Released 8th June 2001

Responding to the results of the general election, Chris Lawrence-Pietroni, Deputy Director of Charter88, said:

"The 59% turnout in this general election is a searing indictment of the way we do politics, government and democracy in the UK. It is the result not of growing apathy but of growing cynicism. Despite warm words from the Parties, politics is still dominated by white men and remains distant from the concerns of wide sections of the community. It is still possible for Parties to secure landslide victories on barely 40% of the vote."

He continued:

"It is no longer possible to sustain an electoral system that wastes the votes of millions and which forces people to conclude that it is literally not worth their while turning out - it is no coincidence that turnout was lowest of all in safe seats. In the interests of rebuilding faith in our democracy Labour must now offer the people of the UK a referendum on changing the voting system for the House of Commons, as they promised to do in their 1997 manifesto."

He concluded:

"If Labour does not throw off its complacency about this frighteningly low turnout the trend will continue. In government Labour must now wholeheartedly embrace democratic reform that seeks to put more power in the hands of the people. To do so would be to put the pressing needs of the country before the narrow needs of the Party. To fail, would be to undermine further our already fragile democracy."

• 15% more people abstained than voted Labour. 17 million people did not vote, barely 10.5 million voted for Labour.
• Although only 25% of the electorate voted Labour, they won over 60% of the seats.
• In 1997 the average turnout in the ten most marginal seats was 76%. In the ten safest seats it was 66% - a gap of 10%. In the same seats in 2001 the gap had grown to 14%. An average of 67% people voted in the most marginal seats, 53% in the safest.