Election an indictment of North’s non-voters

THE Northern poll threw up some interesting results and showed the state of democratic elections in general.

Of those entitled to vote, 63.1% did so out of a total of 1,097,526 registered voters. The DUP got 25.7% of the votes cast. But of those registered, as opposed to those who voted, only 16.21% opted for them. Likewise for Sinn Féin, who got 23.52% of the votes cast as opposed to only 14.83% of those registered.

The four biggest parties DUP, SF, UUP and SDLP accounted for 88.88% of the votes cast, or 56% of the those registered. Taken as a whole, they can't even claim to represent the large majority of the registered electorate.

Apparently the low turnout was due partly to bad weather. This is a terrible indictment of the electorate's commitment to democracy.

We get the politicians we deserve and we don't deserve any better.

Dermot McKinney,

Ölmühle 10,

88239 Wangen iA,

Germany.