, by reducing the number of polling stations, by outlawing the ability of volunteers to assist voters (e.g. where a voter has a disability), and by adopting ever more complicated and time consuming rules and checks for voter registration.
Additionally, under cover of the ‘big lie’ – that massive voting fraud led to Trump’s defeat in 2020 – in an increasing number of Republican controlled states they have also changed legislation in such a way that the actual administration of elections – including the counting of votes and certification of the results – will now be partisan (i.e. controlled by the Republican legislators or their appointees) rather than controlled and managed by non-partisan election officials as has always been the case. In short, if the conduct and/or outcome of an election is not to the liking of the Republicans who control the state then they will change the process and outcome to give them the result they want.
Of course, our electoral system is not a federal one and therefore differs greatly from the US. But make no mistake, what we see here with the attempt to control the Electoral Commission (and with the adoption of voter ID) is straight from the Republican (i.e. authoritarian) playbook: putting in place a system that allows elections to be influenced and gerrymandered whenever necessary. None of this has a place in a real democracy. But far too many modern day Tories (ditto Republicans) have no more interest in democracy than Putin does. Plain and simple. The only difference is they still have to make it look and sound as if they do, whereas Putin got rid of that “inconvenience” years ago.
I agree Ivan
These people hate democracy
Remember Hayek said he would rather a free market authoritarian government that a democratic government that was socially liberal
Hayek is getting his day
Sobering isn’t it?
And you have to remember that this is the party that people like so-called Tory moderates like David Gauke and Tom Tugentwat are still members of.
Never mind Johnson, if any of them were decent people they would have walked by now.
They really are a bunch of crooks, cementing themselves into power.
Agree
I blame neo liberalism.. all started with Thatcher
As usual Labour seems to have no idea what game it is playing or what the stakes are. Undermining such shaky rules as exist, in such an overt way, is quite breathtaking. Edging towards Orban, Erdogan, Putin, Mhodi, Bolsanaro, and other authoritarian regimes in this blatant way needs to be called out politically and not only by the Electoral Commission itself..
Who’s missing? via electoralcommission.org.uk:
Lord Gilbert of Panteg
Stephen Gilbert is one of the four commissioners appointed under S.3 (a) of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. This section provides for four Commissioners to be appointed after having been put forward by a political party. Stephen Gilbert was put forward by the Leader of the Conservative Party.
Indeed, as the first paragraph of the letter says “save for Lord Gilbert of Panteg (our Conservative nominated Commissioner) because the House of Lords where he sits is now considering this legislation.”