UK elections vs Malaysia elections
Can you imagine this happening in Malaysia? Imagine seeing the likes of Tok Guru Nik Aziz on RTM, telling us why we should vote PAS in an election. Or Karpal Singh extolling the virtues of DAP.
By Farah Fahmy, The Malaysian Insider
After six blissful days of silence in the London skies, the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland has dissipated somewhat — for now, say some experts — thus allowing flights to resume over the UK airspace ferrying thousands of stranded people back into the country.
Anyone living in Britain whilst the ash cloud was in place could be forgiven for thinking that general elections in this country are non-events. Yet the current one being fought over is one of the most important — and exciting — elections taking place here for a long time. For the first time since the Labour party won power under Tony Blair, a change in government is a real possibility.
What’s more, the rather surprising resurgence of the Liberal Democrats is threatening to blow the race wide open: for the first time in generations, the British electorate may actually have a credible third party to vote for, rather than the usual Labour or Conservative parties.
Still, as far as Malaysia is concerned it probably doesn’t really matter who wins the UK elections (we don’t actually feature very highly on the British radar, unless if it’s for pesky things like hanging British drug dealers). What’s more fascinating is observing the way democracy is practised in the UK.
In the UK, all the major political parties — defined as the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats in Great Britain as well as the Scottish National Party in Scotland, Plaid Cymru in Wales and finally in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party, Sinn Fein, the Social Democratic & Labour Party, and the Ulster Unionist Party — are entitled to air a number of party election broadcasts (PEBs) during an election campaign. Any other parties that are contesting one-sixth or more of the seats are also entitled to a PEB.
And what are PEBs? Well, PEBs are guaranteed airtime slots on all the public service channels, which in reality means all the five major terrestrial channels in the UK (and any national radio stations). Furthermore, channels are required to broadcast the PEBs for all the major political parties during peaktime viewing, that is, between 6pm and 10.30pm during the campaign period.
Can you imagine this happening in Malaysia? Imagine seeing the likes of Tok Guru Nik Aziz on RTM, telling us why we should vote PAS in an election. Or Karpal Singh extolling the virtues of DAP.
READ MORE HERE: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/
