Few issues have gripped the nation as completely as Thurdsay's referendum on the adopting of a new voting system. Go to a pub and there is no other talk but the relative merits of the Alternative Vote (AV) over the current First Past the Post system (FPTP). Even at a street party to celebrate the royal wedding little attention was given to footage of the event as people argued passionately about the merits of casting a second or even a third preference on a ballot paper.
Needless to say of course that the issue has hardly set a fire under the nation and to be honest I cant blame them
AV, which is used in Australian elections allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate obtains 50% of the vote the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their second preferences are counted. These are then added to the remaining candidates. This process continues until one candidate has 50% of the vote (plus one).
FPTP elects the person who received most votes. This means that a person can be elected with far less than half of the votes cast (for example the first Green MP, Caroline Lucas, was eleected having received just 31.3% of votes cast. SHe is not alone in being elected with a relatively low percentage of the vote).
The First past the post system may tend to provide stable government but it does not accurately reflect the voting intentions of the nation - The conservatives in 1983 and 1987 and Labour in 1997 and 2001 received between 41 and 43% of the vote yet ruled with disproportionately large majorities.
AV is a little fairer in some respects. The Liberal Democrats are likely to win more seats under AV than FPTP (or in the current climate avoid being annihilated!). It may make the election of a minor party candidate a little easier (but not a lot). We are not likely to see coalition after coalition - the chances are though that the main parties will still obtain majorities out of all proportion to the votes received.
The bottom line is that we are being asked to choose with an unfair voting system with a system that is not an awful lot fairer.
For me the benefits of AV are not great enough to make me want to change from FPTP. As a result I just can't get enthusiastic about it. I will probably vote no. Had we been asked to vote for a proportional representation system then I would have voted yes with gusto.
Hi Ho...
Source URL: http://idontwanttobeanythingotherthanme.blogspot.com/2011/05/obligatory-alternative-vote-post.htmlNeedless to say of course that the issue has hardly set a fire under the nation and to be honest I cant blame them
AV, which is used in Australian elections allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate obtains 50% of the vote the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their second preferences are counted. These are then added to the remaining candidates. This process continues until one candidate has 50% of the vote (plus one).
FPTP elects the person who received most votes. This means that a person can be elected with far less than half of the votes cast (for example the first Green MP, Caroline Lucas, was eleected having received just 31.3% of votes cast. SHe is not alone in being elected with a relatively low percentage of the vote).
The First past the post system may tend to provide stable government but it does not accurately reflect the voting intentions of the nation - The conservatives in 1983 and 1987 and Labour in 1997 and 2001 received between 41 and 43% of the vote yet ruled with disproportionately large majorities.
AV is a little fairer in some respects. The Liberal Democrats are likely to win more seats under AV than FPTP (or in the current climate avoid being annihilated!). It may make the election of a minor party candidate a little easier (but not a lot). We are not likely to see coalition after coalition - the chances are though that the main parties will still obtain majorities out of all proportion to the votes received.
The bottom line is that we are being asked to choose with an unfair voting system with a system that is not an awful lot fairer.
For me the benefits of AV are not great enough to make me want to change from FPTP. As a result I just can't get enthusiastic about it. I will probably vote no. Had we been asked to vote for a proportional representation system then I would have voted yes with gusto.
Hi Ho...
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