News and Comment

The latest news and commentary from the Electoral Reform Society.

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What is the Scotland Bill?

The Scotland Bill was no surprise when it was announced in the Queens Speech. In the lead up to the Scottish independence referendum vote last September and following a particular cliff-edge poll, unionist parties became very...

Posted 12 Jun 2015

Crossing the threshold – the Turkish election

There was a fair deal of shock in Turkey last weekend as the Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its parliamentary majority, which it has enjoyed since 2002. The AKP’s dominance has been legendary since...

Posted 11 Jun 2015

Istanbul, Turkey

With all due respect, Minister… AV is not PR

This week our colleagues at Unlock Democracy received the official government response to the 500,000-strong petitions for electoral reform, handed in to 10 Downing Street just a week after the General Election. It seems that John Penrose,...

Posted 10 Jun 2015

Politicians support PR

Did Proportional Representation put the Nazis in power?

Probably the first time many of us heard of Proportional Representation (PR) was in a school classroom studying the Second World War.  For some people this may have been the last time they heard about other voting...

Posted 05 Jun 2015

Military defeat, revolutions and regular coup attempts played a major role

The 2015 general election – A system in crisis

It’s official: this election was the most disproportionate in UK history. We’ve just released our new report on the May 7th General Election, A Voting System in Crisis. And it makes for worrying reading for fans of...

Posted 01 Jun 2015

The Lottery Election

639 Votes Are All That Would Be Needed to Change the Result of the 2015 election The 2015 election was won by only six seats. If six constituencies had voted differently then Britain would have...

Posted 20 May 2015

Ballot Papers

477,000 people…and five parties

There aren’t many issues which bring together UKIP and the Green Party, or the Liberal Democrats and the SNP. But there is one which does – the need for a fair voting system. That’s why...

Posted 18 May 2015

Politicians support PR

Nail in the Coffin of Westminster’s voting system

Well, it’s all over. All the months of campaigning have resulted in an election outcome which few predicted. It was a good night for the bookies, and a bad night for the pollsters – but...

Posted 11 May 2015

So who gets to be Prime Minister?

In 2011 the Fixed Term Parliaments Act was passed. Setting aside its merits or demerits, the politics behind its introduction and the decision to fix the terms at five years, it is a piece of...

Posted 06 May 2015

Fixed Term Parliament Act