Low turnout at historic British police vote
UK: Votes were being counted on Friday for Britain's first ever
elected police and crime commissioners, but turnout was reported to be
as low as 10 percent in some areas, a historic low.
The new officials will set budgets and priorities and have the power
to sack their chief constables in the biggest shake-up in British
policing for 50 years, but the elections have failed to capture the
public's imagination.
Independent campaigning organisation the Electoral Reform Society
(ERS) called Thursday's vote a “comedy of errors” and pointed to polling
stations “standing empty”.
Twitter users reported 10 percent turnout in some areas, below the
ERS's predicted 18.5 percent, which in itself would be the lowest
turnout in British polling history.
The society's chief executive, Katie Ghose, said the interior
ministry had “operated under the assumption that 'if you build it they
will come'.
“Democracy just doesn't work that way.
“There have been avoidable errors at every step, and those
responsible should be held to account,” she added.
Commissioners will be appointed for all 41 police forces across
England and Wales except in London.
The commissioners, who will serve four-year terms, will be expected
to hold the force to account and act as a public face for crime-fighting
in each area.
Critics have accused the government of failing to publicise the vote,
a key manifesto promise of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative
party before it came to power in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats
in 2010.
AFP |