Voting systems

[AllThingsTech]

Just curious as to thoughts on what voting system you feel would be fairer and conducive to a democratic outcome

I realise both systems - FPPT and Proportional representation have their flaws, so I’m keen to hear your views on this

 

[Retro]

Perhaps PR as it's technically fairer and more representative of the wider public's views. However, it gives more power to small, dangerous fringe parties like Reform, giving them a bigger chance of achieving power, even if it's on a shared basis and that's a Bad Thing.

 

[AllThingsTech]

Perhaps PR as it's technically fairer and more representative of the wider public's views. However, it gives more power to small, dangerous fringe parties like Reform, giving them a bigger chance of achieving power, even if it's on a shared basis and that's a Bad Thing.

It also gives more power to parties like the Green Party and the Lib Dems, who both typically receive disproportionately few seats relative to votes. The UK is at the moment very much like the US in terms of being pretty much a 2-party system, I tell you.

I vote for PR.

 

[AllThingsTech]

You may find it an interesting read to see what system political parties support:

Which UK political parties support proportional representation?

The results of the 2024 election are just the latest indicator of our broken electoral system, with a troubling mismatch between votes and seats, and a staggering 57.8% voters left unrep

electoral-reform.org.uk

I don’t find it surprising at all that the Tories support FPTP given it likely benefits them, cuz many in the wealthy parts of the country are bound to vote Tories, while other parties gain more votes but the votes are more evenly spread out!

Unfortunately most of those who don’t want Tories are essentially protest voters.

 

[Retro]

It also gives more power to parties like the Green Party and the Lib Dems, who both typically receive disproportionately few seats relative to votes. The UK is at the moment very much like the US in terms of being pretty much a 2-party system, I tell you.

Exactly, it depends who that fringe party is, which is why I see it as a grey area.

I see that Labour are now on the fence over which voting system to prefer. Why am I not surprised?

 

[AllThingsTech]

Exactly, it depends who that fringe party is, which is why I see it as a grey area.

I see that Labour are now on the fence over which voting system to prefer. Why am I not surprised?

The reason you aren’t surprised is because they finally won the election this year!