Letter: Baffling ballots

Sir: Your review of Green parties in the European Parliament ("Greens within grasp of power", 31 October), quotes a recent Mori poll as evidence that the UK Green Party will not succeed in gaining its first MEPs in next year's European election.

However, polls of the kind quoted are based on voting intentions for Westminster elections, elections which are held under first-past- the- post, and in which the Green Party's resources are stretched to the point where some constituencies have no candidate. Votes cast in non-Westminster elections are quite different, and in last May's elections, for example, the Green Party averaged 8 per cent of the vote where we stood candidates.

In next year's European elections, the Green Party is confident that within a nationwide campaign and a PR system that ensures that Green votes will count, the UK will for the first time be represented by Green MEPs.

ANDY SPRING

Green Party

London N19