To begin with, Apologies for Absence
We planned to have this piece ready weeks ago, In January we put in a request to the Electoral Commission asking when the 2019 Electoral datasets were being published and they advised March. It didn’t happen, so another request last week got the reply, “hopefully by the end of this month”.
While all this was going on, along came Covid 19, and, as it has well and truly disrupted all aspects of life for you and I, there is no reason to assume it hasn’t disrupted those of the people working at the Electoral Commission. In any event we wish them well through these difficult times, the data can wait, we shall start without it.
The reason we are writing this piece is because somebody posted a tweet with this small graphic attached, it had a comment which we happen to agree with. There was a small table of numbers attached to this tweet and we will go into that shortly
Our system is rotten and we hope to show some of the many reasons why it is in this report. Before we get involved in numbers though it is a good time to take a quick look at the systems that we use to elect our representatives.
Do we truly live in a Democracy?
We have always understood the UK electoral system to be a rigged game, after all why wouldn’t it be? The prize for the winner is Power, Control and Vast Wealth and when those three old school pals get together the mischief begins.
This ancient W.C. Fields quote fits like a Kid glove.
“A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for”
Its not just us either, a large number of people believe our electoral systems are rigged, but whenever there is an effort to change the system for something different, Proportional Representation for example, we have to have a vote on it…and guess what?
They rig that too!
We have chosen the US and UK systems to look at here, to compare notes and see the similarities, though the rest of this report will focus on the UK elections since WWII. Why the US too?
#1 The US insists it is the world leader, but the rest of the world does not get to vote on it.
#2 The US is heavily involved in dragging the UK out of the European Union. It has also positioned highly influential lobby groups all over the planet, especially in London.
It is a fact of life that both US and UK election systems always deliver one horse in a two-horse race. When was the last time the US had a President who was not a Republican or a Democrat? When was the last time the UK had a Government that was not Labour or Tory?
Once we accept this condition, we can see the ideological gap between those 2 horses is as narrow as to almost make no difference. Blue or Red, Red or Blue, either way you get the same people running both nations. Happy to bomb, happy to take resources that do not belong to them, happy to change governments they do not like, and replace them with governments that they can “work with”.
By keeping that ideological gap narrow it is also much easier to manipulate public opinion and sway a vote from one side to the other. We get the illusion of having a democratic say in what goes on, but we get no such thing. Red and Blue Horse DNA is remarkably similar, both have lots of $ & £ chromosomes.
The US Model-The Electoral College
The Electoral College, is a group of top Republicans and Democrats(The only 2 horses in town) who control the gaming of selecting candidates for office and ensuring that nobody outside of those two parties gets a look in. Anyone watching the current election round of US Primaries involving Trump, Biden and Sanders could be excused for thinking the system is a total fix.
There is nothing remotely grassroots about US politics, both US Blue and Red require huge amounts of money to function. Bernie Sanders got a real grassroots movement going and millions of people contributed to his campaign. For a while it was quiet as he built up the momentum he needed, but when it looked like he was actually in with a chance his own party mowed the is lawn for him, placing establishment figure Joe Biden in his place
US politics are all about money, but with such big large sums at stake its impossible to keep the politics separated from big corruption. “Make me an offer I cannot refuse” is the rule of the game. Every dollar that billionaires contribute to campaign funds has a price tag attached, a favour to be called in later. Representing ordinary people, or the environment and safety of the planet comes last in this race.
Some of us have lived through 70+ years of Red and Blue governments in the US, and in our opinion the only real example of a politician trying to work for the people stopped at 1300 hrs CST, 22nd November 1963, the same time as J.F.Kennedys heartbeat.
US Democracy seems to have expired at the same time.
It seems that US power only needs 3 basic strategies for dealing with opposition.
- Smear and destroy it
- Or Buy it
- Or Kill it.
Trump got to the White House while his rival Hillary Clinton, polled 3 million votes more than him. The Media activity surrounding that election was frantic, with leaked Emails, accusations of Russian involvement, the whole 9 Yards as they say. The result was that the Establishment won and Democracy lost, same as it ever was.
