A song for Nick Griffin on the occasion of a wipe out

A good election for Labour   but the icing on the cake is that it looks that the BNP is set to lose all of the seats it was defending. Fuck you Griffin!

Oh poor BNP (hahahahaha)

I'm glad to see Labour making reasonable gains in England and Wales (I'm glad I'm not a party member in Scotland though!) while the Lib Dems are getting a pounding.

What does please me intensely is that so far the BNP has lost all six council seats declared so far (five in Stoke and one in Boston). Oh how sad. Perhaps they will now crawl back under the stone they came from

Post script. the BNP's descent into oblivion continues from last year when they also took a pounding in the local elections. Of the 12 BNP seats up for re-election they lost 10. Two too few in my opinion but good enough!

Burmese elections will be free and fair – official!

Burmese foreign minister keeps straight face when declaring elections will be free and fair!

Well according to Burma's foreign minister U Nyan Win who has declared that the junta is committed to a "free and fair'' vote in the upcoming national election on November 7; one which will be "a critical phase of its (Burma’s) political transformation process.''

In a speech to the UN General Assembly he said that more than 3,000 candidates from 37 parties would take part in the vote for 1,171 parliamentary seats.

"Such a large participation made it crystal clear that the elections become virtually inclusive,'' the minister said. "With its ample experiences and lessons learned in holding multiparty general elections in the past history, Burma is confident in its ability to conduct the elections in an orderly manner.

"Whatever the challenges facing us, we are committed to do our best for the successful holding of the free and fair general elections for the best interest of the country and its people.''

Well there you go. I bet you’re all convinced by U Nyan Win’s reassuring words… I know I am! I daresay some fellow leftists will continue to view the junta as a good anti imperialistic, anti American bunch, while, as usual, solipsist libertarians will not give a damn… Hiho

When I say reassured, I mean reassured that the man is talking bollocks. There are four words missing from this election: AUNG, SAN, SUU and KYI.

As for experience of multiparty elections, the vermin in charge of that blighted country have experience of ignoring any election they find inconvenient (to wit a 1990 landslide for Aung San Suu Kyi)

Come 8 November I can predict that the Union Solidarity and Development Party will be major winners. That this party is headed by Thein Sein, the current Prime Minister and thus beloved of the junta is a mere coincidence

Women outnumber men in Rwandan parliament

According to the BBC Rwanda is set to make history by becoming the first country where women will outnumber men in parliament. Women have taken 44 out of 80 seats so far - The number could rise if three seats reserved for the disabled and youth representatives go to females.

Rwanda’s post-genocide constitution ensures a 30% quota for female MPs, already held the record for the most women in parliament. In the outgoing parliament, 48.8% of MPs were women – This was already the world's highest rate. It is now set to be at least 55%.

Women who stood in seats reserved for female candidates were not allowed to represent a party. "The problems of women are understood much better, much better by women themselves," voter Anne Kayitesi told the BBC's Focus on Africa.

"You see men, especially in our culture, men used to think that women are there to be in the house, cook food, look after the children... but the real problems of a family are known by a woman and when they do it, they help a country to get much better."

Although proportion of women in the Rwandan parliament is assisted by a quota it is still an important landmark. Sweden has the second highest representation with 47%; Cuba is third at 43.2% (There is little worth, however, in being elected to a toothless rubber-stamping assembly whether male or female). Just 19.5% of British MPs are women while female representation in the US Congress and Senate stands at 16.8% and 16% respectively. Ireland trails the likes of Djibouti and Cameroon with just 22 female TDs out of a total of 166.

Click here for a comprehensive list female representation by nation.

Cabinet Office minister Ed Miliband has started work on Labour's manifesto for the next general election. Apparently, he has been asked to prepare a draft document ahead of the party's annual conference in September.

Recent opinion polls indicate that Labour has once again taken a lead over the Tories fuelling speculation of a snap election.A poll in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph puts Labour support on 40%, 7% ahead of the Tories.

A run of polls putting Labour well ahead and a desire on Brown’s behalf for his own electoral mandate may well mean an election this year. There’s no prospect of unseating Rosindell sadly....

Hobson’s choice, Damascus

High above the streets of Damascus Bashar al-Assad gazed benignly down from giant hoardings on his people. Banners praised "our Bashar", defender of sovereignty and stability. Nightly street parties, concerts, dabke dancing and rallies created a festive, jubilee-like atmosphere in the run-up to yesterday's presidential referendum.

No one was surprised that celebrations were taking place before a vote was cast; Assad was, the only candidate nominated by the ruling Ba'ath party, a party which greets opposition with a smile and a castration. The event is described in Arabic as "renewing the pledge of allegiance" (perhaps the ballot paper had a big “Ja” on it).

"We have our own style of democracy and we are proud of it," the information minister, Mohsen Bilal (isn’t it called dictatorship?) In 2000 President Assad created a dynasty by succeeding his father, Hafez. The referendum produced a comfortable 97.3% vote in favour. The official result this time is unlikely to stray far from that.

President Assad appears popular particularly with younger people, but there is no opinion and fear of the Mukhabarat secret police is pervasive. There is a joke in circulation about the man who once dared to tick the no box and was dragged back by his terrified mother to beg to be allowed to vote again. "Don't worry," the officials reply. "We've changed it for you - but just this once."

Talk of change, though, is met with warnings about Islamist extremism. There have been Islamist uprisings in Syria in the 60s and the 80s. Islamism is a threat to the Assad regime (there have been armed Islamist uprisings in Syria before) - Syrian jihadis who have returned from Iraq are a threat but perhaps Assad could show a little consistency by not supporting Hamas and Hezbollah (but then “my enemy’s enemy” and all that. ...).

I suppose because there were no elections in London this year, the local elections passed me by to fair extent. Last year was pretty grim on the whole: locally we saw Labour all but wiped out in Havering. This year’s results don’t exactly make cheerful reading but they could have been so much worse (honest, they could have been much, much worse!).

The Scottish Nationalists are the largest party in Scotland, but will need a three party coalition for form a majority government. We are no longer has a majority in Wales but can rule in coalition with the Lib Dems (if they wish to play ball that is). The Tories did well in the South and the Midlands but not so well in the North so Cameron is probably feeling quite pleased with himself at the moment.

How do we view this? A final kick at a PM who was on the way out anyway? Perhaps, but will our prospects improve if Brown takes over? (I say if, but there seems to be little prospect at the moment of anyone else succeeding Blair) It is very possible that the electorate will simply see Brown’s succession as a case of “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss” and we will be out on our ear in 2009 or 2010. On the other hand if Brown can make some headway in the next two years in some of the issues where we are seen as deficient (eg the NHS, perception of crime) then a fourth election victory is not an impossible prospect.

Blackadder - Election special

Blackadder is easily my favourite comedy. This clip is from the first episode of the Blackadder the third featuring the Dunny on the Wold by election. Enjoy. My damned ribs are playing up again - inflamed cartilage. I had better not laugh...