I have mentioned this before but it is worth mentioning again that in all of my 37½ years of voting I’ve never ever elected an MP or even manage to influence the election of my MP. It doesn’t actually feel very good. This is why I have always been in favour of voting reform. The first past the post system is just so unfair. Unless an MP is elected with well over have the votes that MP can never claim to represent the majority of their constituents. I used to think that some form of proportional representation was the fairest and most representative way forward and when as Prime Minister Gordon Brown stated that he would be prepared to offer AV to woo the LibDems I couldn’t understand why. But the more I think about it the more I think that AV is probably the best voting system to have. What AV gives you over some forms of PR is the retention of one MP to one constituency. Retaining the MP/constituency link is so important when it comes to accountability. Another advantage it has over say STV (the single transferable vote) is that it is not over complicated. AV is much fairer than what we have at the moment because it enables more people to elect their MP. A larger mandate for our representatives in parliament has to be healthy for our ersatz democracy. These are just some of the reasons why I shall be voting Yes for AV in May.
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