I thought I’d take a look at how the different parties are launching their campaigns here in the North West England region of the UK.
Despite the elections being just over a month away, I haven’t received any leaflets from any party, or seen posters or canvassers yet. Unless you purposefully look for information, it really seems like the European elections aren’t happening (a quick Q & A around the folk sat in my living room supports this theory).
I will be voting Liberal Democrat (ALDE) and I am a member, however unproud (which isn’t a word) I may be. I’m not ashamed mind - I’m just not actively proud. I joined for £1 because I’m a student. I don’t completely trust the party but I believe they are perhaps the least slimy of our three main parties, and they put in a lot of effort on a local level, so there you go.
For my membership, at least twice a month, I get local Lib Dem publications in the post, as well as the “Liberal Democrats winning here!” poster for my window.
In the last month the tone of the letters and emails I get sent has changed slightly. I have what can either be called smear-campaigning or a public warning on a leaflet I received yesterday. It tells me about MEPs that have abused expenses, for example.
There is also something which I, personally, have never seen as a tactic. Here is the introduction to an email I got a month ago:
Dear Helena
The European Elections are set for Thursday 4th June. The BNP are standing candidates in all regions. They know that the usual low turn-out in European elections will serve them well. They gain ground when the electorate is apathetic.
Basically, the BNP don’t want you to vote on 4th June.
So, if you’re still holding out for a more liberal Europe, I’d like to make a special plea that you do vote!
If you are not familiar with the BNP, here is their mini-manifesto which (bearing in mind it has been cleaned up to make the party seem moderate) makes it obvious enough what kind of far-right nationalists they are.
So this campaign isn’t asking you to vote Lib Dem, it’s saying: VOTE! Vote please! Otherwise those horrible *******s could gain power! I was amused.
So what are Labour (EPLP) up to in my region? Well, they seem to have gone down the glitz and glamour route. They’ve got Eddie Izzard, popular stand-up transvestite and actor, on their side! Which is a shame because I love Eddie with a passion. Impressive, though, and hopefully will at least serve to raise awareness about European politics.
The Conservatives’ spring forum brought up the Lisbon treaty and our lack of referendum. They don’t want a European constitution and they don’t want to travel to Strasbourg, estimating that the 12 trips a year is costing us £140 million.
UKIP have only posted two campaign news items this year – supporting British farmers and fishermen.
Then there’s the threat of the BNP. A couple of weeks ago I went to a fairground, near the seaside, and ventured into an arcade with my other-half and a friend. I don’t know what the rest of Europe calls a “2p machine” but you put a 2 pence coin in at the top and it falls down.. oh heck it’s one of these. My friend got 3 coins with BNP stickers on them!
A week later we went to Blackpool, and the same thing happened. It’s probably the only reference to a political party that I’ve seen this year that wasn’t on the news.
Having never experienced one in my adult life, is it normal for European election campaigns to start so late? Or is it just the lonely North West England that is an election wasteland?
Alternatively, will they maybe leave it until the last minute, so as to have their campaigns as fresh as possible in the minds of voters? I’m not convinced that this tactic will tempt people away from their televisions and towards the polling stations.
(10 votes, average: 3.60 out of 5)
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Hi, Helena
It’s not just the UK, unfortunately! Everyone in Italy is focusing on the local elections in May - and the European elections have received no attention.
Just yesterday Katrina wrote an interesting piece about the threat of the BNP getting in if you don’t vote in the European elections:
http://elections.thinkaboutit.eu/2009/04/wheres-the-hype/
I have to say, it definitely makes me want to vote!
Joe
I am confirming Josef’s findings and until now also over here the campaigning is invisible and totally subjugated to national topics. Also web campaigning can be seen as a national event-we just have to send some people that are already present on the political ground to EU from different, their personal or party reasons…Is this all that politics can offer today? I am thinking about the words of one of the most prominent political theorists over here: “Politics is today wrapped in a paper of an ordinary firm/company and as such put on the market and dependent on market mechanisms…”
How do they expect the European Union to get respect from its citizens in member states without education and publicity! And how does anybody expect us to write about it!
I remember seeing some billboard designs, however rubbish they were, that were supposed to be advertising the EU, but still no sign of them! What a waste of money!