UK launches Operation Black Vote ahead of general elections,UK Election campaign, , UK election News updates, United Kingdom general polls, UK Election news 2015
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- Last Updated: Monday, 20 April 2015 18:16
UK launches Operation Black Vote ahead of general elections
LONDON: With less than 100 days to go for the British general elections, UK has for the first time launched Operation Black Vote (OBV) - 43 foot state-of-the-art buses on tour across Great Britain to get more Black and Minority Ethnic communities like Indians on the electoral registers.
Research by the Electoral Commission shows that BME people are less likely to be registered to vote than the White population: 76% of Black people are registered to vote compared to 86% of White people.
Almost 4 million voters - about one in 10 of the entire electorate in England and Wales - have been found to be born abroad.
Indians have emerged the largest chunk in this foreign born electorate. As many as 615,000 Indians will vote in the upcoming election.
The second largest chunk of foreign voters will be Pakistanis - 431,000.
OBV - which works to increase political representation of Black and Minority Ethnic communities - are joining forces with the Electoral Commission, Bite the Ballot, Operation Disability Vote, the British Chinese project and local authorities to bring the OBV eXpress bus to areas with high BME populations.
The vehicle, which will have 12 computer stations to allow people to register to vote online, will visit areas across England, Wales and Scotland with large BME populations. The tour will begin in February and run until the deadline to register to vote for the General Election on April 20.
Simon Woolley, director of OBV, said "The 2015 General Election offers us a unique opportunity to make our democracy more inclusive and reflect our greater diversity. This is our most ambitious campaign to date and we want as many people from BME communities, and other under-registered groups, to come on the bus, talk to us, and take a few minutes to register to vote".
Jenny Watson, Chair of the Electoral Commission, said: "We're delighted to be supporting this innovative project and would encourage anyone with questions about registering to vote to visit the bus as it travels round Great Britain. We know that Britain's BME communities are under-represented on the electoral register. You can be part of changing that by taking the time to register to vote"
As well as its primary purpose of increasing the number of registered voters, the bus will also be a distribution point for leaflets encouraging people to get involved in community activities and local and national politics. Helpers will be on hand to answer questions, and visitors will be able to take away a variety of information to read at home.
Voter registration changed in 2014 from a system where the 'head of household' was responsible for registering everyone in a household, to a system of Individual Electoral Registration (IER) where each person is responsible for registering themselves.
Records show the Commonwealth migrant communities (in particular from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and South Africa), along with the Irish Republic, will have the highest numbers of potential voters in May 2015. European Union nationals, despite their large and growing presence in the UK, will be heavily under-represented in May 2015, as a large majority have not yet acquired British citizenship.
The migrant electorate is heavily concentrated in London - 19 of the 20 seats with the largest migrant voter shares are in Greater London.
Migrants would constitute over a third of the electorate in around 25 seats across England and Wales in 2015 and at least a quarter of the electorate in over 50 seats.
The migrant electorate could have decisive power in at least 70 seats the migrant share of the electorate in 2015.
It is estimated that populations of 100,000 migrants or more originating from 23 different countries now live in Britain.
The migrant vote is largest by far in London - 19 of the top 20 seats with largest migrant voter shares, and over 40 of the top fifty seats, are in the capital.
According to Office for National Statistics estimates based on the 2011 Census, around 46% of foreign-born British residents hold a British passport, and hence have such voting rights.
Analysis of data from the 2001 and 2011 Censuses suggests that up to 2.8 million British citizens born abroad will be eligible to vote in the next general election.
An analysis of 2001 and 2011 Census data suggests that around 920,000 Commonwealth citizens, and 270,000 citizens of the Irish Republic, could be eligible to cast a vote in the next general election.
The total population born in the four nations of the Indian sub-continent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) has risen by over 800,000 to a projected 1.7 million people. UK residents born in Commonwealth countries comprise the largest numbers of potential migrant voters in England and Wales. Five of the top six countries from which migrant voters in UK general elections originate are all Commonwealth members: India (615,000 potential voters), Pakistan (431,000), Bangladesh (183,000), Nigeria (182,000), and South Africa (168,000), while the sixth is the Irish Republic (297,000), whose citizens enjoy similar rights to those of Commonwealth members.
src:timesofindia.indiatimes.com