'Best way to beat the BNP is to vote Green'

[British and Proud]

'Best way to beat the BNP is to vote Green'

Respect candidate urges public to back rival at European elections
By Andrew Grice, Political Editor

Monday, 4 May 2009


DAVID ASHDOWN
Peter Cranie is campaigning against the BNP's Nick Griffin

An anti-racism campaigner has emerged as the candidate who could stop the British National Party chairman Nick Griffin winning a seat in the European Parliament next month.

Peter Cranie has been chosen by the Green Party to stand in the North-west, where the BNP's hopes of winning its first seats in a nationwide election are highest. Respect, the left-wing party headed by the Bethnal Green and Bow MP George Galloway, has stood aside in the region and is urging its supporters to vote Green to stop the BNP.

The Greens, who already have two MEPs, are making a major push in the North-west. They are convinced that that the proportional representation (PR) system used in the 4 June elections makes voting Green the best way of denying the BNP victory and the significant boost in funds from the Strasbourg parliament that would follow.

Continued - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/best-way-to-beat-the-bnp-is-to-vote-green-1678539.html

[Groenewolf]

At best this could draw away votes from the bigger parties and therefore making a BNP victory more likely.

[British and Proud]

At best this could draw away votes from the bigger parties and therefore making a BNP victory more likely.

Yes I hadn't thought of that. I just considered how alike all the other political parties are:

- pro-immigration
- pro-multiculturalism
- pro-EU (with the exception of UKIP and to some extent the Tories)
- anti-capital punishment

Obviously they all fear the BNP and recently have been advising the electorate to vote for any of the mainstream parties and not us, which implies there's only subtle differences between them all. We are the only real alternative.

[Freomæg]

At best this could draw away votes from the bigger parties and therefore making a BNP victory more likely.
Yes, I think almost every potential BNP voter is more committed to voting BNP than the supporters of any other parties. BNP supporters aren't going to be disuaded, and due to the proportional representation system*, I think this could backfire on Green/Respect. It would mean that yes, Green are almost certain to receive more votes than the BNP, but come the next stage of seat-allocation Respect won't be there to challenge the BNP's total.

*
Under the PR formula, all votes received in a region are added up and the first seat is given to the party with the highest number. The votes for that party are then divided by the number of seats it has already won in the region plus one (for example, if a party has won one seat, its remaining votes would be divided by two). The party which then has the highest number of votes gets the next seat. This process continues until all the seats are allocated.