Britain votes for European Parliament

Commonwealth citizens do not have to be U.K. citizens to vote

Polling booth no 19 of Queen’s Gate ward, located in the silent recesses of a theological college on Kensington Square in London’s Royal Borough of Chelsea and Kensington, has just over 1000 registered voters.

On May 22nd, only around 40 per cent turned up to vote in the elections to the European Parliament and local councils, a turnout that is considered pretty decent by the polling officer.

No election fuss

An Indian-come-lately, like myself, would disagree. The unenthusiastic response is compounded by the absence of any election fuss.

What is an election after all that does not have long queues, scuffles, police personnel at the ready, election bric-a-brac floating around, and the din from loudspeakers?

Sniffiness turns to admiration however when I learn that I can vote, thanks to the remarkably inclusive eligibility criteria for registering as a voter in the U.K.

In fact, Commonwealth citizens do not have to be U.K. citizens to vote in any election — from council polls up to the parliamentary elections. This perhaps explains the comparable success of the British variant of multiculturalism.

Giving residents a stake in determining the politics of the country they live in, regardless of whether they are temporary or permanent, is an enlightened way of strengthening the process of assimilation.

Therefore, the 46 million people who are eligible to vote on May 22 for candidates to 73 seats in the European Parliament and 4216 local council seats are not necessarily citizens of this country, but are deemed to have a stake in its future as long as they live here.

With general elections to be held in May 2015, the major political parties see the results of these elections as the first major test of public opinion.

2009 elections In the last European elections held in 2009, Conservatives got the biggest U.K. share of the vote with 27.7 per cent, the anti-EU United Kingdom Independent Party (UKIP) came second with 16.5 per cent, the Labour Party was third with 15.7 per cent, the Liberal Democrats got 13.7 per cent, the Green Party 8.6 per cent and the far-right British National Party 6.2 per cent.

The UKIP, under Nigel Farage, has conducted the loudest campaign amongst the major political contenders, and also the most divisive.

The results of the council polls will start coming in from the night of May 22.

The European Parliament election results will be announced on Sunday, once elections in all 28 member states are completed.