IF this election campaign can be summed up by one word so far it must be apathy.

MPs canvassing in constituencies across the county tell a familiar story of a fed up electorate.

If the response from their walkabouts is to be believed we are heading for one of the lowest ever turnouts at a general election.

That feeling of apathy was shown quite clearly by the amount of people who came to the Free Press election forum this week.

Despite heavy publicity for the event, we were not able to even pack a hall of people who wanted to listen to the candidates for the Wycombe constituency.

The Daily Telegraph, who attended the event, made the point that only 120 bothered to show. It was actually 150 by the close but there were still too many empty seats

Apathy, though, isn't a problem confined to Buckinghamshire. It is affecting the whole country.

The two jabs episode may have brought the campaign to life for a few hours, but the public are not engaging in the real issues such as health, education and crime.

Commentators are divided on the reasons for this, but one thing is for sure, if you don't use your vote in the general or county council elections on June 7, you have no right to complain about the next four years of national and local government, whoever is in power.

The Free Press is sponsoring a general election forum for the candidates for Chesham and Amersham on Tuesday.

We desperately hope that the electorate will come round to our view that the vote is too important a right to pass up.