Who should you vote for in the EU elections?

As the debate on Britain's place in Europe continues to trudge along and get mired in the filth of a Westminster squabble, you would be forgiven in forgetting that there will actually be an election in a little over three weeks time. The latest ComRes Index poll for ITV has Nigel Farage's UKIP at 38%, ahead of Labour (27%), the Conservatives (18%) and the Liberal Democrats (8%) who all have seen a significant drop in share. 

These results may be somewhat surprising, especially when it is taken into consideration that the same index poll discovered that 32% of the electorate consider UKIP to be a racist party, with the majority also believing that the party's policies are not sensible. 

Despite this however, UKIP remain the party to beat in the May 22nd election, with leader Nigel Farage recently forgoing the opportunity to stand at the Newark byelection to remain focused on the European elections.

Tom Mludzinski, ComRes' head of political polling, argues that Farage's decision to not contest the Newark byelection is in all practical terms a pragmatic one. Research suggest that UKIP are unlikely to win the seat vacated by former Tory MP Patrick Mercer and in an improbable circumstance that they dis, Farage would have most likely lost the seat in the next general election.

Farage himself defended his decision to not run by claiming that he had, "no real connections with Newark" and wanted to avoid being seen as an "opportunist". In concentrating on the European Elections, Farage said that UKIP can cause a "political earthquake" by the manner of their victory and it must be assumed will try and use this platform in gaining political legitimacy.

With all news sources and media outlets concentrating heavily on UKIP in the run up to EU elections, it must be remembered that there is far more choice among the entire political spectrum. This raises the question of who should you vote for?

Well, the guardian have sort to make this decision slightly easier by teaming up with EUvox to present an interactive question based tool to consolidate your opinions on the state of Britain in Europe and present how much your views align with that of the major parties.

Here is how my view scored.

The tool is free to use and takes less than five minutes to use, giving you no excuse to give it a go, whether you've already made up your mind or are one of the fabled undecided voters. Just follow the link below to have a go yourself and feel free to share with me your results if you would like.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2014/apr/24/which-party-vote-for-eu-elections

After you've used that tool, be sure to read up a little on your local candidates to ensure you don't get to the booths on May 22nd and have no idea of the person your voting for. With that being said, please make sure you do vote. As a member of the electorate you are entrusted with a say in the way in which your institutions govern you and even though it may often seem that you may be unrepresented, apathy is never the answer. In these turbulent political times a decision not to vote allows less competition against parties such as, UKIP.

Whoever gets elected is going to represent your region on a European stage, at least have a say in who that person is going to be.

P.S. - If your from the East of England, check out my Twitter (https://twitter.com/Angolaman) for a (very) short run down on most of the candidates.

Until Then.

Sources:

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2014/apr/24/which-party-vote-for-eu-elections

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/interactive/2014/apr/24/which-party-vote-for-eu-elections

http://www.comres.co.uk/poll/1167/itv-news-index-european-election-poll.htm