Articles by Electoral Reform Society

Meet the new ERS Council

After a well-contested election, the Electoral Reform Society have a new Council to govern the Society for the next two years. Nearly 850 members took part, with 50 candidates standing for the 12 seats available....

Posted 22 Oct 2019

Hands up voting

ERS in the Press – March 2019

Brexit might be dominating the news, but the rolling constitutional crisis that we call Westminster is still up to its usual tricks. We’ve spent the last month getting press attention for some of our biggest...

Posted 29 Mar 2019

Which European countries use proportional representation?

Of the 43 countries most often considered to be within Europe, 40 use some form of proportional representation to elect their MPs. The UK stands almost alone in Europe in using a ‘one-person-takes-all’ disproportionate voting...

Posted 26 Dec 2018

Which countries in Europe use PR_

Seven things you need to know about the local elections

Blink and you’ll miss the coverage, but local elections are happening on Thursday 3 May in England.  A lot has changed since these seats were last contested, in 2014. We had the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition government,...

Posted 16 Apr 2018

May 3rd 2018

Five reforms still needed to ensure women are fairly represented in politics

The Representation of the People Act 1918 was undoubtedly a significant step forward for women’s rights and democracy.  It gave the to vote to around 8.5 million women previously disenfranchised and abolished almost all property restrictions on men.  One hundred years later and both...

Posted 06 Feb 2018

A portrait of the leader of the Women's Suffragette movement, Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst (left) and her daughters Christabel (centre) and Sylvia (right) at Waterloo Station, London. Mrs Pankhurst was about to leave for a lecture tour of the USA and Canada.

Meet the new ERS Council

After a well-contested election, the Electoral Reform Society have a new Council to govern the Society for the next two years. Nearly 700 members took part, with 39 candidates standing for the 15 seats available....

Posted 28 Nov 2017

Hands up voting

Citizenship education paves the way for votes at 16

With Wales looking to equalise their voting age with Scotland for local elections at 16, we asked our work experience student Carla to explain what impact the citizenship education classes she’d recent completed would have...

Posted 19 Jul 2017

young voters