Forum topic: Bambos scores an equalizer!

The Mayor of Enfield and losing candidates watch as Bambos Charalambous gives his acceptance speech after the count (Photo: James Cracknell)

Last week's general election saw the fourth successive contest between David Burrowes and Bambos Charalambous for the Enfield Southgate seat in parliament. Bambos managed to repeat his 2017 victory over his Conservative rival, bringing the overall tally up to 2:2, prompting David Burrowes to suggest that they should have a decider - though I doubt whether anyone is really keen to have another election campaign just yet!

The count, at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre, was reported on by James Cracknell of the Enfield Dispatch - the only journalist who was there to cover the outcome of the votes in the three Enfield constituencies.

In Enfield North and Edmonton the Labour candidates - Feryal Clark and Kate Osamor - both gained an absolute majority, and Bambos was only 1.5 percentage points short of one, in contrast to many other constituencies where the winners collected 40 per cent or less. Across the country as a whole the UK's first past the post system, as always, produced a seriously unjust result, unfairly boosting the number of seats won by the Conservatives and the Scottish Nationalists. In the UK as a whole, a majority of votes were cast for parties that supported a second referendum, while in Scotland the majority of voters did not support the Scottish Nationalists.  Despite this, the Conservatives claim they have a "mandate" to leave the EU without a second vote and the SNP similarly claim they have a mandate for a second independence referendum.

But even in seats where the winners had absolute majorities, such as Enfield North and Edmonton, we don't know how much tactical voting went on or how people would have voted in a genuinely proportional system. How many people voted Labour or Conservative who would really have preferred a Lib Dem or Green MP but who gave priority to the choice between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn?

This is not to take away from the victories won through the hard work of the candidates and their local parties. It's also worth pointing out that Bambos Charalambous himself is a signatory of the Good Systems Agreement, calling for proportional representation and other constitutional changes (the GSA has been signed by MPs from all parties).