HAVING borne in mind the entreaty from my church to vote in the European elections, I decided to cast my vote on June 4 in our local church hall in Old Malden.

I arrived at the polling booth at about 7.30pm. It was very quiet. There were only two other people voting at this time. The lack of voters is borne out by the turnout for London which was about 33 per cent. In other words about two thirds of the electorate voted for the 'I can't be bothered' party or 'EastEnders is on. I'm busy' party.

Maybe you are thinking this preamble will lead to the inevitable condemnation of those who didn't take up their democratic right to vote. Well, you would be wrong. Having given it some thought, they might be right.

Prior to the election, I don't recall receiving any information from any of the candidates. The only election documentation was from our MP on the day, who of course wasn't even standing for election.

Having looked on the internet, I have discovered that the candidates who were elected for our region were Dr Charles Tannock, Syed Kamall, Marina Yannakoudalous, Claude Moraes, Mary Honeyball, Sarah Ludford, Jean Lambart and Gerard Batten.

They are hardly household names. Does anybody know who these people are, what they believe in, even what they look like? No, I thought not.

These people will go to Strasbourg, or is it Brussels? They will represent our interests in the European Parliament with a package in excess of £200,000, but the vast majority of us don't even know who they are or, even, what they look like.

So, to summarise, we have an election where the aspiring elected can't be bothered to canvass for votes, the elector can't be bothered to vote and the media cant be bothered to ask why. And this is democracy?

Steve Clark

Surrey Via e-mail