In May 2011 UK voters will be asked in a national referendum whether they want to change electoral systems from the traditional British first past the post (FPTP) system, which has been in place for hundreds of years and is shared by large established democracies such as the US. The new option on offer is the alternative vote (AV) system, which some hope will be more representative and fair, and is already used in countries such as Australia and Ireland.
The proposals are a result of the new coalition government in London between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, who formed an unlikely alliance when the May 2010 general election returned no overall winner. This result, known as a ‘hung’ parliament, is rare in UK politics because the current FPTP system favours a decisive result with a clear overall majority of seats for the winning party in Parliament.
Nick Clegg
Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg is a leading advocate of electoral reform. On announcing the new government’s plans for a referendum in May, 2010 he said: “The current voting system is a major block to lasting political change.