Lessons from the UK elections

This election result is unique in the sense that all three major political parties can claim some sort of victory in the polls. Labour obviously can take credit for winning a third straight election with a 67 seat majority, the Conservatives can claim success due to their gain in parliament of 40 odd seats, and the Liberal Democrats can be very happy as they could add a dozen seats to their tally and substantially increased their percentage of the total vote.

This election result is also unique in the sense that Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats can also all be considered as losers in the election. Tony Blair can be seen as a big loser as Labour's majority has been slashed by almost 100 seats. Blair's misguided Iraq policy is being blamed for this great debacle, and so he is now being seen as a liability to his party. MPs who have lost in the polls are blaming Blair for their defeat, and some of them are calling for his resignation. Tony Blair declared beforehand that he would not seek a fourth term in office and so it was expected that he would quit 12 to 18 months earlier than the expiry of his third term so that a new leader could take over and get enough time to prepare for the next general election. But already there are speculations in political circles that he may have to make way for his potential successor, the powerful Treasury chief Mr. Gordon Brown, much sooner than expected, as Blair's effectiveness as a leader has been greatly diminished.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Michael Howard of the Conservative party is a loser as he could not prevent a Labour victory in the polls. He could not take advantage of the widespread resentments of the people for Britain's unnecessary involvement in the Iraq war, and he acknowledged this failure in his post-election speech.

Charles Kennedy of the Liberal Democrats cannot be too happy either, as he failed to convert the Liberals' increased share of the popular vote into winning sufficient number of seats in the parliament.

Now, what can our politicians learn from this UK election? Well, while nobody expects a poster/banner/procession-free Bangladesh at election times, or that all the candidates in a constituency will stand in a line to hear the declaration of the Returning Officer and applaud the verdict of the electorate, still people of our country expect at least certain norms and political decencies as displayed by the British political leaders.

Our leaders can take note that while results were trickling in and it was apparent that the Labour party would form the next government, but with a slashed margin of at least 100 seats, Tony Bair was modest in acknowledging that the Iraq issue was a divisive one, and that Labour has listened to the people and would act wisely and sensibly. Our leaders also can take note that the main opposition leader accepted defeat and congratulated the winner despite fighting a bitter and sometimes ugly campaign.

Our leaders can also take note that the UK opposition leaders did not try to play any politics regarding the number games. The difference in the percentage of the electoral votes received between Labour and the Conservatives was less than 3 percent, but Labour got 158 seats more than the Conservatives.

But there was not a word on this aspect from the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats did not complain that by winning roughly 22 percent of the total electoral votes, that they should get not just 62 seats, but 150 seats. There was no politics here, as in the British parliamentary system, seats are won or lost on the basis of receiving votes in a particular constituencynot on the basis of total percentage of electoral votes received in the whole country.

Our election system is the same as that of the British. After our last election, we heard lot of clamour from our politicians about the relatively low number of seats the main opposition party got. despite the fact that their total electoral votes were only around 4.5 percent less than those of the victorious party. There were many instances of complaints to the various foreign delegates on this issue. These things diminish the credibility of our politics and politicians to the outside world.

In this connection, it would not be impertinent to say something about our media. It has been observed recently that our journalists are posing questions to the foreign diplomats at every opportunity about reforms in our caretaker system, and the diplomats are found replying politely that this is a domestic issue and should be resolved by the people of this country. Our learned journalists should keep in mind that such unnecessary questions belittle a country and its people. A proper question should be raised in a proper forum only.

If we can develop our political culture and can learn the art of enhancing dignity, mutual respect, and political decorummaybe that day is not far off when many countries would want to follow our lead as we now think about following the lead of British politics and their politicians.

The author is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.