Transparency may be a buzzword used at press conferences but the Conservative Party remains stubbornly reluctant to publish data on the MEP selection process. What has been published this morning is data for the number of spoilt ballot papers; three months after the results were first declared. This chart appeared on conservatives.com sometime earlier today (click to enlarge):
The chart reveals that the proportion of spoilt ballot papers was 5.56%*; considerably less than we had feared but still substantial. Similar levels of spoilt ballot papers in last year's Scottish elections produced a major enquiry and months of soul-searching.
The Party still hasn't published data on the number of ballot papers issued - presumably to hide a substantial fall in party membership.
What matters most now is that the undemocratic process that chose this round of candidates is not repeated again and the people responsible for the process are not allowed to manipulate the next round. The Party Board were due to discuss this issue two months ago. Hopefully the rank-and-file members might learn soon about their deliberations...
* By way of context, 52 ballot papers were spoilt/ rejected out of 34,761 votes in yesterday's Henley by-election. In the Tory selection process we're talking about 3,081 spoilt papers out of 55,389 votes.
