The Liberal Democrats held Berrylands tonight as voters opted to keep faith in the borough's ruling party.
The by-election was triggered by the death of sitting Liberal Democrat councillor Frances Moseley. The make-up of Kingston Council is unchanged by the result with 26 Liberal Democrats allowing them to run the council, 21 Conservatives and one independent - Tim Dennen - who left the Liberal Democrats in April last year after coming under investigation for alleged benefit fraud.
Berrylands 2013 by-election results
- Sushila Abraham Lib Dem 948
- Mike Head Conservative 761
- Tony Banks Lab 455
- Michael Watson UKIP 175
- Ryan Coley Green 112
Turnout 34.46 percent
Comments
I think that voting should be made manditory, because it a bloody joke that our futures are made by a handful of people who bother to vote ONLY!
Barely a third bothered to vote an appalling turn out,until voting is made compulsory I cannot see any point in holding elections as no one ever has any meaningful mandate and thus the political activists can always get their people in,quite astonishing that our Councils decisions over the last few years seems to have been endorsed.
But isn't that the point? Most people either did not vote because they are not unhappy enough with the current regime to bother or because they were unconvinced that any of the other candidates were in a position to make a meaningful difference anyway.
I hope we never get to a situation where voting is made compulsory. The ability to abstain is part of a democratic system and is especially important in a system like ours where we have a surfeit of elected representatives.
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