Sunday 24 April 2011

Vote #Yes2AV to restore UK democracy.

Supporters of so called 'fringe', 'small', 'minor' political parties are being massively short changed in UK elections.

People who support the policies of parties other than LibLabCon often don't actually vote for the 'minor' party because they don't think the party can win, so their vote will be wasted.

Under AV everyone's 1st preference will be a true, honest reflection of whose policies they really support.

Under AV Labour and Conservative will get far fewer 1st preferences than they do FPTP votes. LibDems will get about the same, and the (so called) minor parties will see their true level of support push their 1st preference counts way above their FPTP vote count!

On its own this will not give 'minor' parties any MPs - but when the public see how little support those running the country really have, then the UK will have a revolution in democracy - and everything will change for the election afterwards.

AV will probably only survive one election, then full democracy kicks in - it maybe AV+ or it may be something else, but never again will 100% of the UK population be governed by a party with only 25% support.

Friday 1 April 2011

Refutation of some more #No2AV challenges.

From http://witteringwitney.blogspot.com/2011/03/unnecessary-flaggelation.html
What it seems the numpties in Parliament; in the media; those in the "Westminster Bubble"; and the public cannot understand is that it matters not what system of selecting an MP is chosen whilst the leader of a political party is able to control that party's MPs through the whips; it will not improve the standard of candidate until such time as open primaries are introduced; it will not produce any greater control over whichever candidate emerges as the winner; it will not give any greater opportunity of recalling an errant MP as the final decision on that still remains with MPs; it will not provide smaller parties any greater opportunity for their candidates to get elected.

Issue 1: Party leader controls MPs via the whips.

FPTP: If an MP disobeys their party whip, they can expect strong retribution from their party - even de-selection. It doesn't matter how good an MP they are or how popular, there will be no point in them running  against the official candidate, because voters will be scared off them with the threat/worry of 'splitting the party vote and letting in another candidate'.

AV: If an MP disobeys their party whip and are de-selected, under AV they can still run in the next election against their parties 'official' candidate, and if they are popular they will still win. AV removes the risk/threat of vote splitting, as when a candidate does go out their voters votes transfer back to other candidates.

Summary: Under AV whips will lose much of their power/influence - the threat of de-selection is no threat to a good/popular MP. A good/popular MP owes their seat to their voters, not their party!

Issue 2: Recall.

FPTP: Recall can never work properly - because MPs can be elected on a minority of the vote, there will often be a majority of voters who want them recalled and replaced!! So the decision to have a recall has to rest with parliament - and they *always* think they know best (i..e. refusing to have referenda on EU membership, because they think they would lose!).

AV: Because an MP will have received over 50% of the vote in the final round of counting, There is little chance of their being a majoirty against them! So voters can be allowed to instigate recalls without parliament getting in the way.

Summary: Recall only works under AV, it cannot work under FPTP

Issue 3: It will not provide smaller parties any greater opportunity for their candidates to get elected.

FPTP: Single MP constituencies with no top up means a party needs enough support in a single constituency to get elected.
AV: Ditto.

Summary: AV is no worse than FPTP in this respect, neither are proportional systems. But, also has the possibility of being simply converted into AV+ or another form of PR if that is what the people want.

Summary
AV may not be perfect, but no electoral system is! However AV does address many, many of FPTP's flaws. And despite claims to the contrary, the issues raised abover *are* substantially addressed by AV.