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Not Apathetic

Tell the world why you're not voting - don't let your silence go unheard

They're not voting because...

Politicians are interested in their ...

Politicians are interested in their own and their party's interests, not the best interests of the people of this country. If this were not so, why do we have so few 'free' votes in parliament?

How many of the candidates live in or come from their constituency and truly represent their constituents' views? Not many. What really matters to them is getting a seat and toeing the party line with a hope to rising through the ranks.

Most voters blindly vote for party X because their parents did or because they always have done or because feel they belong to the section of society that party X wants to appeal to. Many, however, are finally realising that all the parties are pretty much the same, they just try to deceive the public in different ways, and that's why election turnouts are so small. We therefore have a system that favours the party in power. People don't like change and it's only when the ruling party really messes up that we get a change of government.

I'm not voting because no self-interested politician deserves my support.

written 4th May 2005

Responses

I&R replies: One weakness in our system is that it's purely "representative" (indirect) which means that political parties, especially their leaders, decide all policy and take all decisions during the life of a parliament. With partial *direct* democracy the electorate can intervene on issues which they select, proposing law and if necessary exercising veto, using referendum. More detail at http://www.iniref.org/

written 4th May 2005

About Not Apathetic

NotApathetic was built so that people who are planning not to vote in the UK General Election on May 5th can tell the world why. We won't try to persuade you that voting is a good or a bad idea - we're just here to record and share your explanations. Whether ideological, practical or other, any reason will do.

A lot of users would like us to mention that if you spoil your ballot paper, it will be counted. So if you want to record a vote for "none of the above", you can.

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