June 06, 2009

BNP and far right 2009 elections

Local elections

The British National Party put forward around 450 candidates in the county council and unitary authority elections but came away with just three seats. One was in Burnley, Lancashire, where the BNP has had borough councillors ever since 2002. Another was in North West Leicestershire, where the BNP has had two district councillors since 2007.

In both Burnley and NW Leicestershire the newly elected councillors were already BNP borough/district councillors, and in particular they were among the handful of BNP councillors who actively carry out their role and are known in their communities.

The third BNP win was in South Oxhey, a far-right stronghold for very many years.

In most counties the BNP polled abysmally, coming bottom or next to bottom of the list of candidates. There were moderately good percentages for the BNP in pockets of the East Midlands, but poor results pretty much across the board in Yorkshire and The Humber, the South West and the South East. In Essex, the only county where the BNP contested every division, it topped 20% only in one Basildon and one Epping Forest division.

One must, however, remember in comparing these results with previous years that many areas that have in the past returned a strong BNP vote, such as Stoke-on-Trent and Bradford, did not have local elections this year.

Most of the divisions were electing one councillor. In those where two, three or even four were elected, and voters had as many votes as the seats to be filled, we have calculated percentages based on a total consisting of the sum of the highest vote received by each party plus all independent votes. This makes the percentages more comparable with those achieved in single-member divisions.

European election

The British National Party presented a full slate of 69 European election candidates in the 11 mainland Britain regions. There were none in Northern Ireland. Its main target regions were the North West, where the lead candidate was Nick Griffin, the party leader, and the West Midlands, where Simon Darby, the deputy leader, headed the list.

Secondary BNP target regions were Yorkshire and The Humber (Andrew Brons), the East of England (Eddy Butler) and the East Midlands (“Reverend” Robert West).

The election uses the d’Hondt system of proportional representation, under which each voter casts one vote for a party list or independent individual. The percentage vote the BNP needs to get elected varies from region to region, depending on the number of MEP seats available. It cannot be determined precisely because it depends on how the other parties poll in comparison, but in the North West, Griffin could get elected if the BNP takes 8.5% of the regional vote.

This has been the BNP’s biggest election effort ever. The party has poured money into the campaign, sensing a chance of victory in the European election and all the funding that would bring. Against the fascist party was the biggest and most professional HOPE not hate campaign we have ever staged. Throughout the campaign we have worked with the media to inform the public about the real face behind the BNP’s lies and racism. We have worked with Blue State Digital to reach hundreds of thousands of people in the biggest online political campaign in British history. And above all, thousands of people, many who have never campaigned politically before, have distributed newspapers and leaflets, held events, told their friends and got involved. There has been a huge determination to hold the BNP back and celebrate our Britain, our diverse and free Britain. In the wait between polling day and the announcement of the European election results, we hope we have succeeded in keeping the BNP out of Europe and the respectability and funding European seats would bring it.

HOPE not hate

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Up to three BNP MEPs expected with a significant increase in votes on 2004.

Anonymous said...

"Up to three BNP MEPs expected with a significant increase in votes on 2004"


They will be lucky to get one.

Anonymous said...

Up to three? It was seven a few days ago - retreating before the results even come out, so it doesn't look like such a fiasco and waste of money.

James Hutchings said...

The phrase 'up to' includes the number zero.

Anonymous said...

So.... the lead stories on the BNP website today - top of the list - D Day celebrations (not a word about the elections!), second, no surprise - allegations of election fraud.

By the end of today we should have degenerated to the shape shifting lizards tampering with EU official’s minds, the great conspiracy or whatever.

They are just pathetic!

Anonymous said...

Do you know something we dont?

James Hutchings said...

Anonymous, if you're a BNP supporter, there are almost limitless numbers of things that we know that you don't.

Marianne said...

Griffin doesn't have high hopes. On Friday night he wrote: "We will be glad to improve upon the 4.9 percent we polled in the 2004 European elections. Everyone must bear that figure in mind as our starting base."

Anonymous said...

"Will BNP Win One or Four Euro Seats? An Analysis of Local Results
The British National Party stands to take at least one European parliamentary seat and has a chance of taking another... "

To be fair there is a mention of the elections, see quote above. Obviously didnt look very hard. Currently it is the 2nd article down on the left hand side. The stories you refer to are on the
2nd column in.

Wrong section

P said...

Lancaster UAF have an excellent blog.

I've been posting tweets to promote various posts on this blog during the election period.

I've also found it invaluable in writing my own blog:
'River's Stream': http://www.blogstoday.co.uk/bloghome.aspx?username=River

Keep up the struggle.
If we do get a fascist MEP, it must be a wakeup call to all those who cherish democracy. We will need to get far better organised, right across Lancashire.

The voters of Padiham and Burnley would be full of revulsion if they realised the true policies of the party they have elected, we need to get the message across that the problems they face have much better answers than turning on people from ethnic minorities.

No Pasaran!

iliacus said...

In both Burnley & Oxhey the BNP won with remarkably small shares of the vote - 30.47% and 29.48% respectively.

Around 70% in each seat voted non-Fascist!

Perhaps Alternative Vote (AV) has its attractions!

Anonymous said...

labour won the last election on 36 per cent so whats your point

Kev Scott loves The Jam said...

Sorry I have not posted this earlier... I'v only just stopped laughing since I saw it, yesterday!!

On the BNP one or four seats article:
"The BNP’s statistical analysis department has taken all of the available local election results from each region...."

ROFL..... Is that Darby and a calculator?

Anonymous said...

Riversider, very pleased you find the blog informative, some of us have been reading and posting on here for a few years now, thats why I find it a little difficult to swallow when you talk about a "wake up call"

We have been ringing that alarm bell for ages, but, in their arrogance the majority of members of the big 3 in parliament have just pushed the snooze button.

There are some very notable exceptions to this of course Jon Cruddas for one.

tulip

Antifascist said...

'Lancaster UAF have an excellent blog.'

Very kind of you, thanks. It's Lancaster Unity, by the way. ;-)

P said...

Sorry to offend - my intention was merely to praise.

I include myself among those that needed a 'wake up call'.

Even if they don't get an MEP, The election of a fascist county councillor should be ample to sound alarm bells across the county.