Change is afoot in Europe...
Written by: Beck
...and not necessarily for the better.
European polls indicate that fringe political parties should see substantial gains in the pending elections across Europe generally and in the UK particularly. These gains seem to come almost exclusively at the expense of conservative political parties. The only good bit of news is that in Britain, anti-EU politicians are surging.
A poll in the Tuesday edition of The Times indicated that fringe parties could be the big winners, with the two main parties securing no more than half of the total votes.
It forecast that the big loser would be the opposition Conservatives whose support in European elections could fall from 36 per cent in 1999 to around 24 percent.
The UK Independence Party, which has won strong support from Eurosceptic Britons, could rise from seven to 13 percent...
Elections for the European Parliament, London Mayor and English and Welsh local councils on what is being dubbed "Super Thursday" this week will pose the biggest electoral test for Prime Minister Tony Blair outside a general election.
The worst part of this is that a rise in the power of third parties spells bad news for general political stability and health in Britain--it is widely understood by political scientists that two party dominant political systems (for instance, the United States) are far more stable and moderate than multi-party systems. Multi-party systems require inclusion of political extremists for the sake of coalition building, further encouraging extremists of both the left and the right.