Dear Friends of German Comedy,
I assume you’re all geared up to cast your vote in the European Parliamentary Election.
All that talk about low turnout favouring extremist parties is wide of the mark. The number of voters has a far smaller impact on the election result than what time in the day the voters go to the polling station.
I vividly remember 1 May 2008, the day of London’s mayoral elections. I got pleasantly woken up by the sun around 10am after a good night’s sleep, had a coffee and strolled down to the polling station. I felt relaxed, thought the world a good place and consequently voted LibDem. (jawohl, us foreigners are allowed to vote in local and European elections).
Later that day I had two gigs up North, one in Bury and another one near Bolton. In order to get to the second gig I enjoyed lengthy discussions with several of Bury’s finest sub-continental cab drivers who didn’t know how to get to a place 20m away, read a map or use their GPS. By the time I finally got to the venue following umpteen phone calls with the promoter to get directions for the driver, I was mentally so disturbed I almost wished I had voted BNP rather than LibDem.
Forget about constitutional reforms – the best way to minimize the impact of radical parties is opening the polling stations only until lunchtime. And not before 10am either to make sure no disgruntled, hangover voters on the way to work can pop in.
So, have a good month and don’t forget to vote – and not too late in the day please
Henning
