Should the Westminster voting system be changed to AV?

**Begbie** · #1 26-04-2011, 04:39 PM

Do you think that AV should be introduced for Westminster elections?

**adam_ayres1988** · #2 26-04-2011, 04:41 PM

Whilst it's not ideal (I would prefer proportional representation) it'll probably be better than the awful first past the post system we currently have in place.

**Begbie** · #3 26-04-2011, 04:45 PM

Quickly in there, Adam. I hadn't even time to post the poll.

**adam_ayres1988** · #4 26-04-2011, 05:03 PM

Well my opinion needs to be heard........ and fast!

**stenelly** · #5 26-04-2011, 05:07 PM

with proportional representation it almost always ends in a hung Parliament. you also have to give seats to extremist parties IE, bmp and the like. so i would vote no. i know first past the post isn't ideal but it's served this country for a hundred + years or so. so why change what isn't broke.

**Begbie** · #6 26-04-2011, 05:33 PM

AV isn't PR so it's very unlikely that extremist parties will get elected. If, for example, the BNP won 40% of the votes in a constituency they would probably be elected to Parliament for that constituency. That's under the current system.

Under AV, the candidate with the lowest number of first preferences is eliminated and his/her votes are allocated to the remaining candidates based on their 2nd choice of candidate. This is repeated until a candidate has acquired more than 50% of the votes cast or there is only one candidate remaining.

It is unlikely that somebody voting for a mainstream party will choose an extremist party as their 2nd choice.

AV would provide a 'consensus' result for each constituency. I don't know if that is better or worse.

**stenelly** · #7 26-04-2011, 05:52 PM

sounds a very expensive way of voting and counting. iv been to a few counts for council votes, and noticed lots of mistakes on the count even from experienced bank tellers. the votes are checked up to 4 times before a final count. with 2nd 3rd and maybe 4th votes counting it would be a logistical nightmare to count. possibly machine counted. i also noted how many spoilt votes there was, this was with the simplest just place a x for your vote. its just not British voting for another party on a voting card.
one man one vote in my eyes.

**Begbie** · #8 26-04-2011, 05:54 PM

Tell that to N. Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We've had PR for years...... and managed to get the counts done.

**deadlywill** · #9 26-04-2011, 11:21 PM

...i would say yes. I think Anti-virus is very important to have

**lumberjack** · #10 10-05-2011, 08:58 PM

Nick Clegg has really fooked this up. By being a passive dick in government and going back on how many election pledges, people don't trust him at all.

It was a chance to change the system to get out of this 'key marginal seats' situation that we are in now.