How do elections work in Sweden? Sunday 11th September is election day in Sweden – where voters can elect a new parliament and decide the make-up of the country’s regional and municipal councils – all Swedish political bodies are elected to... Posted 29 Aug 2022
How did the Republic of Ireland get proportional representation? Today, almost every election held on the island of Ireland uses the Single Transferable Vote (STV). Bar elections for the 18 Westminster seats from Northern Ireland – every other election, on both sides of the border,... Posted 10 Aug 2022
How did New Zealand get proportional representation? Prior to 1996, MPs were elected to New Zealand’s House of Representatives using the same unrepresentative First Past The Post (FPTP) system that is used to elect MPs to the UK’s House of Commons. Since... Posted 02 Aug 2022
Proportional representation would end the scourge of tactical voting The losses in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton, where the Liberal Democrats overturned a 24,000 Conservative majority, were both the result of declining support for Johnson’s government, but also it would appear, the result of widescale tactical voting.... Posted 03 Jul 2022
Jersey’s new electoral system has first outing Two years ago, the Electoral Reform Society looked at the island of Guernsey’s new voting system where voters had to choose up to 38 candidates in a single island-wide ‘thirty-eight past the post’ election. But... Posted 23 Jun 2022
Do all countries have by-elections? Filling parliamentary vacancies around the world This Thursday (23rd June), voters in the constituencies of Tiverton and Honiton, and Wakefield go to the polls in by-elections caused by the scandal-related resignations of their previous MPs. By-elections allow voters to pick a... Posted 21 Jun 2022
The UK’s biggest union just passed a motion in support of proportional representation Delegates at UNISON’s National Delegate Conference have just backed a motion calling on the UK’s biggest union to ‘reject First Past the Post’ and for the adoption of PR for UK general elections. The vote,... Posted 17 Jun 2022
A big victory on Senedd reform When Ron Davies described the idea of devolution as a ‘process not an event’ back in 1999 he had little idea his words would come to describe a quarter of a century of reform in... Posted 16 Jun 2022
How do elections work for France’s parliament, the French National Assembly? Fresh from re-electing Emmanuel Macron as president on 24 April 2022, French voters are now returning to the polls on the 12 and 19 June to elect a new parliament. Historically, presidential and legislative elections... Posted 30 May 2022
How do elections work in Australia? British voters may have to wait up to five years for a general election, but, for Australians, the opportunity comes no later than every three. On Saturday 21st May, Australia’s House of Representatives and roughly... Posted 15 May 2022