Saturday 3rd July 2010

After giving in to the VAT rise last month it was reassuring to see the Liberal Democrats make a stand on voting reform yesterday. The junior partners of the Coalition hope to push through a referendum to replace the archiac first-past-the-post system with the modern and fairer Alternative Vote (AV). Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is expected to announce on Tuesday that a referendum will be held on 5th May 2011, coinciding with local elections. With most Lib Dems supporting AV and the majority of Conservatives against this form of proportional representation this may be the the first real test of the government's solidarity. The proposed referendum could put the Prime Minister on a collision course with his deputy, as according to Nick Robinson David Cameron tried but failed to persuade Clegg that an early vote was an early risk for the coalition.
Under the Alternative Vote, electors rank candidates on the ballot paper in order of preference and if no one achieves 50% of the total vote the least successful candidate is eliminated and their votes are distributed to the balloter's second choice. This continues until one candidate achieves an absolute majority.
Although the purists will argue that this isn't full proportional representation in the same way as the more complicated Single Transferable Vote system, AV is perhap the fairest way in which we can elect our politicians whilst maintaining single member constituencies, thus the close link between an MP and the people they are representing in Parliament can continue.
If the country says yes to AV next May then we will see the most radical ever shake up in our voting system. Over the last century the Conservatives have benefited from first-past-the-post and Cameron has made it clear that his party will be campaigning against voting reform. Could this single issue mark the beginning of the end for the Coalition government?