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It seems pathetic that while people in Zimbabwe are dying in a fight for proper democracy we are making a mockery of the concept in the UK.
This whole Haltemprice and Howden by-election debacle has been nothing more than showboating and using voters to score political points.
The ridiculous rush to sign up as an opponent of David Davies, which included Harrow's own Herbie Crossman, turned the whole thing into a circus reminiscent of the race for California governor, which saw a porn star and a midget taking on the terminator.
I don't believe the low turnout was the result of voter apathy - I hope it was a protest by constituents who were being used to score parliamentary points.
The problem is, if you disagree with Davies what are you supposed to do when you walk into the polling booth and you are confronted with a choice of 25 other candidates including a man dressed as Elvis and well-known political heavyweight Miss Great Britain? The answer seems obvious - walk back out again.
Even more disturbing is why these people decided to run in the first place, I find it difficult to believe they all felt so strongly on the 42 day detainment issue that they were compelled to flock to the area and stump up the £500 deposit just to make a point. Judging by some of the candidates this was a sickening grab for the straws of five minutes of fame by a bunch of desperate egotists who probably achieved their life goal by having the back of their head on tv for two seconds when the result was announced.
Considering some got as few as eight votes they would probably have been better off spending the £500 on a party in a nearby pub, this would at least double their popularity and everyone might actually have a half-decent time.
If elections are to become the new Big Brother (not the Orwellian one but the vomit-inducing Channel 4 idiotfest) then we may as well introduce text voting and routinely cut the budget on meals at the House of Commons when MPs fail to keep election pledges.
Actually that doesn't sound like too bad an idea, just as long as we don't end up with Ant and Dec manning the swingometer.