It cannot have escaped anyone’s notice that there was an election for an elected Mayor in Bristol on Thursday.
The fact that George Ferguson – affectionately known as Red Trousers after his preferred choice of leg coverings – received a total 37,353 votes and was declared the winner.
George’s win is being described by all the political pundits as a consequence of the people of Bristol being fed up with party politics.
However, there’s another analysis. Turnout in the mayoral election was under 28%. That means George was elected by a tiny minority of electors who could be bothered to turn out and vote for him. Indeed, George’s winning total means just 11.7% of Bristol’s 320,000 voters put a cross next to his name.
Meanwhile the vast majority of voters – 78% of the on Bristol’s electoral roll – stayed away from the polls.
The figures for the Police and Crime Commissioners suffered from even lower turnouts right across the country, with a national average of 15% in the 41 English and Welsh police areas. In the Avon and Somerset area, turnout was 19.59%, meaning 80% of the electorate didn’t bother and winning candidate Sue Mountstevens, who received a total of 125,700 votes, was likewise given a mandate by about 10% of voters.
Representative democracy doesn’t seem to be faring very well at present and one must question the legitimacy of the mandates received.