compulsory voting

The Leader of the Commons Baff (Geoff) Hoon has called for the introduction of compulsory voting at general elections to reverse the sharp decline in voter turnout.

Mr Hoon warned that "serial non-voters" - particularly among younger people and in the more deprived areas - could threaten the long-term legitimacy of the political system.

Yes, Mr Hoon and lets look at your "serial none voting"

between the 7th of June 2001 and 11 march 2005 Baff Hoon attended 563 votes in parliament out of 1246, i.e. 45.2%.

In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research, Mr Hoon said that the turnout at the last general election of 61.5 per cent was way below the 75 per cent plus which had been the norm for most of the post war period. With voting rates highest among older voters, he said that the situation was likely to get worse as the years progressed unless action was taken to stem the decline.

I agree and I think, that any proposed legislation should include the compulsory attendance of those MP's elected to attend the voting process in Parliament too.

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