Elections Cancelled: 90,000 denied any say in local elections Following the publication of candidate notices for the May 2023 English local elections, it is clear that the scourge of uncontested and guaranteed seats will once again limit the democratic choices of hundreds of thousands... Posted 02 May 2023
Uncontested seats mean thousands of voters will be denied their democratic rights Next week, on Thursday, 2 May, voters in many parts of England will go to the polls to elect their local representatives. Elections will take place in urban metropolitan boroughs, unitary authorities and district councils,... Posted 25 Apr 2019
A month before polling day, nearly 100 candidates in Wales have already won Voting is an essential part of democratic life – from Mayoral contests to Westminster elections. Yet in an alarming number of places next month, voters in Wales will be denied a vote. That’s not because... Posted 11 Apr 2017
Don’t let fewer Welsh County Councils mean less democracy for Wales Today, Public Services Minister Leighton Andrews announces the new proposed map for Local Authorities in Wales, with plans to reduce the number of County Councils from 22 to 8 or 9. This follows the recent... Posted 17 Jun 2015
Election Cancelled – The Curse of Uncontested Seats There has been a shocking increase in the number of uncontested seats in some English councils up for election this May. The Eden District Council in Cumbria has already declared 21 of its 38 available... Posted 01 May 2015
The new rotten boroughs? How would you like to live in a one party state? You may wonder why anyone would ask given that this is the UK, not North Korea. After all, we can all vote tomorrow if... Posted 21 May 2014
38,000 denied a vote Tens of thousands of people across England are being denied a vote in next week’s local elections, owing to the undemocratic phenomenon of uncontested seats. In this year’s elections there are seven wards which are... Posted 16 May 2014
Why 32,000 people will be denied a vote in May On Thursday 6 May, 27 county councils and 8 unitary authorities in England and Anglesey in Wales will hold elections. Sadly, they give us yet another example of the woeful state of local government. The... Posted 10 Apr 2013
STV’s Second Outing In 2007 Scotland began using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) for local government elections. The First Past the Post system – once used for all public elections in mainland Britain – was consigned to history.... Posted 27 Feb 2013