Friday 6 May 2011

Late Results

I thought we had "come into line" in Northern Ireland re vote counting. The counting for yesterday's polls begins this morning: Why didn't the counting commence immediately after the election poll yesterday evening? Is it some kind of stubbornness on the part of the authorities; or some arcane regulation pertaining to the Province which brings us out of line with everyone else?

10 comments :

John Self said...

Laziness! Lack of effort!

It's been a low-key campaign and a low turnout is reported so perhaps a lackadaisical count is appropriate! I had just two candidates come to my door, and very little election literature. (Annoyingly, the stuff that did come was specifically addressed to me, so I had to tear off the personal details before I could recycle it. Do parties think I'm more likely to be swayed by their bumf just because they've stickered it with my name and address?)

Anonymous said...

Silly provincial attitude; no doubt they all needed to go home for saccharine tea and an Ulster Fry!

W.

Timothy Belmont said...

Well I've been nonplussed by it all, I'm afraid. The old interest is no longer there, to the same extent.

Those ridiculous long voting papers, times two: By the time you place 1,2,3, etc you realize you missed one and it's too late!

John Self said...

I must admit that, while I am normally very strong in urging everyone to vote, this time I came close to not bothering myself. I don't know why. It was only that Mrs S and I decided to go down to the polling station together as part of a family walk that I did.

Anonymous said...

I assume that in NI you weren't asked to vote on the AV issue (not least of all since the Province uses a PR system already, right?). It amazed me in the run-up to the election that no-one (by which I mean Westminster politicians and London-based commentators) pointed out that part of the UK already has (for a long time) been using a proportional representation mode of voting (....for better or worse). If ever you needed an example of the near to zero visibility of NI in terms of "mainland" politics, that is it.
Cheers,
J

Timothy Belmont said...

We had three voting papers: Yes/No to AV; NI Assembly; and Local Councils.

Anonymous said...

6 pm on the day after the election and not a single result in. You would think we are still in the dark ages..

Timothy Belmont said...

Sack the Chief Electoral Officer.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I really think someone ought to lose their job over this.

W.

Anonymous said...

In a number of job interviews I've had to wait a couple of days or more to find out how I did.

So why can't these potential politicians wait a few days to find out if they're back on the Stormont gravy train.