Richmond by-election
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It will be in this by-election because we have an active branch in the area. Anyway, the sum involved in contesting an election is not that much (£500 for the election deposit and another £500 or so for leaflets for the post office to distribute free to every household). That was not the major decision in the vote not to contest by-elections.The other parties have started already and the date has not even been announced (1 December has been mentioned as a possibility). I got a leaflet through my door this morning from the Lib Dems and passed a group of Green Party canvassers on my way to the shops. Also saw someone sporting a UKIP badge. Since Richmond Park is the constituency with both the highest turnout and the highest Remain vote in the referendum (meaning that 60% of the electorate voted to Remain), they could well end up being beaten by Mr Bobby here if he chooses to stand.
ALB wrote:(£500 for the election deposit and another £500 or so for leaflets for the post office to distribute free to every household).Is this possible? Pay to have a manefesto delivered even tho' we are not standing? Money well spent!
Not quite. The free postal distribution is only for candidates but you still have to pay for the leaflets to be printed. That's what I meant the second £500 was for. Anybody can distribute leaflets at an election but if you don't have a candidate you have to pay for them to be distributed either by Royal Mail or otherwise commercially (unless you do this yourself).
This is going to be an unusual by-election. The Greens say they won't be standing and are urging voters to back the LibDens while UKIP are backing the outgoing MP Goldsmith (despite the fact that he's clearly one of the "globalised elite" they claim to be against) who is standing as a Nimby candidate. It seems that the line-up is going to be Brexiteer Goldsmith versus the pro-EU LibDem candidate, a sort of second referendum.The date has now been fixed for Thursday 1 December. West London branch decided at its meeting on Tuesday to produce a leaflet and hold a stall in Richmond one Saturday, on 19 and/or 26 November (to be decided at our next branch meeting on 15 November). Detailsof exactly where and when will be given on the World Socialist Movement section of this site.
We now know the date and candidates. It's Thursday 1 December and there are 8 candidates, which is low for a by-election. There's the outgoing MP (Goldsmith), the Liberals, Labour. Since the Greens and UKIP are not contesting (calling for a vote, respectively for the LibDems and Goldsmith) the popular saying of yesteryear lives again :
Quote:Labour, Liberal, TorySame old fucking storyOnly Goldsmith is not standing as a Tory but as a Nimby. The other candidates are: the nasty Christian Peoples Alliance (which wants to ban abortion, gay marriage, and sex that's not for procreation), the Monster Raving Loony Party, two independents and a rich eccentric with more money than sense.The LibDems fancy they can win and are pouring resources and people into the campaign. I've already had two of their canvassers knock on my door and had six leaflets from them. They are trying to turn it into a referendum against "hard Brexit". Goldsmith, like his dad nororious asset-stripper Sir James Goldsmith who founded and financed the Referendum Party in the 1997 general election (and who Private Eye dubbed "golden balls" because he was always suing them), is a Brexiteer.We shan't be contesting but we will be doing something, eg holding a lterature stall, to be decided at West London branch meeting on Tuesday.
ALB wrote:We shan't be contesting but we will be doing something, eg holding a lterature stall, to be decided at West London branch meeting on Tuesday.May I suggest stocking badges, t-shirts, CDs and books. The people of Richmond can likely stretch to something more substantial than a pamphlet. Maybe calendars or posters too.
https://cabnet.richmond.gov.uk/mgElectionAreaResults.aspx?ID=81&RPID=503020385DescriptionNumberUnmarked or void for uncertainty56Voting for more candidates than the voter is entitled to21Writing or mark by which the voter could be identified1Total rejected78Very low spoilt ballot rate, still, a handful in thee for us, no doubt.
Party members votes will have been counted among those "void for uncertainty". This is the standard practice if anything is written on the ballot paper even if it is quite clear what the voter meant, eg "None of the Above". In my case, I wrote the word SOCIALISM in red in the box for each candidate (and one outside as there were 8 candidates but the word socialism has 9 letters). I suppose their logic is that it is uncertain which candidate you want to vote for. In some cases, eg where the x has been placed over two boxes, this will be the case. But in most cases it is quote clear that the voters intended to vote for none or the candidates or, the same thing, against them all.
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