What kind of popularity contest is this?

Today Gordon Brown will announce plans to change the voting system in the UK from ‘First Past the Post’ to ‘Alternative Vote system.’ Our current system is the second most used in the world, why change it?

The answer is best expressed by two words- George Galloway. George became an MP in 2005, despite winning only 18% of the vote. In fact, only 3 of the current MPs have received more than 40%.

And why is Alternative Vote better? Well, perhaps it’s not… but it is different. The best way to explain it is by using a bad analogy of Italian restaurants.

Let’s say I am going out for dinner with a friend and she says where do I want to go out of Ask, Bella Pasta and Carluccio’s. I really want to go to Ask, wouldn’t mind, Bella Pasta but HATE Carluccios’s. Ideally what I want to do is to say, I want to go to Ask, but if that doesn’t work for you, then let’s go to Bella Pasta. In other words, I want to express a second preference to make sure we don’t end up in Carluccio’s.

The current voting system forces you to put all your eggs in one basket and vote only for your favourite. The new proposals would allow you to vote for your favourite, but then also state what your second and third preference is- meaning it is less likely you will be forced to go to Carluccio’s against your will.


Labour want to switch to Alternative Vote

Tories want to keep First Past the Post, because they believe it creates more stable Governments

Liberal Democrats want voting reform- but not the system Labour has proposed



Perhaps they should all be concentrating on the economy…