Well, I lost again, but am going to claim a moral victory after having seen my vote increase by over 50% from four years ago. As you may have guessed my candidature was more in the way of showing the flag (or this case the rose) than in expectation of winning. However, elsewhere we doubled our representation on the council, so only another eight years and we'll be in charge.
I was standing for Otley Town Council, which is too insignificant to form part of the various running totals of councils and councillors which have been published over the last couple of days. A sort-of relative of mine (*) was elected on Thursday to Ribble Valley council as an independent. Now, Ribble Valley is a proper council and he was therefore included in all the analyses. I don't have sufficient forbearance to refrain from pointing out that I actually got more votes than he did. The raw figures being banded about by the media need fairly careful interpretation before any conclusions are drawn.
* He and I used to be married to two sisters, but now we're not.
In Broxbourne, despite my small contribution, the blue voters (mainly what I would term as working class) voted overwhelmingly “Conservative” all of whom were returned with over 50% of the vote. My vote really is wasted - oh for proportional representation!
ReplyDeleteDon
But what about Hertsmere? For obvious reasons that very positive news caught my eye and I took a look at the detailed results. I noticed that one Rosemary Gilligan stood as an independent in Shenley, but didn't manage to get elected.
DeleteWow - didn’t see that! She was once Conservative Mayor of Borehamwood! I met Terry Hertiage (nee Larkin) at the Ideal Home Show in March. She and her husband who is Mayor of Harpenden is still very active in the Conservative party. Mind you their MP Bim Afoulemi seems almost one of the good guys. The fact that St Albans is Libdem probably keeps him honest!
DeleteInteresting here - we ( Babergh ) are in the neighbouring authority to Mid Suffolk, where the Greens have taken control of their first ever council. My ward ( Lavenham ) elected conservatives by a mile, but they suffered serious losses overall and Les Vertes are now the largest party in a 'NOC' council. Something is happening in darkest Suffolk...
ReplyDeleteAnyway I should also say good for you, you have done a civic good by standing, taken part in democracy and allowed others to express their views - albeit not enough of them. Better luck next time!