Kaimani Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Forget the party politics, our political system should be above that. Why should a few million voters in a few marginal constituencies control what happens in this country? After all to the political parties these are the only voters that they really work hard to win, should all of our voices be worth listening to as well? The sad fact is that the vast majority of voters have little or no power to influence elections. you make a good point. this AV thing should be bigger than party politics. but, as we will see, nothing is. got to say...nick clegg hasn't done the referendum any favors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mj.scuba Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I was going to vote no but if Labour will be worse off I might be persuated to vote yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altus Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 PR is fairer - AV certainly is not. Someone asked about the fairness of the vote/seats at the last election. Do you think it is fair that someone could win a seat while coming 3rd after the initial round of voting, but win the seat? It's less unfair than a party that gets less that 40% of the vote claiming they have a mandate from the people for sweeping changes just because our electoral system usually gives them a large majority of seats in parliament. Nobody is claiming that AV is the completely fair - just that is it less unfair than the current system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hots on Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 So you think that it's right that 6.8 millions votes returned 57 MPs for one party and 8.6 million votes returned 258 MPs for another party? God, when you look at it like that the current system stinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Well I'm not sure I agree - if the AV was somehow countrywide (rather than by constituency) maybe, but under the proposed system you can still get the same thing, in fact worse, as under AV someone could come 3rd in every constituency in the first round of counting, but end up with 100% of the seats! this would still mean that the 1st and 2nd candidates only ever had less then 50% anyway and the candidate that came 3rd had the majority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hots on Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 this would still mean that the 1st and 2nd candidates only ever had less then 50% anyway and the candidate that came 3rd had the majority. So a constituency will end up with an MP who was hardly anyone's first choice? ....third choice in fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 So a constituency will end up with an MP who was hardly anyone's first choice? ....third choice in fact. yes, but they were still more then 50% of peoples chosen candidates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Yes, but the 3rd placer who eventually wins could have had 1% of peoples first votes. In essence we would end up with not a first choice government, not a second choice government, but a third choice government. If it had been PR I would have voted aye, AV gets a Nay from me though. oh i agree but at present we have mp's taking up seats in the commons typically on less then 50% of the vote. a large number on less then a 3rd of the vote share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeX Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 More than 50% when you combine 1st 2nd and 3rd choice votes. I don't know anyone that would want their third choice party to be elected! put it this way. party a - 33% share party b - 32% share party c - 31% share party d - 4% share in the present system with the above voter share, this would mean party a would take the seat. but with av at least the winner has the support of more then 50% of voters be they 1st 2nd or 3rd choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossyrooney Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Quick question please. Would our ballot paper be classed as spoiled if we only voted for one candidate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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