A Political Update from John Birchall
PAU – Politics Blog – 11th February 2010.
Could we actually be about to see a fairer voting system in Britain
On Tuesday night the governments’ proposal to hold a referendum on the alternative vote scheme of voting was agreed by 365 votes to 187 - a majority of 178 for the government.
The new system will;
Allow voters rank candidates in order of preference and anyone getting more than 50% in the first round is elected.
If that doesn't happen, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their second choices allocated to the remaining candidates
This process continues until a winner emerges – that individual is then declared the elected representative for that constituency. As in all elections in UK the party with an overall majority is invited to form the next government.
The BBC has kindly published figures, making them available for use in discussions within education, showing how such a system might have altered the results of recent elections.
CLICK HERE FOR ILLUSTRATIVE GRAPH
It clearly shows that in many of our recent elections the alternative vote system would have altered the outcome but it does NOT show that it would have altered who won. In 2005 Mr Blair would have had a majority of nearly 90 seats and that would have meant that in 2010 Mr Cameron would need an 11% swing to record an outright victory – something which most of the recent opinion polls suggest will not have been the case!
It’s a fascinating topic for those studying politics. Would such a system re-engage many of those disinterested in politics? Would those tired of the expenses row actually feel that their vote would count? Or, is it too late to rescue ‘the mother of parliaments’?