Labour return to Preferencial Voting for Mayoral Elections

Wales is going down a different route for the next Senedd elections next year. Some councils here, meanwhile, are trialing preferential voting. This is worth a read, because there is comparison between systems.

theconversation.com/wales-is-overhauling-its-democracy-heres-whats-changing-256640

I’ve got very mixed views about changing the systems, both in Wales and UK wide, because the candidates will not be selected in the way they are now, and I envisage we may head for more extreme views which will polarise politics further.

Aren't you already using the Preferencial system in some cases Casdon?

I'll read the linked information. Thanks for that.

They use the d’Hondt formula for the 20 regional seats, and FPTP for the local MS seats, up until the 2026 election. My issue with it is that the regional MS cover a large area, so aren’t up to date with local issues - I’m not sure they represent anybody other than their party interests.
senedd.wales/senedd-now/senedd-blog/senedd-election-2026-what-is-the-d-hondt-formula-and-how-does-it-work/

Do you mean preferential voting?

eazybee

Do you mean preferential voting?

Preferential is the English version.

Not exactly the same eazybee, because we have a hybrid system, so cast two votes.

It seems more people accept that FPTP is pretty undemocratic but many have not made up their minds about what should replace it. That makes moving it back to the Mayoral election seem a good place to start.

I don’t think there is a perfect system PoliticsNerd, it’s a case of aiming for the lesser of the evils, whatever is chosen. There’s a lot of tinkering and experimentation going on in different countries.

Mollygo

eazybee

Do you mean preferential voting?

Preferential is the English version.

Aren’t we talking about England?

I don’t think the word preferencial exists

As PolitcsNerd said elsewhere
And I wish people would check facts and use paragraphs
Along with “facts and psragraphs” could we include spelling ?
Especially of key terms..

Isn’t it against Gransnet etiquette unwritten rules to pick posters up on spelling - I always thought so?

Casdon

Isn’t it against Gransnet etiquette unwritten rules to pick posters up on spelling - I always thought so?

Unless it looks as if it’s causing confusion or misinformation, I think you’re right. But on the other hand aren’t we always being told on GN to check?

Casdon

Isn’t it against Gransnet etiquette unwritten rules to pick posters up on spelling - I always thought so?

But it’s perfectly acceptable to start a thread criticising posters on how they word “headlines” aka thread titles?
Pots and kettles?

Isn't thst why they added Pedants Corner?

Oh do you know of its existence.
I wondered

It's not for me but yes, I do know of its existence.

I found this interesting bit of psychology. "Digs, and put-downs are a bully’s/narcissist’s covert attempt at making a person feel small while making himself or herself feel big. Although disguised as a joke, these comments may qualify as “toxic”.

I would really like you to stop it RosieandherMaw, although I don't hold out much hope.

Meanwhile- back to the original 😅We have preferential voting here and it is not all sunshine and roses because the very minor parties seem to have an inordinate amount of power as to who they choose to hand their votes to. So you can have a clear win by party a but party b gets in because all the preferential votes from party c went their way. I don’t know really what the best way is because I can see there are issues with both systems. I have come to support compulsory voting now, though,after many years of opposing it. It doesn’t seem right that less than half the electorate can decide on the future of the majority. Not that many spoil their votes, contrary to what you might think so we do get a large proportion of voters actually voting here.

Sorry that was a bit rambly!

I’m just asking here, does it appear to anyone else that posting about useful bits they’ve read from psychologists -to get at other posters or useful digs from psychology they’ve found are doing exactly what the poster is implying that others do?

With reference to Casdon's comment, I did look up preferencial but couldn't find any reference to it. Thank you for the civil replies.

Nanna8, that's an interesting view. As far as I'm aware FPTP leads inevitability to a two party system in the countries that use it. The Preferencial system should mean a more equal number of votes per seat. You mention snaller parties handing their votes to other parties. Does this mean the smaller parties retain their seat or actually pass them over? Is this part of coalition building?

Again, as I understand it, under any system other than FPTP you will/are likely to have coalition, but I do feel out of my depth with this and someone on GN is sure to know and set me straight (smile).

Hopefully it would jeep Reform out.

It would/should mean that each seat has a similar number of votes attached to it. You could look up how many votes Reform got by comparison to, say, Labour. If they got, say 10% of Labour's vote under the PV system they should get around 10% of the number of seats Labour got. I think it's been said that Liberals would improve their seat count as currently, each Liberal seat costs far more votes than a Labour or Conservative one.

But the knowledge of the new system could change how people vote, of course.