Did you cast your Euro Vote?

By Scott Marley on Jun 11, 09 03:57 PM in

We find out why people voted and why they didn't

LESS than a quarter of Glaswegians bothered to cast their votes in the European Elections.

The world of politics has been rocked in recent months with revelations of MPs claiming extravagant expenses and questions raised over the leadership of the Labour Party.

But this week's European election results showed only 23.9 per cent of Glaswegians bothered to vote.

Fraser Stewart, 18, a first-year pharmacy student at the University of Strathclyde, did vote - but felt there had not been enough publicity surrounding the elections.

The student, who has been living in the city centre, said: "I did vote this time although I hadn't heard too much about the European elections. I voted more because of Scottish issues."

Student Ailsa McDiarmid, 18, of Eaglesham, decided not to cast her vote.

She said: "I don't know much about politics and I didn't learn very much about these elections to change that."

Robert McCabe, 59, from Scotstoun, admitted that he was put off voting by the recent revelations over MPs expenses.

The former bus driver said: "I just feel that there wasn't enough publicity about these elections though. I know a lot of people will have been feeling let down because of all these revelations about expenses too."

Politics and history student John McNeill, who also works in the city centre, did not vote and told how he believed there was a lot of apathy among voters towards the European Elections.

He said: "I think there is a lot of apathy among voters. I also think people didn't know what they were voting for as the canvassing was not very good."

John McLellan, 75, a retired ship worker from Kinning Park, said this was the first time he had not voted in four decades saying: "I'm just sickened by all the corruption we have found out about MPs' expenses.

"I will vote in the future though.

"I've always felt that you should vote."