Soldato
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I am generally confused and have edited my post a little
Poll: F.P.T.P or A.V.. This Thursday
- Thread starter Fuzz
- Start date
I am generally confused and have edited my post a little
Soldato
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Ah, that makes sense then. Doh! I feel stupid now.I asked the same question, then got reminded that this is just for electing the MPs of constituencies.
Seats in parliament still determine which government get in, and if a coalition is needed in the case of a hung one.
Close enough for me, it would still be 50% of the people who voted in each constituency as each vote only counts once in each round, just the distribution of preference changes each time I goes to another round.
If a person only puts one preference down and gets knocked out then their votes don't count in the next round.
Soldato
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FPTP
Eventhough it sounds like some nasty medical condition I believe it's the only "fair" way
Eventhough it sounds like some nasty medical condition I believe it's the only "fair" way
If they chose to only want one person, and that person didn't have enough votes and they had no second preference, then that is their choice.
Which makes it unfair for people like myself (which I'm sure there are quite a few of) that would only want either one of the two main parties in and not one of the fringe parties.
It doesn't really make it unfair. In your voting preference you said you'd want either candidate 1 to win, candidate 2 to win or you have no care for the remaining candidates. Your first two choices can't win, therefore you have no vote. It's exactly the preference you put down?
Soldato
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But at the end of the day, one of the parties, even if its one of the ones you dont want, absolutely has to win. By not listing preferential votes you are declaring 'i would like party X to win, i don't care who gets in if they don't'
NOT
'I would like party x to win, party Y categorically is not allowed to win because i did not vote for them. Any votes for party Y are invalid because they didnt come from me.'
My attitude is similar, just the other way around.
AV may well be a "miserable little compromise" or however Clegg described it, but it's the only reformist option we're being offered. A vote against AV will be construed as an endorsement for the statu quo, which will only serve to close the door on any voting reform at all.
A lot of the 'No' voters seem to think that if we vote 'Yes' on AV that we'll be stuck with it for years, with no opportunity in the future for PR...
However, as far as I'm aware, it's only the fact that the LibDems got a slight bit of power in the last election that we're seeing any electoral reforms at all, and if they'd won the election outright we'd now be looking at a referendum for PR. The majority of Tories and Labour would never initiate electoral reform as it's hardly in their interest, so unless the LibDems can keep on getting enough power to form a coalition, this may be the only chance of electoral reforms we're going to get.
And why is it the LibDems want AV? As we all know, there are plenty of constituencies where voting for the LibDems is seen as a wasted vote, and therefore people will vote either Tory or Labour purely with the intention of keeping the other party out. Under AV, other candidates will actually have a chance in these consituencies as people will vote for who they actually want to win, and I think as a result it's likely many more LibDems will find themselves in power.
With more LibDems in power, they'll keep pushing for PR as it's in their interest as shown by the previous election (something like 23% of the vote vs 9% of the seats), and it's also in the interest of the country as a whole in my opinion.
If we keep the status quo, how likely is it to happen again that Tories or Labour will need to concede electoral reform to the LibDems to form a coalition? Not very.
How likely is it Tories or Labour will support electoral reform if they get in on a majority? Not very.
If we want to see changes in the future, we can't expect it to happen under the current system. We need AV.
However, as far as I'm aware, it's only the fact that the LibDems got a slight bit of power in the last election that we're seeing any electoral reforms at all, and if they'd won the election outright we'd now be looking at a referendum for PR. The majority of Tories and Labour would never initiate electoral reform as it's hardly in their interest, so unless the LibDems can keep on getting enough power to form a coalition, this may be the only chance of electoral reforms we're going to get.
And why is it the LibDems want AV? As we all know, there are plenty of constituencies where voting for the LibDems is seen as a wasted vote, and therefore people will vote either Tory or Labour purely with the intention of keeping the other party out. Under AV, other candidates will actually have a chance in these consituencies as people will vote for who they actually want to win, and I think as a result it's likely many more LibDems will find themselves in power.
With more LibDems in power, they'll keep pushing for PR as it's in their interest as shown by the previous election (something like 23% of the vote vs 9% of the seats), and it's also in the interest of the country as a whole in my opinion.
If we keep the status quo, how likely is it to happen again that Tories or Labour will need to concede electoral reform to the LibDems to form a coalition? Not very.
How likely is it Tories or Labour will support electoral reform if they get in on a majority? Not very.
If we want to see changes in the future, we can't expect it to happen under the current system. We need AV.
While i look at is as a vote for AV will be construed as AV was the voting reform people wanted, only serving to close the door to future reform. Its a hard one really and only time will tell which is right
But the fringe parties can still only ever get in if a majority of people, allowing for weighting, want them in.
FPTP will keep allowing the Tories and Labour to form majority governments though despite the majority of the country not voting for them, and there's no chance of those parties looking at electoral reform willingly.
We need AV to take the power away from the Tories and Labour and therefore to allow for further reforms in the future.
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As far as I can see, a spoilt ballot is the only way to 'vote' for what I want.
I don't want to be voting on AV, I want a vote on something better.
Then I'd encourage you to spoil your ballot, as it is the only way I can see to say: 'this isn't what we want to be voting on - give us a better option for change'.