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
Early indications suggest Welsh voting pilots went wellIn May’s local elections, four areas in Wales trialled a different way of voting – allowing people to cast their vote before election day. As well as polling stations being open on the Thursday 5...Posted 05 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
It’s time to scrap the tradition of resignation honoursBoris Johnson cannot be allowed to use his final days in power to pack the Lords with his supporters and allies. Boris Johnson’s days in Downing Street are numbered but that hasn’t stopped him planning...Posted 29 Jul 2022
Johnson’s resignation honours list will last a lifetimeWith the Prime Minister set to exit Downing Street in the near future, attention has turned to who’s staying behind: his resignation honours list. It is tradition for departing PMs to create new life peerages...Posted 28 Jul 2022
Success as Labour vote overwhelmingly to increase the size of the SeneddWelsh Labour members voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to back a new package of reforms to modernise the Senedd. This is the culmination of nearly 20 years of discussions around reforming the Welsh Parliament, particularly in...Posted 07 Jul 2022
Two aristocrats have won the right to make laws for life with just 27 votesJust weeks after 70,000 people cast their votes to elect two new MPs in the Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton by-elections, two hereditary peers were gifted the life-long right to make the laws we all...Posted 07 Jul 2022
Proportional representation would end the scourge of tactical votingThe 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 outingTwo 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 worldThis 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