Leaving to one side that the pollsters were so far off the mark in their predictions for the outcome of the just concluded general election in Britain, now that the voters have spoken as this op-ed piece in The New York Times postulates, the consequences which may follow will likely not only occur in the UK but be "felt" in, for example, Europe.
"One of the most anodyne election campaigns in living memory has left Britain with a result that few expected — and one that could transform Britain both internally and externally. This was an election that recast the political geography of Britain. It may redraw the boundaries of the nation. And it raises questions about the future shape of the European Union.
It is conceivable, given the astonishing success of the Scottish National Party, that this may be one of the last elections of a United Kingdom. It is also conceivable, given the Conservative Party’s pledge to hold a referendum on European Union membership, that it may be the last general election in which Britain is a member of the union."
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"The legitimacy of Britain’s electoral system is also now under scrutiny. The first-past-the-post system worked relatively well while British politics revolved around two main parties. There was never a perfect fit between the proportion of votes that the Labour or Conservative Party received and the number of parliamentary seats they gained, yet the relationship was close enough in a rough-and-ready way to give the system legitimacy.
Britain, however, is growing more fragmented in its political outlook. As the two-party system has mutated into a multiparty democracy, the electoral arrangements are producing highly skewed results. The Scottish National Party, for instance, won a little less than 1.5 million votes last night and 56 seats. UKIP won more than twice as many votes but has just one member of Parliament."
"One of the most anodyne election campaigns in living memory has left Britain with a result that few expected — and one that could transform Britain both internally and externally. This was an election that recast the political geography of Britain. It may redraw the boundaries of the nation. And it raises questions about the future shape of the European Union.
It is conceivable, given the astonishing success of the Scottish National Party, that this may be one of the last elections of a United Kingdom. It is also conceivable, given the Conservative Party’s pledge to hold a referendum on European Union membership, that it may be the last general election in which Britain is a member of the union."
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"The legitimacy of Britain’s electoral system is also now under scrutiny. The first-past-the-post system worked relatively well while British politics revolved around two main parties. There was never a perfect fit between the proportion of votes that the Labour or Conservative Party received and the number of parliamentary seats they gained, yet the relationship was close enough in a rough-and-ready way to give the system legitimacy.
Britain, however, is growing more fragmented in its political outlook. As the two-party system has mutated into a multiparty democracy, the electoral arrangements are producing highly skewed results. The Scottish National Party, for instance, won a little less than 1.5 million votes last night and 56 seats. UKIP won more than twice as many votes but has just one member of Parliament."
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