The United Kingdom. First Past the Post (FPTP)
The UK has a slightly different model of pseudo Democracy called ‘First Past the Post’ or FPTP, guaranteed to produce a Tory (Blue) or a Labour (Red) Government, exactly like the Electoral College in the US, only the colours have been reversed just to confuse the public.
FPTP guarantees that same 2 horse race, using a system designed and built by Industrialists and the Aristocracy, 2 groups of people not famous for looking after “The People”. We cannot be surprised then when we see them looking after their own interests first.
What I am really saying here is that the FPTP system itself is the ultimate version of Vote Rigging in the UK.
Do not just take our word for it.
Since WW2, there have been 21 General Elections in the UK, with 12 Conservative wins, 8 Labour and one Labour minority government of 8 months.
Below is the main table of the results of each General Election since WWII which forms the basis for much of what follows
The Very Closeness of Winning
Our contention that the 2 main parties are always involved in a close-run race is borne out by the numbers.
- The 2 numbers in Red differ by a mere 4% , they are total number of votes cast for each party over 7 decades. Many of us lived through all of them and never saw that amount of “closeness” between Tory and Labour on the ground, but then we were not supposed to, were we?
- Comparing the average number of seats won by either party the difference is 2 (Tory 299/Labour 297) Can it get much closer over 21 Elections?
- Comparing the Highest number of seats won by either party the difference is 21 (Tory 397/Labour 418)
- Comparing the lowest number of seats won by each party over the period is 36 (Tory 166/Labour 202)
It seems to indicate, in a very tenuous and perverse way, that getting into Downing Street is much less about the strength of the winning party than it is about the weakness of the losing party.
(It reminds me of a weather system that works in a similar manner. Low pressure is the active component, High Pressure areas are passive, they are simply “there” because the air surrounding them is at a lower atmospheric pressure. Ed.)
In the last 75 years we have experienced numerous Financial crashes, Wars, conflicts, immense technological progress, scandals of all sorts and societal upheavals. It seems incredible then that an island dwelling nation of supposedly independent strong-minded people would just be satisfied to jog along in the middle of the road. Mind you, we have recently been told that we are a herd by a Tory government so why the surprise?
A few more observations taken from the main table above,
- In 2019 Corbyn got…10.3 million votes and took 203 seats
- In 2005 Blair got only 9.5 Million votes yet took 355 seats
- In 2001 Blair got 10.7 Million votes yet took 424 seats
- In 2019 Corbyn still got 10.3 Million votes and still only 203 Seats.
In the second example the difference in the number of votes was 429,346 or 4% out of 32 Million votes cast.
The big difference though is in the number of seats. Jeremy Corbyn only attained 48% of the seats that Blair did, yet only scored 4% less votes than Blair.
Funny that.
Are we are supposed to believe that over an 18-year period something so drastic changed in the system that would mean 221 MP’s (One third ) owe their seats, or the loss of them, to a mere 429,000 votes? Excuse me while I pop down to the bottom of our garden to consult with the Fairies
It is simply not possible, even under a distinctly bent FPTP system, that this result reflects an election that was properly conducted. Every time we have asked people who are supposedly in the know, we were told it was simply down to a rising population. Really? Prove it!
The “shape” of the UK population and its Electorate
Simple chart showing the rise in population in the UK over 75 years.
- Between 1950 and 2001 (Red Line) the UK grew by +/- 10 Million people at a steady rate, and the Electorate increased in size at much the same rate.
- Between 2001 and 2019 the population increased by 6.5 Million, though the electorate only grew at half that rate, probably accounted for by Immigration
- Since WWII, the average number of *Non-Voters is 11.3 Million per election. You can see from the chart (Green Check area) that since 1992, the number of Non-Voting people grew quickly for a couple of years and remained high ever since in comparison to the previous 50 years.
