Apathy not rife in Gordon


Much of the talk prior to the General Election was of how dire things might be in terms of turnout. In Gordon, and Scotland generally, the popular image of voter apathy did not come true.

In our own Gordon constituency voter turnout last week was 62%. Given the doomsday warnings of tiny turnouts at the polls, that is not bad going - especially considering the rather poor weather on polling day. It felt a bit more like February than May and the torrential showers could have easily persuaded less dedicated voters not to bother.

I admit I haven't studied all the results in detail, but at a quick scan, it appears that the whole of Scotland had turnouts of more than 50% – with dishonourable exception of Glasgow.

Could it just be that - despite all our whingeing and moaning - having our own Scottish Parliament has actually meant that the public do relate more to the political system.

Although Thursday's vote was for Westminster, Holyrood has brought politics closer to the people in a physical sense. (It is now quite feasible to jump in your car, go to Edinburgh, see your MSP and be home for dinner.)

But the Scottish Parliament has brought the political system north of the border closer in terms of ease of communication. MSPs were just a mouse click away by e-mail, before their Westminster colleagues were similarly universally wired up.

And, if you want to know what they are up to, the Scottish Parliament website is the primary means of publishing parliamentary business, rather than being an add-on.

Time will tell if the political interest last week was just a blip in an otherwise bleak sea of apathy.

Posted: Wed - May 11, 2005 at 03:14 PM          

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