Mayoral election: second preferences

One of the three elections you'll be able to vote in on Thursday is that for Lewisham Mayor. It's not a brilliant way of organising local government because it leads to too much power in one person's hands, less collaborative decision making and far less accountability. If we ever get the chance the Greens would like to see us dispose of the directly elected Mayoralty and return more power to our directly elected council.

We've got a great candidate for Mayor in Dean Walton, who is currently a Brockley councillor and has built up a good reputation of working with others and, as the Green's national treasurer, his head for figures and prioritising budgets is second to none.

I'm enthusiastic for Dean and hope to see him get a great vote.

The way the system works of course is that you get two votes, first and second preference. This allows you to vote with your principles for first choice and then the 'lesser of two evils' for second. It's quite a neat system which, for London Mayor, allowed the Green Party to promote our excellent candidate Sian Berry without harming Ken Livingstone's campaign to keep Boris Johnson out.

Lewisham Greens are not taking a position on who to vote for second preference at this election, but there's no reason why, in the spirit of mature politics that refuses to demonise the opposition we shouldn't have a personal preference on who to vote for in second place.

Personally I'll be voting Dean Walton [1] and Steve Bullock [2], not because I love Labour or think that there is a huge gap between the policies of the three old parties but because there is a question of weight and seriousness.

Steve Bullock, as Labour's Mayor, has shown time and again that he takes difficult decisions seriously and, whilst I definitely do not agree with all of the decisions he's taken, his priorities are about the effects these decisions have on the people of Lewisham not on the size of his vote.

In contrast the Lib Dems have simply never shown an ability to see politics as anything other than a vehicle for their own propaganda and Chris Maines, who seems to be a very nice person, seems extremely thin politically when placed against his Labour rival.

For me I'm glad of the opportunity that I can vote for a radical Green vision that fights against cuts in services and for decent wages for the lowest paid *and* be able to express a preference on who I'd like to see as Mayor of Lewisham if Dean doesn't quite make it. For me that second choice is Steve Bullock, although as I say there's no 'line' on this from the Greens and some will no doubt be voting for other candidates as their second choice.

Women candidates: national and locally

I was pleased to see that the Green Party is leading the way with the number of women candidates at this election. At this General Election 21% of the candidates from all the parties over all are women.

This is up from 20% in 2005 and 19% in 2001, at this rate they'll be 50% of the candidates in a mere 150 years time.

However, 33% of Green general election candidates are women. This compares well with the others parties who stand at;

30% for Labour
24% for the Tories and
21% for the Liberal Democrats (which surprised me)

This means a substantial increase of Tory or Lib Dem MPs at this election would probably mean a reduction in the number of female MPs. link

Locally we have 54 places for councillors in Lewisham.

The Greens are fielding 26 female candidates
The Lib Dems are fielding 23 female candidates.
Labour are fielding 21 female candidates.
The Tories are fielding a shockingly low 14 female candidates.

Interesting stuff.

Sights of Crofton Park

Yesterday the London launch of the Green Party's Parliamentary campaign took place in Crofton Park in front of our green Party billboard. For the first time we're standing a candidate in every London constituency and are hoping for an extremely strong result right here in Lewisham deptford of course!

Darren Johnson on the web

Just saw this YouTube video this morning of our Parliamentary candidate, Darren Johnson. I thought it was excellent, so I'm passing it along.



There is also an article about him and Lewisham Greens at Red Pepper, which is worth a read.

More general stuff about Darren can be found at Darren for Lewisham Deptford.

Don't lose your vote

I've spoken to a couple of people recently who are not on the electoral register (due to recent moves) and have told me that it's too late for them to register to vote. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact if you're not on the electoral roll you have until April 20th to ensure you can vote in the coming election.

April 20th is also the deadline for registering for a postal vote, so if you're going to be away or very busy on the day of the election you can still vote by contacting the council's elections department and registering for a postal vote. You don't need to give a reason you just need to apply.

To register to vote call 020 8314 6086 or check out the council website for details.

April fools in Lewisham

I decided to be a responsible blogger this year and not write an April Fools post for Green Crofton Park. However, not everyone is the upstanding pillar of society that I am.

For example, the Green Party's Mayoral candidate Cllr Dean Walton has proposed turning Ladywell Pool into an eco-aquarium. Nice.

Brockley Central also choose today to announce they'd be running a Mayoral candidate. I particularly enjoyed their promise to be 'draconian'. Oh it's like Thatcher all over again!

The South London press has announced councils will be using left over tea bags and biscuits to fill in the capital's pot holes. Could be worse.

Haven't spotted any other Lewisham Fools - but if I missed someone, let me know.

Funny what people vote on

When I was canvassing yesterday I spoke to a lovely old fella on the doorstep. He told me he hadn't decided who he was voting for yet but it was probably between the Greens and Labour.

As you do we fell to chatting about politics and the conversation quickly turned to Ancient Rome. After a lengthy discussion on Sulla he looked at me and said "Do you know what, I think I will vote Green this time."

I'm not sure how representative he is, but after giving it some thought I can exclusively reveal that our next newsletter's lead item will be entitled "Scandal as Labour silent on decline of Roman Empire".

I tell you, we can't lose. Tackling the issues that Crofton residents most care about!