- The average Non-Vote over the last 8 elections hitting 15 Million, representing 31% of the eligible electorate not exercising their democratic rights, either in person, by proxy or postally
*Non-Voters = People who qualify to vote (Electorate) but did not for some reason
Back on point, I see nothing in the rising population numbers that could account for the discrepancies between the Blair and Corbyn votes I mentioned earlier. So, what else could explain our problems then?
“It is just the FPTP system kicking in, nothing to see here, nothing odd or peculiar, it is what you expect when you have such majorities at play.”
Go on then……we’ll bite.
But over the 75 years there have also been sizeable majorities on both sides, and as the chart above shows, from 1945 to 1992 (Between the vertical black markers) the number of votes either party needed to capture a seat remained within a steady band of around 12,000 to 15,000 votes per seat, appearing to show quite a stable system.
After 1992 though, things changed rapidly. At the ’97 Election the Tories had to get 58,288 votes to win a seat and Labour only needed 32,340. The biggest gap seen in 50 years.
Blair got into Downing Street, and that nice orderly corridor between Labour and Tory went haywire as you can see from the chart. {I blame the Algorithms myself}.
The data for this chart came from the large green table above, look at the VPS columns, or Votes Per Seat, and see how the numbers stack up from 97 on, I have given them a yellow highlight.
Surely an electoral system with properly controlled boundaries and constituencies should not be throwing up such wildly dissimilar seat allocations for vote numbers that are so remarkably similar. We can only conclude then that the controls do not work or have been “Adjusted” somehow.
A few more bullets
- For the first 15 post war elections (Green shading) Turnout averaged 76%.
- In Election 16/2001 there was a considerable drop in the turn out to 59%
- 6 subsequent elections have shown equally poor turnouts averaging 65%…an 11% drop.
Note – It was quite a marked drop at a specific time, rather than a gradual decline. Something caused this, things donot just “Happen” in the world of politics.
- For 50 years more than half the population turned out to vote but in 2001 the figure dropped below half and has stayed there ever since.
- In 2005, the winning Labour party was elected by a mere 15.8% of the UK population, a truly democratic nation in thought if not in deed.
It is significant that there is little or no discussion in the electoral process of the simple fact that when we vote we also vote for those who cannot vote. The children have a right to a voice through their parents, as do the infirm and the elderly who may not be physically or mentally able to vote. The screaming headlines never make a mention of this silent minority, but it amounts to millions of people.
We no longer trust the electoral system for it is indeed rotten, even if we cannot explain to you how the conjuring trick is done, we can still see the result
When you manage an entire nations future and wealth upon such a rotten foundation you build in an awful lot of trouble. We now have a situation where the UK is even more divided now than at any other time in our history. Every vote we have had lately, including the Brexit advisory referendum that was not at all advisory, was rigged to produce the outcome we have now. Money was thrown at it, our personal Data was mined by groping about in our Facebook and Twitter pages to target us with “The Message”. Dirt was thrown and mud smeared all over honest people by billionaire media owners. The torture is cold blooded and calculated, these billionaires are ruthless for they have a lot to lose. Nothing personal about it….it is just Taking care of Business. The politicians have learned all they know from the 1920’s Gangsters, right down to the tax avoidance measures.
It is clear to us that the respectable face of democracy is just a make-up job, only held in place by a thin smear of grease paint. The closeness of a 2-horse race gets you so excited in the race itself that you don not even notice you are watching an illusion. This closeness is deliberately constructed in accordance with our Knife Edge theory, for when you have a close-run race it takes little effort to tip the balance one way or another.
Something very fishy has been going on in our elections over the last 20 years and the figures above show it.
Tipping the Electoral scales
Wikipedia has dedicated a page to Electoral Fraud, so we will just summarise the main aspects here.
Firstly, Wiki defines the problem thus –
“Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election fraud, election manipulation or vote rigging, is illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of the favoured candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates, or both.
Let us have a look at a basic list of main points, it is worth noting here that all the below interventions apply to illegal interference. Modern technology has come a long way, and the Law has not always kept up with it. There is little mention of Data Mining here. It does mention Tampering with voting machines, but nowhere does it mention Manufacturing dodgy voting machines, and that is a whole new story.
