An ode to the One Party State

Things are heating up ahead of next Tuesday’s vote. And if some of the invective we’ve heard is anything to go by, our opponents are looking pretty desperate.

Given the poverty of their arguments our opponents are often inclined to reach for a man with a moustache when voting reform rears its head. It's altogether easier than making a case for our broken elections.

Reading MP Rob Wilson got things started with a uniquely tasteless blog piece on Friday, comparing voting reform to the work of Robert Mugabe. Still that beats the usual lazy Weimar Germany nonsense we have to contend with.
 
No wonder Rob Wilson’s feeling a little uncomfortable about voting reform, sitting in such a marginal seat like Reading East. But we certainly hope there are no Zimbabwean émigrés resident in Reading who have to put up with monumentally crass references to “ZanuPF” tactics.
 
First-Past-the-Post is nice and uncomplicated. It gives the impression the residents of Reading East are united behind Rob, when 2/3 actually wanted other candidates in the last election.
 
First-Past-the-Post elections have enabled our own governments to act as One Party States, ignoring powerless opposition as they steamroller legislation through the lobbies. Tasteless references to dictators can’t disguise a Member of Parliament unprepared to make a real case to his voters.
 
 “ZaNu Labour” may have seemed a clever phrase to coin, but reveals Rob Wilson’s ignorance about politics at Home and abroad, and his contempt for the voters of Reading East. Wilson can show some grace by indicating his support for a referendum, and letting the people of Reading make the choice themselves.