I got to vote in my first European Election last Thursday.
I didn’t have to, of course. Voting isn’t compulsory here in the UK like it is back home. But I got a kick out of the thought that my vote would have reverberations beyond the borders of the country I voted in.
Well, it would have if I hadn’t decided to cast my vote for The Roman Party Ave!
I had no idea what they stood for. Or who the hell Jean-Louis Pascual, their sole candidate, is. But confronted with the usual bunch of expense fiddling toffs, I was drawn to the party’s jaunty appendix of Ave!
I have since discovered that Jean-Louis is a French taxi driver from Reading and that the party’s sole guiding policy is ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ Apparently that involves opening direct discussions with Vladimir Putin to outsource British prisons (and prisoners) to unused gulags in the former Soviet Union. With the savings made sent directly to the NHS.
I just checked The Guardians interactive guide to the European elections and discovered that 5,449 other people voted for the Roman Party as well. They garnered 0.23% of the vote, sadly short of the numbers needed to get am MEP. (But enough, I think, for Jean-Louis to get back his deposit).
Looks like Vladimir’s going to have to find another use for the gulags.
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The Roman Party didn’t seem to be on the list in Belgium, otherwise I might have voted for them too.
In Sweden, they had a “Pirates party”, which stands for free illegal downloading, and guess what… they did get an MEP.
Peter,
I note that in Oz you have to vote by law and I know that this has probably been discussed to death in Oz but….surely it is a persons democratic right NOT to vote, if they so wish?
Mick
I voted for The Roman Party Ave! mostly cause I used to serve the bloke when I worked for the Halifax in Reading and hes a really nice fella!