Author: Sal and Simon
Ventnor West Parish Elections: VentnorBlog Coverage
Friday, 30th November, 2007 at 3:51 pm, Isle of Wight
We love the ideals of democracy - that people can collectively be represented by a small number of people, and those elected people will act in the interest of the group, not that of people or groups who wish to exert undue influence.
The People entrust those representatives to the position - and in return they represent The People.
This makes us all the more excited that there are five candidates standing for election in the Ventnor West seat on the Town Council - the highest number of candidates for a single seat on the Island in living memory and possibly for the whole of the UK.
Candidates have their say
We’ve written to all of the candidates telling them that we at VentnorBlog hope to give each of them the opportunity to tell the people who will be voting for them exactly what they stand for, and how they intend to represent them.
Each of them have responded to the idea very positively.
In the lead up to the election day - 13 December - we plan to present two postings over separate days for each of them. The first being written by them, outlining their vision for the role, the second a short interview.
We’ve got a number of questions that we’ve been working on, but thought it would be a great idea to let Ventnor ask their own questions too. To that end, we’ve started a thread on the Forum so you can post questions for possible inclusion too - but let’s keep them ’sensible’ please.
Candidate’s Corner
Alongside all of the above, we’ll also be setting up a special Board on the VentnorBlog Forum, giving an opportunity to people to post questions to the candidates, so they can understand where they stand on issues.
Again, trivial questions about their choice of sock colour won’t be appropriate - don’t forget that these people, in common with the rest of the town councillors, will be donating their time freely.
We hope you all enjoy the coverage.
Go for a Record
Normally turnout for Parish elections are very low - this lead to the possibility of the best candidate not getting in, as the numbers to swing the vote can be so small.
Ventnor already has the record for the largest number of candidates, let’s try and make this the largest turnout for a Parish election too and get Ventnor into the record books!
Email This Story To A Friend
November 30th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
It’s a pity that in some cases they only represent SOME of the people
November 30th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I see that two of the candidates do not live in the Ward and live in Albert Street. I hope that does not count against them, though I fear it might.
November 30th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
I think that Rob, Town Centre Manager, would make an ideal candidate for the Ventnor West seat on the Town Council. If he could clear our area of dog sh1te, then he gets my vote!
December 1st, 2007 at 9:05 am
Maybe the winner will replace it with bullsh*te
December 1st, 2007 at 11:56 am
I agree with Cider Dave. I saw Rob in the High Street last week and he put the fear of God up me. I great big, tall bloke with a skinhead and tattoo’s. I wouldn’t mess with him and I bet he will deal with all those pesky kids running around frightening the old folk.
December 4th, 2007 at 10:57 am
re farmers boy. Election turnouts are small at approx 40% if the weather is good so only about 400 of the 1070 voters will vote in this election. Why don’t we have proportional representation for the whole town which would yield a more representative selection? only the Whitehall mandarins could answer this question since the whole of western europe and most of the rest of the world including Scotland and Wales and Ireland all have it - but not England , the so called ‘cradle of democracy’
December 4th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
@ Louis
Judged on some of the things that you have said about a lot of people on the VB, I am surprised that you have put yourself up for election.