Today the Government has announced that 5th May 2011 will be the date of a referendum on the Alternative Vote System (or one of the many AV systems). This is, I think a good thing - however as with most policies/introductions by this Government it doesn't go far enough.
In this country we have a horrifically unfair voting system. Below are the results of the general election in terms of the share of the vote. Then below that is how that share is transferred into seats won. As you will be able to see the two figures do not really seem to have much of a correlation.
Share of the vote:
CON 36.1%
LAB 29.0%
LD 23.0%
Others 11.9%
Seats Won:
CON 307
LAB 258
LD 57
Others 28
Obviously the current first past the post system is very unfair - those with just a slightly lower share of the vote, end up with a large shortfall in seats won. The AV system will start to turn this around, however it won't make a huge difference. I am a firm believer in full proportional representation, and while AV doesn't really do it for me, it's a step in the right direction. I'll be voting "yes" in the referendum on May 5th. It's about time electoral reform actually took off in the UK.
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