Further to last night's post, now that I've nabbed a little sleep ... while still groggy with lack of sleep and confused at how things are panning out, I am also still angry. Part of that is to do with some stone-faced tit turning around and saying, "Okay, we have an archaic system of voting that is a holdover from the Victorian era and while our lack of imagination robbed a large number of people of their right to vote, imagination is not in our job description and rules are rules, so suck it up". Essentially, in each polling station, there is a single paper list upon which is written the names of those on the electoral roll in each constituency, and only one person can cross the names off the list once they've voted. This is what takes the time, and at least part of that is why various polling stations had queues around the block that left people waiting to vote for hours. Given that the aforemention stone-faced tit insisted that all those people, despite the photographic and video evidence of people queueing for hours, turned up a quarter of an hour before the polls closed, I'm guessing that there is some spin at work here to ensure that the disenfranchised feel like it's their own fault they couldn't vote. But it isn't. Not entirely, at least. I have a hard time taking the result seriously given the number of people who weren't allowed to vote, particularly in the face of the tiny swings that won some parties various seats.
I want to see a re-election. Given hung parliament and the number of people who were not allowed to vote, we are owed a re-election. However, it looks for all the world like we're not going to get one. People are promising 'a full inquiry' but that brings to mind the phrase "closing the barn door after the horse has bolted".
Polls have been closed for 14 hours, and there are 29 seats left undeclared. However, there are already discussions about the fact that ... well, while the LibDems did nowhere near as well as people thought they were going to, it looks like they're the ones who are going to decide who sits in Downing Street. The entire thing is fascinating in a weird sort of way, for all it's more than a little disturbing. I personally think that everyone needs to sit down and think about this over the weekend, but Cameron of the Conservatives is talking about coming out with a plan in two and a half hours, and this is before the last of the seats are declared. I know we're a very impatient culture, but it's in our best interests to take some time and think. There's talk about electoral reform and Clegg holding out for proportional representation and deals being discussed and everyone struggling to get somewhere, but what I can't see is what they're after, beyond a majority in government.
I ... don't really like the idea of a government that is incumbent not because it's what the majority wants but because of backroom deals. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I intend to watch and find out.
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