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PR - Put electoral reforms back on the agenda

(5 Posts)
Ariadne Mon 27-Apr-15 10:46:53

Yes, it's the thought that ones vote is likely to achieve little that is disturbing, GT (now there's an abbreviation to be proud of!)

I first came across PR in Northern Ireland in the early 80s, and had a struggle to understand it, not to mention then teaching it. I wonder how easy it would be to convey the process to people?

GrannyTwice Mon 27-Apr-15 10:17:28

Yes Tegan - the big plus for fpp was that it nearly always prevented minority or coalition government. As you say, maybe that will no longer be seen to be true. However, there is a very complex debate to be had about what type of PR. The referendum on AV was a poor compromise, badly argued and of course rejected. When I was lecturing on politics, one of the learning exercises I used was to give students designated votes and then we set up different systems - FPP, AV and a variety of PR and they then used their vote and were then able to compare how different the results were. Since those days, many more countries have brought in PR and so there is a better base for comparison and evaluation now of different systems. I've moved in favour of some sort of PR over the years as I'm fed up of my vote not counting

Tegan Mon 27-Apr-15 09:57:09

I've been thinking about PR recently as I thought it tended to lead to coalition governments, which is what we're getting now anyway.

Gracesgran Mon 27-Apr-15 09:30:40

Thank you to those who signed.

Gracesgran Sun 26-Apr-15 20:24:48

This petition has just started and I know some have said they wish we had had a proper vote on PR so it would be lovely to get the message over.

www.change.org/p/the-uk-government-put-electoral-reforms-back-on-the-agenda?recruiter=285478901&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_page&utm_term=mob-xs-no_src-no_msg&fb_ref=Default