The new political party Animals Count (AC) achieved a good result in the EU elections in the Eastern region on the 4th June; they received 13,201 votes (0.8% of the votes cast), despite only reaching 10% of the electorate with their leaflets. 37% of the electorate voted, with anti-EU parties winning the majority of the votes.
AC say that they did not cost the Green Party an MEP; even if all votes for AC had been previous Green Party supporters, Green candidate Rupert Read would still have missed out on a seat. AC chose to help Green Party MEP Jean Lambert by not contesting London, although most of their supporters and active members are based in London. AC decided to contest the Eastern region because Rupert Read did not mention any animal issues in his campaign, although they agreed not to campaign in Norfolk as it is a Green stronghold.
AC think that their election result might have been double if they had contested the London region. AC say that they are '... really pleased with the outcome of 13,201 votes. This is enough to show other political parties that they need to improve their game and make animal issues more prominent within their manifestos and on their political agenda ...'
The AC web-site at www.animalscount.org/join.html