ARE elections overplayed as a tool of representative democracy, as some claim? Or they are about getting past the post in each seat making the issue of public representation fluid but keeping a system going which many are used to and comfortable.
These are not new assertions but more about how the issues will not go away, no matter how loudly people proclaim the efficiency of such methods to be ruled by law based on the verdict of the majority. But what does majority mean in today鈥檚 electoral world?
These questions have surfaced once more after two major elections of global significance in two parts of the world far from each other 鈥� India and the United Kingdom. However, while in India, like in the rest of the colonial world, all tools of governance are beyond question as they are derived from colonialism, the UK elections are now facing queries. Questions are beginning in the colonial motherland itself about the method although for the moment, colonial children are keeping quiet.
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India and BJP鈥檚 popularity
WHILE the Bharatiya Janata Party won the last election before the current one by a huge margin, the vote share was not huge. The BJP and its allies were hovering around 47+ per cent while the Congress and its allies had 40+ per cent, hardly an overwhelming gap. It was the big argument against the BJP and its allies鈥� claim that its agenda was ideological and acceptable to all.
This time around, the BJP did not have a majority of voters in its favour. Its vote share was 42.5 per cent but it won enough to form a government because of the seat by seat electoral method.
On the other hand, the Congress-led alliance won 40.6 per cent, only 1.9 per cent less in popular votes than the BJP but gained much fewer seats. So, basically, the concept of majority votes and popularity is not a national issue that never happens but is based on a collection of many constituencies put together.
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UK elections
KEIR Starmer鈥檚 Labour Party won 412 seats out of a total of 650 seats (65 per cent) in the House of Commons. However, its popular vote share was only 34 per cent. Its popular vote share is almost half of its seats won. And, of course, this has led to many questions not just about Labour鈥檚 right to rule but about the system itself.
On the other hand, Reform UK, a far-right, anti-immigration party, got 14 per cent of the votes but only four seats, or 0.6 per cent of the total. The Conservative Party has won a bit more of the vote, about 24 per cent, but has taken 121 seats (18 per cent of seats). Thus, by winning only 4 per cent more of the total the Reform party votes, they have taken 117 more seats. One can call this voting method of deciding rulers many positives and negatives, but it does not seem very representative.
Perhaps, the oddest case is that of the Liberal democrats who got 12 per cent of the votes, 2 per cent less than the Reform party, and gained 41 seats, 37 more seats. Thus, voting as an indicator of public approval is not a very reliable indicator. It is post-feudal; it is true but not necessarily much more than that.
A quick list of parties and their electoral performance in the United Kingdom is given here. Labour Party (35 per cent vote share, 412 seats); Conservative Party (24 per cent vote share, 121 seats); Liberal Democrats (12 per cent vote share, 71 seats); Reform UK (14 per cent vote share, 4 seats); Green Party (7 per cent vote share, 4 seats); Scottish National Party (2 per cent vote share, 9 seats); Sinn Fein (0.7 per cent vote share, 7 seats); and Plaid Cymru (0.7 per cent vote share, 4 seats).
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What sort of trend is this?
PEOPLE are discussing electoral trends in Europe and predicting a right-wing sweep as some European countries have seen such coalitions voted to power. However, the UK elections show that the ideology-based analytical framework is not so functional and public opinion is far more complex. The big rise is that of the Reform party which is very right and anti-immigrant and was considered a political pariah but now has the third highest vote share. In fact, Conservatives and Reforms together have 38 per cent of the vote share, 4 per cent higher vote than that of the victorious Labour party.
The Green Party has more than 1 seat for the first time and 7 per cent vote share is a promising upward trend and it may get better but the Social Democrats look towards being marginalised in the public opinion space but have won many more seats 鈥� 71 than the Reform, right and the left, Green together, 8.
Four candidates of Bangladeshi origins won the election 鈥� all from the Labour Party and their vote share in each case is more than 40 per cent, something no party has got. Clearly, the electoral process as a tool of 鈥榙emocracy鈥� needs a rethink.
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Afsan Chowdhury is a researcher and journalist.
