May Elections: Going Local

Published: Wednesday, April 30th 2008

Leader, The Guardian
Few people vote. Councillors are unrepresentative. Many councils are virtually one-party states. Almost no one knows what councils do and nobody can explain why some places get two councils and others one, and some councils are elected over four years and others all at once. This is an unhappy state of affairs, not just because it bewilders the public, but because it shows how little care has been taken to make local democracy work.
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Women have the vote, why aren't they represented?

Published: Tuesday, April 29th 2008

Corinne Abrams, The Times

Nearly 80 years after women were given the same voting rights as men, just 31 per cent of the candidates vying for council seats in this Thursday's local elections will be women. Despite all the measures to enfranchise women and ensure equal representation, women still aren't securing many bums on seats. In the London assembly elections, of 151 candidates across all parties, just 52 of the candidates are women

Local elections: the democratic deficit

Published: Monday, April 28th 2008

The Times Leader
Effective democracy depends on the active participation of voters. Sadly, fewer and fewer people are exercising their democratic rights and the legitimacy of all aspects of government suffers as a result. General election turnouts have fallen from 84 per cent in 1950 to just above, and just below, 60 per cent in 2005 and 2001 respectively. Participation in local polls is worse. Expectations are so low that returning officers will feel pleased if four out of ten voters turn out in this week's local elections
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I'd vote for a system to revitalise our democracy in decay

Published: Monday, April 21st 2008

Lewis Baston, Yorkshire Post

AM Peter Black clears first hurdle to changing voting system

Published: Friday, April 18th 2008

Martin Shipton, Western Mail
A political row over how councillors are elected is about to be revived after a Liberal Democrat AM won an Assembly ballot to introduce his own lawmaking proposal.
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Closing the gender gap: Why women now reign in Spain

Published: Friday, April 11th 2008

Andy McSmith, The Independent
It seems unthinkable over here, but there are now more women than men in the Spanish cabinet. So why is British politics so male-dominated compared to the rest of Europe?
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