Greens in Brentwood have called for a change to a fairer voting system to better reflect the wishes of the electorate at future local elections.
More than 1,300 people voted for Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party candidates in the May 2 ballot across nine wards in Brentwood Borough. But without a proportional system they counted for nothing in the final tally of the election of councillors, with three winning in each individual Council ward rather than a vote-based split across all 13 wards.
“1,382 people in Brentwood voted Green and wanted environmental issues and protection of green space at the centre of council policy making, which is far more than any individual candidate received. But these people have no representation on the council,” said David Hale, candidate in Pilgrims Hatch.
“The Green Party would introduce a far fairer system of Proportional Representation so that everyone’s voice is heard and no vote could be considered ‘wasted’.”
Candidates polling less than half that total were elected as one of 39 on the new Council. The lowest winning vote was for Jason Gibson in Hutton East, with the Conservative candidate getting 597 votes; while his party colleague Soni Sunger was elected with 604 votes in Brizes, Stondon Massey and South Weald ward. The largest vote count was recorded by Liberal Democrat Barry Aspinell in Pilgrims Hatch (1,015).
Paul Jeater, B&CGP candidate in Brentwood North last week, added: “If you look at the nine wards where we stood, we were given a vote by 1,382 residents. Although they may have cast votes for other parties, they at least indicated that they wanted a Green Councillor.
“The ‘First Past The Post’ system meant that did not occur.”
The Green Party believes that elections for all levels of government should be by systems that provide for high proportionality, few wasted votes and good accountability, so that the political aspirations and views of each area are represented.