SIR: The recent very low turnout at the local elections once again undermines the credibility of local government. I believe the reasons for the low turnout to be twofold. Firstly that the representative party system does not work at local level, as local elections become little more than a scrap between political parties. The concept of public service is lost as political candidates serve the party first and the people second. Local government would function better if all councillors were independent and elected to serve the community, not a political doctrine.

I believe the second reason for voter apathy is the poor standard of candidates put forward by the respective political parties. I can well remember, at the age of 14, I would talk to my local councillor about politics and it shocked me then to realise that I knew more than he did - and he was an elected official! The fact is that a large number of candidates are of a low intellectual standard and many of them are little more than poll-parrots, who repeat political slogans with little comprehension of the concepts behind the actual slogans. We need people of a higher standard in public service.

? Local democracy is important, that is why it must be made to serve the community above the factional in-fighting of politicians. The long suffering council-tax payer deserves a better deal. Party politics and poor candidates are killing democracy. The people will only return to the voting booths when they have a system of local government that puts the people first. It's politics versus people - and the people must win!

?A Makara

Broadwalk,

Westhoughton.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.