In Chelsea where I have been living in London for 35 years, I opted to vote for the Lib Dem woman candidate (I read her name for the first time as I went into the voting booth and forgot it as I came out). In Chelsea, the Conservative candidate always wins, and I personally voted Conservative over the past twenty years. However, I complied with my kids' request this time to support the minority party, since I assumed that my vote will probably not affect the outcome, and that is what happened indeed. I went to the polling station with my daughter. At the entrance, there was only one young woman journalist with a small microphone, conducting brief interviews with some of those who where exiting. I searched in vain for someone with a pack of pounds to buy votes, like I used to see in the polling stations in the Southern Metn, but I saw none. I did not even notice any policemen in the area or around it. I presented the paper ballot that I received by mail with my name on it. The clerk then accepted it without requesting my ID card or passport to verify that I am the same Khazen, and repeated the same with my daughter. I then cast two votes, one for the district's MP and another for the local (municipal) council and left. I cannot comprehend how legislative elections can be held without vote-buying and without some people carrying and using firearms, with the ensuing casualties and injuries. During the municipal elections in al-Hadath Beirut suburb (where rival candidates were often from the same family), we used to witness attacks by knives in the Church courtyard. Then, when the time came for legislative elections, people became soon divided into bitter foes, and accusations of fraud started even before the polling began. If Dr. Pierre Dakkache were a candidate in Chelsea, I would have most certainly voted for him, as I never voted for anyone else in Lebanon since he began his career as an independent candidate, and even when he became a prominent member of the winning [electoral] lists. However, I ended up in London voting for a young woman, and I do not even know her name. But to her credit, she appears in her pictures to be a rather pretty young woman. Why am I mocking a subject that should be important in a major country that is a permanent member of the UN Security Council? The reason is that I, as an Arab journalist who claims to be patriotic, find no issue in this regard that may interest the reader of this column for me to analyze ad nauseam. The Tories won but did not secure a majority, and Labour have been in power for 13 years. There are no differences when it comes to foreign policy between the two parties. For instance, the former Prime Minister Tony Blair blindly supported U.S policies in the Middle East and participated in America's neo-colonial wars, while his successor Gordon Brown maintained the same level of support for U.S policies. As for the Conservative Party, it announced when it was in the opposition – and will reiterate the same again in power soon- that it insists on maintaining the transatlantic ‘special relationship', which means in plain English that they will support Israel against the Palestinians and all Arabs and Muslims. The Middle East question was not emphasized much during the British elections, although it is a focal issue in America. It thus only occupied a paragraph in the foreign policy debates that focused on the relationship with Europe, and possibly the allocations of the armed forces after it emerged that they have shortages in their equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan. I understand that the economy is the dominant topic in the election campaigns. While it is always important in all countries, it deserves even further emphasis during a global financial crisis. However, I also found here that there are no significant differences between the two parties, as both announced that they will increase both direct and indirect taxes, as well as customs and municipal levees in all their forms. This in fact has been an ongoing trend for years now, to the extent that I have no friends left in London to play cards with (although I have one friend remaining for Backgammon). The British ignored the Middle East during the elections to focus, after the economy, on healthcare, social welfare, the environment and immigration –whether the further restriction thereof or otherwise – and also on reforming the House of Lords, and many other issues that the Arab reader will probably not be interested in. I even thought about writing about the age of the candidates, as there are many young men and women running, but then concluded that my readers will probably not be interested in that either, since they are not thinking of marrying a British MP. If I had to make a last serious point here, it would be that the fact that the Tories could not secure a majority means that they will need to work on a coalition. While logic stipulates that there will be a Labour-Lib Dem coalition, a closer look reveals that the Lib Dem party has not won any elections in 104 years, and that it had a coalition with Labour in the opposition previously, but that did not last very long. (In truth, the Lib Dem party was named thus after a number of Labour figures defected and joined the Liberal Party, and so the word Democrat was added). Add to that the fact that Nick Clegg is not on good terms with Gordon Brown and is publicly opposed to him. What this all means is that the chances of a Labour-Lib Dem coalition are not that strong. In other words, everything is possible. In fact, it is wiser not to vote at all, because this way, one can avert assuming his share of responsibility for the failure of the next government – if he had voted for it -, and if he had voted for the defeated partym then he would have done nothing but lose along with it. [email protected]
