Friday, April 22, 2011

Referendum on voting system 'set to be close'

The referendum on whether the UK should change the way it selects it MPs will be "one of the closest national polls for decades", according to academic Alistair Jones.

"First past the post is simple to understand, while alternative vote (AV) produces an election winner with wider support.

"Both systems have their merits but it's impossible to say how the public will vote," said the De Montfort University public policy lecturer.

One of the key arguments put forward by pro-AV campaigners is that it would end safe seats for life for MPs.

According to Alistair, however, most seats in Leicestershire would be unlikely to change hands under AV.

"The safe seats would remain safe," he said.

"Labour would still have safe seats in the city, while the Tories would have safe seats in the county."

But he said AV would force some candidates to widen their appeal.

"Swing seats such as Loughborough and North West Leicestershire would stay interesting and under AV those MPs would have to become more conciliatory and less divisive when trying to win support," he said.

Under AV, voters would rank candidates in order of preference.

Anti-AV campaigners said that would be too complicated compared to the current system, where voters mark a single cross by their preferred candidate.

But Alistair said: "Claims that AV is complicated are wide of the mark. Most people are perfectly capable of ranking candidates in order of preference.

"The only thing that becomes more complicated is the way they are counted. But that's an issue for the returning officer, not the voter.

"It should not make things any more difficult."

He said many political parties already used AV to select their leaders "because it produces a leader with a broader appeal within the party, rather than a figure who divides opinion".

"David Davis would have won the Conservative leadership under first past the post and David Miliband would have won the Labour leadership," he said.

"Instead, candidates with broader overall support from their parties won."

"I do believe that candidates would have to work harder for their support under AV, and we would see political campaigns which were less divisive and have broader appeal."

But he said there would be more at play in the way the public voted in the referendum on May 5 than the perceived merits of the two voting systems.

"Tories are against AV, Liberal Democrats are largely for it – for the time being – and Labour is split," he said. "People may vote along party lines."



Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503348/s/145d2137/l/0L0Sthisisleicestershire0O0Cnews0CReferendum0Evoting0Eset0Eclose0Carticle0E34775830Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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