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Comment on British public more likely to prefer Count Binface wins Clacton by-election than Nigel Farage

Thanks! This is a really good explanation (although I’m sure there’s someone that will say you oversimplified it or find some obscure irrelevant detail that doesn’t match 1:1 but it explained everything for me perfectly).

I’m a but confused by the suspension system. So he could be suspended for over 10 days, does that imply he could be suspended for fewer than 10 days? Does this imply that you MPs actually show up to work on a mostly daily basis? In the US, I think our fucks only are supposed to work 10 days every 2 or 3 months. And they don’t even show up for those days, that’s why it takes so long to find senators washed up in nursing homes, we didn’t even know they were missing.

Is the petition an easier thing to do over there? We had an issue in my small town with a city counciler and it required a certain percentage (lower than 20% I think) but it worked out to like 2500 signatures and it was deemed to be too much work, especially since an election was in like a year and a half. It cost Ohio over $6 million to get the weed on the ballot, I just looked up Clacton, looks like its about the area of a county and similar population (80-90k). That makes it make more sense, but that’s still an insane amount of signatures, especially given that I think he’s over half way through his term. How common are petitions? How quick are recall elections?

I’m not really understanding why the other parties wouldn’t run - is it just to say, “he’s not guilty till he’s proven guilty but he hasn’t sat through court to decide, so until then, we’re presuming innocence” Something like that anyways?

Any idea how likely it is for Count Binhead to win? Like is this a legit shot or is he going to get maybe 20% of the vote and still embarrass Nigle?

Considering Nigel appears to have had a big role in Brexit, and the population seems light and rural, I’m going to assume that Clacton could have been replaced with [Ohio], [Utah], [Alabama], or maybe even [Florida] - which makes me believe the people here would rather elect a pedophile that someone that has their interests in mind. Is this accurate?

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melvisntnormal@feddit.uk ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I’ll need to do more research before I can answer this fully. Off the top of my head:

Yes, an MP can be suspended for less than ten days, but that doesn’t imply MPs actually turn up every day. Suspension really just means they’re not allowed to.

The requirements for triggering a petition are defined by the Recall of MPs Act 2015, which also provides for a petition for MPs convicted of a crime and sentenced to a prison term of a certain length. I believe there’s another condition too but I can’t look that up right at this minute

Recall elections are referendums asking if a representative should be recalled, right? We don’t do that here; we go straight from a petition into a by-election. However, petitions cannot be started by the public, they are triggered automatically according to the RoMA2015

Having the other parties running would give Farage what he wants. If he wins against other parties in this election, it gives him more political weight to argue against another by-election after the investigation concludes.

Count Binface winning is more likely than usual, but basically not going to happen, unless turnout is low or the people of Clacton have had a change of heart since the last time I looked into this. Farage got 45% of the vote in the last general election [election of every seat in the HoC; I make this distinction because US generals happen in years divisible by 4when you guys elect the President as well as the House? We don’t have midterms here], so it’s more than likely he’ll with with a huge percentage but less absolute votes. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Count Binface eats into his potential majority [margin of victory; as a mathematician, it annoys the hell out of me that we call the difference between first and second place a “majority”]

Clacton-on-sea is a seaside town, not necessarily rural, but was in a much better state in the previous century. As far as I know, Clacton has been left behind by the political establishment and for decades, like many parts of the UK, and the people there are rightly pissed about it. However, to say it’s equivalent to one of he small red states you mentioned is, IMO, a little reductive, but that’s because I know about as much about these states that you do about Clacton

Agai , stream of consciousness here. This infodump was brought to you by Procrastination From Employment™.
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- A_be_seedy@beehaw.org ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Thanks! This makes a lot of sense. Big bummer that Binhead isn’t really in the running though.
  
  I’m honestly really surprised by the petitions. I think a recall election in most states would be a vote to remove and a vote for who to replace them with - probably basically the same as yours. How are the petitions distributed? Are their people just going to Farmer’s Markets with clip boards? Or do people actually seek out petitions in the UK and go to the election office and sign them?
  
  Lastly, I looked up Clacton-on-the-Sea, it looks very similar to the filming location of Jersey Shore, I got looking and you have Geordie Shore, which is filmed in-land and not near a beach at al? I am so confused. Image
  
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