1 Electorate manipulation
Manipulation of demography
while writing this a doozle of an example popped up in todays news.
In the current US elections, Texas has shut down dozens of Polling stations, and quite by accident of course, they are predominantly in the poorer areas where the folks may be more inclined to vote for Bernie Sanders than a Billionaire in a Ten Gallon Hat. The next time the US points a finger at the elections in Venezuela I shall be remembering this.
Disenfranchisement
Put simply, making sure groups of people are not legally allowed to vote. Race, Criminal record, legalities of immigration records, all serve to disqualify large numbers of people from voting, in the US primaries last year some bright spark labelled a group of Native Americans as Immigrants to ensure they were unable to vote
Division of opposition support
This is going on all the time. Dem/Reps in the US and Tory/Lab in the UK have a billion dollar business running 24/7 to make sure that anyone, other than the pre-selected choice, who looks like getting too far in front during an election campaign is swiftly brought to heel. How?
2 Intimidation
It is still with us but technology has taken over that piece of turf
3 Vote buying
Billions change hands every year doing this in the US, it is considered standard practice. It is Corruption in its purest form and needs to be addressed pronto!
4 Disinformation
We quote here directly from Wiki, who seem to think that disinformation is a relatively small item…Not a mention of Rupert Murdoch or the Billionaire press cartel
“People may distribute false or misleading information in order to affect the outcome of an election.[1] For example, in the Chilean presidential election of 1970, the U.S. government’s Central Intelligence Agency used “black propaganda”—materials purporting to be from various political parties—to sow discord between members of a coalition between socialists and communists
Wikipedia don’t seem to have expanded the Disinformation slot quite wide enough to allow for “Concerted attack on person or persons involved in Election campaigns by very rich people who don’t want a Socialist government to be returned in case they may have to pay their taxes”
5 Misleading or confusing ballot papers
6 Ballot Stuffing
7 Mis-recording of Votes
8 Misuse of Proxy Votes
9 Destruction or Invalidation of ballots
10 Tampering with electronic voting systems
11 Voter impersonation
12 Artificial Results
To a greater or lesser extent all the above are out there but we have a couple of our own to add to the Wiki list though
13 Opinion Polling
Just add a little Public Opinion grease to the Poll, and its usually enough to slip the winners into Downing Street, even if its via the Tradesman’s Entrance.
14 Parasitoid Invasion
WHAT??
(It is one that Wikipedia missed, I dont know how they can have done that Ed.)
Its pretty simple really, the term comes from this little chap, which can be bought in a lot of Garden centres these days
This is the Parasitoid Wasp laying its eggs inside the caterpillar where they will hatch and feed from it causing its death.
A similar event took place in the late 20th Century. The British Labour party, traditionally representing the workers of the UK, (the people that actually put the Great into Great Britain), suffered an invasion of a parasitoid nature and was hollowed out by followers of the Neoliberal Cult.
Probably the largest single case of Election fraud ever perpetrated. The attack continues to this day, but the Labour party seem to be fighting off the attack and may yet undergo metamorphosis into a new vibrant young party immune from further such invasions. Here is hoping
…and just to make sure we win the election …
If elections are correctly installed in a democratic nation, and run by impartial, and disinterested parties, with strict oversight over vote gathering and counting the results it must be impossible for an election to be defrauded…. Should it not?
Yes, it jolly well should, but let us ignore all that Impartiality cobblers and focus on Profit margin which is after all what life is all about. So now all that tedious Election paperwork has been outsourced to a Private company, (Tories are the government of small government)
It is of no consequence that the company happens to be linked to a former Tory Minister, it has no effect on its impartiality…Honest!
Well that is a relief, for at long last we can doze off knowing that accurate and impartial Election administration is No1 Priority for the Tory party.
Election Rigging? Just because we run the company that runs the elections, how dare you?, we have an excellent record on Transparency in Politics
Another great site by the Dangerous Globe
