Thursday's elections are a bore
This coming Thursday, 3rd May, England goes to the polls. Or rather, London and a few other places do. Compared to the general election in May 2015, the various elections (including the London mayoral and London Assembly elections) in May 2016, the EU referendum in June 2016 and the general election in June 2017, this one is a bit of a bore.
The upcoming elections are mostly for local government, though there are a handful of mayoral elections. Previous such elections have had the benefit of preceeding major national votes and could be used as an indicator of how the various parties were performing. With the next general election some years away, that is not the case this time.
As such, interest in these elections seems to be the lowest I’ve seen in a while. Coverage of the elections by the media has been minimal, and campaigning in my local area has been almost non-existent. I get the impression a lot of people aren’t even going to bother paying the polling station a visit.
Whilst in the past, a fair number of parties have fielded candidates for my ward, save for one minor party that can only hope to gain a handful of votes, only the two largest parties have put forward candidates this time round. There aren’t even any independent candidates on the ballot paper. Much debate has been had about possible solutions, but I feel that it’s just not right to have such little choice.
Alas, whilst I may not like it, that is the choice we have. I plan on visiting my polling station and making my voice heard through the ballot paper, but I will do so without enthusiasm.