Philobiblon

Yes, London may have a mayor Boris, which is a horrifying thought, but there is a little good news that you might not have heard; the two Greens on the London Assembly, Jenny Jones and Darren Johnson, held their seats, with an identical percentage of the vote to last time, which means 43,000 more people voted Green on the Assembly list. It was the Lib Dem vote that got caught in the two-party crunch, and they lost two seats on the Assembly, their vote falling to 11.22% (from 18.09%).

I’m pleased with the Camden vote: in the Camden and Barnet consitituency Miranda Dunn took 9.50% of the vote, only 3% behind the Liberal Democrats (which since Barnet isn’t exactly our natural constituency means, I’d hazard a guess, that we out-polled them in Camden).

And Sian Berry got nearly 4% of the mayoral first preferences, roughly half Paddick’s, and will I’m sure have done very well on second preferences – unfortunately people are still getting to grips with the voting system. Eventually I’m sure a lot more will realise they can vote for the first choice with their heart, and use their second vote to choose between the final two.

On one level it is horrifying that the BNP got an Assembly seat, but I’m not sure that it won’t be helpful as a pressure valve. and when they are exposed to the light many people who voted for them in anger and frustration will see them more clearly.

Update: over on The Daily Maybe, Jim has a full listing and analysis.