The 2005 General Election Campaign and the Democratic Party

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The 2005 General Election Campaign and the Democratic Party The 2005 general election campaign has been a defective democratic event in many ways. Yet beneath the surface there has echoed a national conversation of passion and seriousness. Thoughtful people have debated for months with families, friends and colleagues - and with themselves - about how to vote in this contest. Much of the electorate is still undecided. It is an imperfect choice conducted under the imperfect electoral system, which is nevertheless the only one that we have got. What can be decided as the main issues everyone is debating on? Let's be honest: it is difficult. Some issues seem particularly important to some but to others, trivial. The main issues - considered by most - which all three parties are concerned with in particular, are that of Health, asylum/immigration, education, war on terrorism/Iraq, crime and pensions. The main parties consisting of Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats all deal with the same latter issues. The current Government: Labour, is concentrating on gaining a strong economy with higher living standards. They are also committed to attaining faster NHS treatment to individuals. Labour is also committed to bettering results at schools, as they believe good education is a fundamental right to every citizen. The party is also calling for tougher border protection and for safer communities. They have also pledged to give more aid to Africa. However the main priorities of the Conservatives are to lower taxes through savings on bureaucracy, bring about tough... ... middle of paper ... ...ies and their salience to the voter's own concerns. Leading the list was health care. Two people in three said that this was very important for their decision on how to vote, six in ten mentioned education, more than half crime and pensions. (Mori.com, 2005c) Iraq was just 14th on the list of the 16 issues (Mori.com, 2005c) with only one person in six saying it was important to them as an issue. But the results show that it played particularly strongly among students, who delivered several seats from Labour to the Liberal Democrats on conspicuously high swings, and in constituencies where there is a large Muslim presence. Labour's vote fell by three points and the Liberal Democrats' vote rose by four, above the average in these constituencies. For most other people Iraq was an 'image issue', not an 'issue issue'.

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