RECENT scenes in Iran, where people have so little faith in the legitimacy of elections that they have taken to the streets in protest, are a timely reminder of how lucky we are.

There are many flaws in our democracy: we have an unelected Prime Minister who refuses to call a General Election, the BNP won two seats in Europe on little over eight per cent of the vote and too often our elected representatives are found acting in a manner which damages public trust.

Despite all this, we should consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have a functioning democratic system. Unlike voters in Iran, we have the ability to “kick them out” when we grow tired of our elected representatives’ indiscretions.

In the recent European elections it was disappointing that turnout was only about 30 per cent and the proportional representation system used allowed for some peculiar and unfortunate results.

The fact remains, however, that we should remember our good fortune in getting to choose our MPs and MEPs, especially as this also means we can choose to get rid of them.

James Wharton, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate, Stockton South.