Dear Editor:
I write in response to the excellent May 12 story by Jane Seyd, Voter Turnout a Concern.
There is another reason why people do not vote: Voter apathy and cynicism caused in large measure by political party-affiliated candidates having become mere apologists and messengers for partisan powers-that-be - their respective party leaders and various anonymous backroom advisers.
These candidates parrot "talking points" written by faceless, nameless others and, if elected, vote on proposed legislation as directed by powerful party apparatchiks who lurk in the shadows. These candidates are political eunuchs, precluded as they are by today's excessive party discipline from exercising their own judgment and not, therefore, able to be accountable to either their conscience or their constituents. The recently released documentary film, Whipped, by former B.C.-based journalist Sean Holman captures the essence of this pathetic phenomenon brilliantly.
Conversely, when a credible independent candidate is in the race, at least one who stands a reasonable chance of winning, voter turnout tends to increase dramatically. Witness Delta South where, in the 2009 provincial election, independent Vicki Huntington fought an ultimately successful two-way battle with B.C. Liberal Attorney-General, Wally Oppal. On election day, fully 68 per cent of registered electors cast a ballot in that constituency compared to the province-wide average of only 55 per cent.
There is an urgent need for a variety of democratic reforms in British Columbia, improvements to rules respecting campaign finance being an important one. To my mind, by far the most valuable reform would be to the rules respecting the candidate nomination process. The inclusion in our Election Act of a form of primary election respecting political party nominations, to be conducted by Elections BC officials, would go a long way to ensuring that, once elected, MLAs would owe their principal allegiance to their constituents and not to their respective parties.
David O. Marley, West Vancouver
