Democracy?

I voted in the farce of a PCC election. I voted "properly" and did not spoil, though I had no enthusiasm for either of the two candidates standing in Staffordshire. One Conservative party apparatchik whose views about pretty much everything were random waffle with no substance, and one Labour party apparatchik whose views about pretty much everything were that the Tories are bad. There were no independents and nobody with meaningful police experience, but I suppose on the plus side there were no racists or hanging-and-flogging authoritarians.

I got the very strong impression that the election was deliberately set up to engineer a low turnout, which is just weird; I can not see whose interests are served by creating a new elected post which only a fifth of the non-London parts of the country bother voting for. ( detailed UK political stuff )

So I am definitely in sympathy with the ballot-spoiling crowd. The only crumb of comfort is that the turnout was so low that it is going to prompt an inquiry by the Electoral Commission. But however that turns out the whole business is still a waste of considerable amounts of public money, when desperately needed resources are facing cuts because of the recession. So I am not a happy voter right now.