OK.
Technically, you're right. We don't vote for a Prime Minister. Technically, we don't even vote for a party. Technically, we vote for the person we want to represent us in parliament regardless of their political persuasion.

But though the above is technically correct, the reality is, it's bollocks.

The reality is people vote mainly for who they want to lead the country and, to do that, you have to vote in the person who represents that person's party in your constituency.

So technically you're right, in reality you're wrong.

I win.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 14:56, 2 replies)

Nope
People vote for the party, not the leader. People do not say 'I'm voting for Brown/Cameron' - they say 'I'm voting for Labour/Conservatives'. It takes a remarkable character - either fantastic or odious - to change Joe Q Public's established voting pattern. People who have voted Labour/Tory/Monster Raving Loony all ther lives are not uncommon - and they've not carefully weighed up the relative merits of successive leaders.

The only reason they have to vote for a party at all is that independents tend to get fuck all done. So you pick the party whose ideals most closely resemble your own, and vote for it.

We do not have a president, and only a confirmed simpleton would cast their vote on this basis.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 15:09, closed)

Have You Seen
the readership figures for the Sun/Daily Fail/Mirror?

The country is filled with confirmed simpletons.

And yes, I accept that some people will vote their party affiliation - mainly members of that party - I still say that most people vote based on who's leading that party.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 15:14, closed)

No, I said that people who are voting for the party leader
are doing it wrong because they don't know how things actually work. I'm technically right because I *am* right. You're saying "yeah, but that's what people do, so you're wrong in reality".

Doesn't make sense.
( Kroney, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 15:12, closed)

So...

Do people vote for a party? Or do they vote for the name of a person on a ballot paper?

You can't elect "Labour" to be your member of parliament. But you can elect the person who represents the Labour Party.

Using your semantics, nobody can vote for which party they want to run the country.

In this, I'm technically right (which is the basis of you argument) but wrong in the way people use their vote.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 15:20, closed)

Actually, further down
I've already admitted this was the case as point out by Happy Phantom. The difference is that you're voting for the representative of the party in your area based on the party manifesto. It's still the case that it's the party, not the public that vote for party leaders.

Whether or not this needs to reformed is not what I'm arguing, I'm arguing that this is the way it is, which it is. Anybody who thinks otherwise is wrong, which they are.

By voting, by no interpretation, are you voting for the party leader.
( Kroney, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 15:26, closed)

See My Answer Below

( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Tue 13 Apr 2010, 15:28, closed)