The government is expected to announce,\u00a0on Tuesday,\u00a0a referendum on using the Alternative Voting System.\u00a0 This is a key part of the Coalition agreement although not as far as the Proportional Representation System the LibDems want.<\/p>\n
At the moment there are a number of points that need clarifying and then there are political differences that will continue to the end. The main positions being that basically the LibDems favour this but the bigger parties aren’t keen.\u00a0 In fact the Conservatives are quite anti.<\/p>\n
Then there is the early \/ late date. The LibDems want it early to get something out of the coalition because some are feeling a bit tender about it. The Conservatives want it late as it keeps the LibDems on-side longer.<\/p>\n
The actual date: It is proposed to hold it on the same date as local and Scottish \/ Welsh elections as it makes it easier for voters. On the other hand it makes it more complicated and could cause confusion. Also not everywhere has an election on that date so some places will only have a referendum vote which might skew turn-out.<\/p>\n
Also there is the threshold to be established. The threshold to pass a change\u00a0in a referendum could be\u00a0set to a minimum number of voters that would make it most unlikely to pass.<\/p>\n
Another change in the Conservative manifesto was to reduce the number of MP’s.\u00a0 Labour are calling this Gerrymandering or manipulation of boundaries to your own advantage. Conveniently forgetting that for the last 40 years\u00a0Labour MP’s have had far\u00a0smaller seats than other parties and are over-represented.<\/p>\n
In political terms the Labour Party can sense that if the LibDems don’t win this referendum they are going to be very unhappy. So they have a motive to spoil it regardless of whether their own manifesto said reform of the voting system was a priority.\u00a0 Reminds me of the EU referendum in the 1970’s when\u00a0Labour supported joining until the Conservatives actually were the ones who put us in. Then\u00a0they invented spurious reasons\u00a0to oppose the government for party political reasons rather than what was best for the country.<\/p>\n
At some point maybe we’ll get a crash course in Alternative Voting.\u00a0 Seems like you have to prioritise your favourite politicians and I’d think that beyond many voters.<\/p>\n
Alternative Voting seems like a good scheme. It keeps MP’s linked to seats.\u00a0 Gives MP’s a mandate to always\u00a0say they represent more than half their voters.\u00a0 Not too concerned about how many MP’s there are although having equally sized seats sounds a good idea.<\/p>\n
In the referendum it would be better to seperate it from other elections to give everywhere an equal chance. Then that a turn out of say 25% might be expected and a straight majority will win.\u00a0 No vote, no say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The government is expected to announce,\u00a0on Tuesday,\u00a0a referendum on using the Alternative Voting System.\u00a0 This is a key part of the Coalition agreement although not as far as the Proportional Representation System the LibDems want. At the moment there are … Continue reading