The May 5 London elections

'One party state': A third of candidates have ALREADY won in this London council because no one is standing against them

Not the healthiest sign for local democracy

The Labour party is already guaranteed 15 seats in an East London borough because there aren't enough opposition candidates facing them. Labour controls every single seat in Barking and Dagenham - and in some wards candidates aren’t even bothering to run against them.

The one-party-takes all voting system used for local elections in England - where those with the most votes win, and all other votes are ignored - sometimes means candidates and parties don’t bother standing in areas where they don’t think they’re likely to win.

David Green, a spokesperson for the Supervote campaign group - which wants a change in the voting system - said last month: “In addition to providing undemocratic representation, this old-fashioned system discourages voter participation in local politics generally because in many communities, the result is a foregone conclusion. There are councils in England where one party can rule forever without effective opposition to hold the administration to account, breeding complacency, inefficiency and corruption.”

https://www.mylondon.news/news/east-london-news/local-elections-2022-vote-london-23855232