With three days to go, the polls still indicate that the most likely outcome of Thursday’s election will be a hung parliament. Many commentators argue that this will be a game-changing election, and certainly many hope that it will be.
But it was reported today that if the Tories gain the most seats, as seems likely, David Cameron will eschew a coalition with the Lib Dems in favour of a minority government, in which he “dares” the other parties to trigger an election by refusing to pass his emergency Budget. This would be a barrier to giving the outmoded political system the overhaul it needs.
Indeed, if nothing else, this election is likely to shine a spotlight on the multitude of flaws inherent in our election system. It is likely to produce a huge mismatch between votes cast and seats won, which, in the current climate of anger at the whole political class, will not be well received by the electorate.
In this spirit, a range of democracy campaign groups are planning a protest in Westminster on Saturday at 2pm. The aim is for citizens to be present physically as the wrangling over who will take power unfolds. Protesters, demanding proportional representation and wearing purple, the colour of suffrage, want to take advantage of the mood for change, calling for an overhaul of the old politics with a new era of government for the people.
It would certainly be a shame if we missed this opportunity for change.
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