Here's a recent televised debate between the Establishment politician Margaret Beckett and Jonathan Bartley, who heads the campaign group "Yes to Fairer Votes". Personally I think Mr Bartley got the upper hand in this debate, but you make your own mind up:
On 5th May, we're all going to get the chance to vote for or against the introduction of the Alternative Vote system (AV), a seemingly small but significant change to the existing First Past The Post (FPTP) system. The difference with AV is that you number the candidates in order of preference, so you put 1 next to the guy you want to elect, 2 next to your second choice and so on. If your first choice doesn't get enough votes to be elected, then he's eliminated and your vote gets transferred to your second choice. This should eliminate the problem of tactical voting - instead of voting for whoever you think has the best chance of beating the guy you really don't want to get in, regardless of whether you like them or not, you can give your first preference to your favoured candidate without fear of your vote being wasted.
Although it's not a proportional system, it's an improvement on the current one. Not only will it eliminate wasted votes, it should also give a clearer picture of what kind of government the electorate actually want. The Libertarian Party supports this proposed reform, as do a broad range of other minority parties. Funnily enough, it's less popular with Establishment politicians, who seem to be generally happy with the system that got them elected (very often on small minorities).
5th May is going to be an opportunity to introduce a beneficial constitutional reform and give us, the general public, a bit more say in how this country is run. Don't miss the chance to vote Yes to fairer votes.
Why is it?
1 day ago
5 comments:
Do we know yet whether it's a number all the boxes format or number as many as you please?
From what I understand, you'll be able to number as many as you want - so if you absolutely can't stand any of the other candidates, you can still just vote Number 1 and forget about the rest.
Sounds like a move in the right direction.
I think most established politicians are absolutely running scared of AV.
What it will do - or what we MUST insist it does - is reveal the extent of all the choices people make in the first counting.
I suspect they might try to hide away the first choices, but my expectation is that "others" will get a massive boost first time around and once that happens people will realise that far more reject the main parties than they ever expected. The second outing for AV will be even more interesting. However, I do see a fragmentation. This is always the consequence with non FPTP. For those who say it will be a problem, well, it wouldn't if the Government stopped doing so much!
You hear complaints about AV, saying that those supporters of smaller parties and independents somehow get multiple votes.
This canard needs shooting, stuffing and mounting in the trophy room.
To suggest that a voter of a minority party gets multiple votes is like saying that a diner in a restaurant gets multiple meals when their first choice is off the menu.
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