PR vs 'first past the post' Reviews

Following on from writing about this on my website I thought I'd also put this on here too. Most of the text is the same as on my own site, but as I wrote it I don't think that matters it's still my own opinions and words after all. So on May 5th you get to go into your local polling station, and vote on whether or not you ...  Read the complete review

Democracy: 1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives. 2. A political or social unit that has such a government. 3. The common people, considered as the primary source of political power. 4. Majority rule... Majority: 1. The greater number or ...  Read the complete review

Proportional representation (PR), sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates (grouped by a certain measure) obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive (usually in legislative assemblies). PR is a ...  Read the complete review

Traditionally it has always been the Liberal party in its various guises that have been in favour of a proportional representative (PR) system of voting which is understandable as under the traditional first past the post system (FPTP) they have had little chance of ever gaining power having to rely on a hung parliament (no one party ...  Read the complete review

Inherent in the question, is a glaring problem, which is that there are so many forms of PR, which one do you mean? No one is suggesting that Britain ought to have the Additional Member system of voting, as in Germany, for example. Even if you assume that the type of PR used is some variation of the theme of AV top up, as suggested by ...  Read the complete review

Before you talk about whether PR is better or worst than FPTP you have to talk about all the different kinds of PR. The PR systems used are Alternative vote (AV), List, Single Transferable Vote (STV) and Additional Member System (AMS). Then you break each of them up individually and discuss their positive and negative features. ...  Read the complete review

I won't explain the systems here, they have been explained before by many people. I am in favour of First Past the Post over Proportional Representation. Let me explain why: Proportional representation is a great idea, in theory. A bit like communism. However, in my opinion, neither of them work. With PR you get ...  Read the complete review

I am broadly in favour of PR. My main reason for this is that it is the only way to give anyone beyond labour and the tories a fair crack of the whip. However, there are many valid arguments against it. So let's look at some of those first. The biggest argument against PR is that it can lead to instability. If the last UK ...  Read the complete review

The reason, ladies and gentlemen that I back PR with such vigour is that it is quite simply the most fair way in which a country in which a party system opperates can choose its government. The reson for this is in the discription giving to the style of voting 'Proportional Representation' ie. Representation by proportion. ...  Read the complete review

I am afraid straight away that I disagree with the patter in the dooyou summary about Scotland 'having a goverment it didn't vote for' Scotland is a part of the UK, - and a well-represented one at that, and clearly wishes to stay that way, so if the UK as a whole vote Tory/Labour, that is who the UK government will be. You ...  Read the complete review

When this debate is raised there is always talk revolving around democracy. Is our present system undemocratic? Well, I intend to turn the whole argument on its head. I will answer the question. Yes, our system is undemocratic. Around 40% of people get the government they want and 60% don't. In plain numbers that is ...  Read the complete review

The 'Mother of Parliaments', 'a stable democracy', 'a democratic country' - all labels attached to the UK and her institutions - but in reality what a load of rubbish. Look seriously at the Government we have today - who voted for them ? By whose consent do they govern ? Not only was this present Labour ...  Read the complete review

Yet another election has passed unnoticed in my household. Colleagues express shock and horror at the fact that I have not bothered to exercise my democratic right to vote in national or local elections over the last decade or so. This was not always the case. In my student days, I would not only vote, but would also spend ...  Read the complete review

Much has been written over the last few days about the British general election. From Hague’s resignation and the embarrassing Mandelson speech to the saccharine soaked Blair family pose. But in the eyes of the media the one thing worse than all these in the percentage of people who actually voted, down from 71% in 1997 to 59% in ...  Read the complete review

I have been prompted to rewrite this opinion as it was pointed out to me that I had not taken all forms of Proportional Representation into account in my original opinion. So I have listed below the various forms of the electoral system that may be considered and my opinions of how they may affect our political system. First let ...  Read the complete review

If you support the democratic system then you also support the current system by which the party that the public votes for can lose the election. If you believe that the outcome of elections should be decided by a mixture of chance and complex calculations rather than the opinions of the public then why not hand the whole thing ...  Read the complete review

PR or proportional representation is the term used for political systems where the percentage of the vote obtained by a party is reflected exactly by the percentage of seats they obtain in parliament, i.e. if a party obtained 12% of the vote, they would get 12% of the seats in parliament. (I thought I'd put that in, cos when I ...  Read the complete review

The trouble with proportional repersentation is the amount of empasis you put on parties. I like the fact that currently you vote for a person who should have views of their own. You know about the person you are voting for - or at least you have the option of finding out. The views of the individual may well differ slightly from the ...  Read the complete review

I write in defence of the first past the post system but I'm in a bit of a quandry. I always vote. I believe it is important to do so. Even if you spoil your paper, you've been moved to make some kind of effort. Granted in that case the only person who will read it is the counter, even so, you made the effort. If you ...  Read the complete review

I feel that my frustration is shared by many. The first-past-the-post system is anachronistic, unfair and unrepresentative. I live in a marginal constituency between Labour/Conservatives. MY preference is to vote LibDem, however, if I do, my vote is completely wasted. This system must change. I feel angry that my vote is useless. ...  Read the complete review