why i'm going to vote for the candidate - not the party

why i'm going to vote for the candidate - not the party, originally uploaded by jamesburden.

Here in the UK we have a General Election coming up in the next few weeks. It looks to be one of the closest run elections for many years. Various polls more or less put all three parties within a few points of each other. There are undoubtedly policy differences between the parties and to be frank there are things about each party that I find attractive and unattractive. So who should I vote for?

Corruption and dishonesty have been two features of our political ranks in recent years and this puts many off voting at all. In my constituency the Conservatives have won every election since 1945. At the last election they still had more votes than the other two main parties combined. Yet our Conservative candidate is one who was caught up in the expenses scandal and simply does not appear to be trustworthy.

In what other walk of life would you appoint someone to a position who you knew to be of questionable morals or who spent all their promotional energy pointing out faults in other people? In what other walk of life would you not appoint the candidate who appeared the most positive, enthusiastic, genuine and honest?

The candidate I vote for is unlikely to win. Maybe my vote is “wasted”, but at least I know that I’ve voted for someone who is willing to focus on issues, who is passionate, who is direct and honest.

Regardless of your support or empathy with a political party I urge you to vote for the candidate and not the party. Let’s rid our political representatives of those who would abuse the system. If we continue to have self-serving people in these positions of responsibility our country will never progress in the way that it could.

So beware. It may be the dark horse that wins the election.