Fairer votes on the agenda

9.55.11am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 6th Jul 2010

Yesterday [Monday 5th July] Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, announced that a referendum on changing the voting system for UK General Elections to the Alternative Vote system (AV) will be held on 5th May 2011.

AV is a preferential system of voting that retains the constituency link. Voters rank candidates in their constituency on a scale of one to X, in order of preference. For each round of counting the last placed candidate is eliminated and his or her votes transferred to each voter's second choice. This process is repeated until one candidate has secured 50%+1 of the vote.

Countries using the Alternative Vote system include Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. Ireland uses it to elect its president every seven years, while many major cities in the United States use it for local democracy. San Francisco, for example, uses the system for electing its Board of Supervisors.

Bath's Lib Dem MP Don Foster will be backing a 'yes' vote in the referendum. He said, "Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for a fairer voting system, and this referendum on the Alternative Vote is a start down that line.

"For too long many MPs have been able to ignore members of their constituency as they were in a safe seat. The AV system would end the safe seat culture. It would also allow people to vote for the party they most identify with, without worrying about it being a wasted vote. Their second and third preferences will make a difference.

"A yes vote in this referendum will make sure that the power to decide who runs the country won't just rest in a handful of marginal seats. A yes vote will mean political parties will have to represent the entire country, not just their core areas. A yes vote will mean that no votes will be wasted votes.

"Of course, AV is not a fully proportional system, and I would like to go further with voting reform, but this is a key step forward in having fairer votes in Britain. In the lead up to the General Election the Liberal Democrats promised voting reform, and we are delivering on that promise."