Election where nobody voted

George Bernard Shaw once wrote: "An election is a moral horror, as bad as a battle except for the blood: a mudbath for every soul concerned."

Unfortunately, the voters of Bulford in Wiltshire, took him literally this week and steered clear of the battlefield altogether - not a single one of them turned out to vote in the village's parish council by-election.

Officials set up a polling station at the local school, opened it at 8am on Thursday and sat down to wait for the first voter. And they waited. And waited.

"I couldn't believe it - when I opened the ballot box it was completely empty," said Steve Milton, the returning officer.

"At one point, the school caretaker came in and the presiding officer encouraged him to use his vote - but he said he couldn't be bothered.

"I've heard of some pretty poor turnouts before, but it's the first time I've heard of no one voting at all."

Fortunately for the candidates, the parish had two polling stations and the second booth attracted a small number of voters, returning the independent candidate Godfrey Burt. Even so, the turnout was just 5.8 per cent.

"The area where nobody voted is covered mostly by the Bulford army training camp, so perhaps they are not so concerned with local issues," said Mr Milton by way of explanation for the democratic apathy.

Or perhaps they were all busy training for the real battlefield.