Study the tables from the Electoral Reform Society below and make your mind up. For even more boggling figures try looking at the 80’s and 90’s on their website.
May 2005
Party | Votes | %Votes | Seats | %Seats |
Labour | 9,566,618 | 35.2 | 356 | 55.1 |
Conservative | 8,785,941 | 32.4 | 198 | 30.7 |
Liberal Democrats | 5,985,414 | 22.0 | 62 | 9.6 |
June 2001
Party | Votes | %Votes | Seats | %Seats |
Labour | 10,724,895 | 40.7 | 412 | 62.5 |
Conservative | 8,357,622 | 31.7 | 166 | 25.2 |
Liberal Democrats | 4,812,833 | 18.3 | 52 | 7.9 |
The startling fact of the elections in the 2000s has been their low turnout – around 60 per cent, compared to a norm of 75 per cent for most of the post-war period. Labour won both elections with comfortable parliamentary majorities despite, in 2005, a lack of public enthusiasm for the government and only 35 per cent of the popular vote.
The biggest single group of voters in the 2000’s was the non-voters. The % figures
from the charts are based on the votes cast. Labour’s figure for 2005 is actually just over 21% of the maximum vote. They had the support of just over 1 in 5 of the electorate. A very different perspective on a so-called ‘comfortable’ win.
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