I was struck by a letter from an independent candidate for the recent Pontypool by-election in this week's Free Press. In it he mused on the fact that the combined independent's vote was in excess of Labour and whether AV would be worthwhile for voters to show 'they wanted an independent' Councillor.
We are talking in what ifs to a certain degree, but this left me confused as to the reason for an independent candidate. My understanding, something a certain brand of independent won't ever deviate from, is that they are their own people and stand alone as candidates - "Free from party whip", "only serving Torfaen" etc.
If we are to accept that (and I am sure they probably believe what they are saying, as do some voters) then you cannot have it both ways. A vote for an independent is a vote for that individual's qualities and personality, they are to be treated in isolation.
Otherwise, and it's a rather dense binary often presented by independents, you can add up all the 'party slave' votes together and say 'people voted for someone of a party councillor'. Of course you can't!
Given the very personal nature of the attacks from many independents in Torfaen, I am sure they will all scream blue murder if anyone lumped them in together. I certainly won't do that, which is why I think the independent candidate who came second in the Pontypool by-election is trying to have his cake and eat it.
*edit*
I didn't add that this is in a multi independent environment. My understanding was that in Torfaen this time there is only one independent candidate, so I would be confident in saying that this candidate may well hoover up votes that she would not have got if other independents stood.
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