As it seems that some form of agreement between the Tories and Lib Dems may be emerging, democrats must maintain the demand that electoral reform has got to be part of the political reform.
The need is straightforward. We need legislation in the first Queen’s Speech that provides a national ballot within months in which the following alternatives are offered to the electorate:
1. A Conservative preferred option which might be expected to be the maintenance of First Past The Post, but with a smaller number of MPs and equal sized constituencies.
2. A Labour preferred option which is likely to be the Alternative Vote System.
3. A Liberal Democrat preferred option which would be the Single Transferable Vote System that they included in their election manifesto.
4. No change to the existing system.
5. An additional choice proposed by the Electoral Reform Society if they wish to present one.
As the Conservatives are the largest Party and they are adamantly opposed to fair votes, it may be that the Lib Dems will cave in and agree to allow the Tories to govern without a commitment to give the voters this choice. If that is the case, we must demand that those people who argued for fair votes before and during the election should stand by their commitments and present a Bill to Parliament for a national ballot on the above lines. There is actually a majority in Parliament for reform of the electoral system and that should allow such a bill to pass into law. In the event that a minority Conservative Government prevented this Bill from being presented to Parliament or obstructed it being passed into law, they should face a vote of no confidence and another election be forced.
Democracy in Britain must be modernised and the current opportunity presented by the lack of an overall majority by a single Party must result in genuine electoral reform being offered to the public.
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This blog is run by current and former members of the Libertarian Party living in the counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. Unfortunately the Libertarian Party's assets are currently under the control of an unelected group who are acting without the authority of the National Coordinating Committee. Until that situation is resolved to the satisfaction of the Libertarian Party's membership and supporters, this blog will continue as an independent voice.
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For Life, Liberty and Prosperity
"The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign." John Stuart Mill
This is the alternative answer we need to the prevailing ideology of statism and authoritarianism - a rebirth of the classical liberal ideals that made our country one of the most successful nations on Earth.This blog is run by current and former members of the Libertarian Party living in the counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. Unfortunately the Libertarian Party's assets are currently under the control of an unelected group who are acting without the authority of the National Coordinating Committee. Until that situation is resolved to the satisfaction of the Libertarian Party's membership and supporters, this blog will continue as an independent voice.
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3 comments:
The only acceptable way for votes to be cast and counted on this ballot should be by voters indicating their preference with '1' as their first choice followed by '2','3', etc. to the end or to the point where the voter has no preference.
If one option does not receive more than 50% of the vote on first preferences, the lowest scoring choice is removed and second preferences counted. This continues until one option has more than 50% of the votes.
I want socialists either in prison for a long time, or exterminated, for what they have done to us. I find it bizarre that the cons and the libs are proceeding as though the past 13 years have not happened. We have been well and truely fucked and by the evil socialist fist that labour has pushed into our faces. these evil bastards need to be punished. Who is going to do that for us?
The proper punishment for political failure is to be removed from office.
The responsibility of those who believe that there is a better way is to offer it to the public and demand a democratic election system so that voters can choose it.
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