How can a party lose support but gain seats? The upside-down world of Westminster’s voting systemWhat would you expect to happen if a party gained support in a fresh election? Most people would expect them to gain MPs. It seems obvious that a change in popular support should lead to...Posted 14 Sep 2018
It’s not just the boundaries that need reviewing – it’s First Past the PostThe four national Boundary Commissions have now announced their results. If parliament accepts them, these will be the constituencies that the next general election in 2022 will be fought on. The election specialists Rallings &...Posted 11 Sep 2018
A cross-party group of MPs are fighting Westminster’s broken voting systemThis week is the first National Democracy Week – a rare moment to put the ‘nuts and bolts’ of democracy on the agenda. The elections of the past year have shown that Westminster’s First Past...Posted 04 Jul 2018
Electoral reform for Love Island?What’s not to like about Love Island? A group of good-looking singletons enter a villa in the hopes of finding love, and we the public, get to vote on what goes on. Much like the...Posted 29 Jun 2018
59 years since Enid Lakeman defended fair votes in IrelandLast weekend marked the 59th anniversary of a major event in the Society’s history and the history of the campaign for fair votes. In June 1959, Ireland held a referendum that would determine the very...Posted 18 Jun 2018
Slovenia had an election, but who actually won?“Slovenian nationalist party wins parliamentary election” declares the Guardian. “Anti-immigration party wins Slovenia elections” says CNBC. “Anti-immigrant party wins divisive Slovenian election as coalition talks set to begin” says the Telegraph. The Slovenian Democratic Party...Posted 05 Jun 2018
Citizens in British Columbia are set to decide on their voting system. Here is what you should know…Back in May 2017 I brought you the story of the British Columbian general election which had seen no party get half the seats in the Legislative Assembly of Canada’s Westernmost province, leading to a...Posted 01 Jun 2018
A new report shows we need urgent action to revive our democracyFor the past fifteen years, the Hansard Society – a thinktank which promotes parliamentary democracy – has published its Audit of Political Engagement. The Audit is an attempt to measure the level of engagement of...Posted 01 May 2018
Trade unionists say it’s time to fix Westminster – and build a ‘politics for the many’Politics for the Many is an alliance of trade unionists who champion political reform – and last week they set out the findings of their debut report at this year’s Scottish Trade Union Congress in...Posted 24 Apr 2018
Seven things you need to know about the local electionsBlink 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