What is a hung parliament? Across the country, a total of 650 Members of Parliament are elected to the Commons, with one per constituency. Under Westminster’s first past the post electoral system each MP doesn’t need to be supported by... Posted 06 Nov 2019
Where is proportional representation used in the UK? Westminster’s voting system is well and truly broken. The system with which we elect our MPs is struggling to produce fair and representative results. The 2017 General Election showed that, for the third time in a... Posted 05 Nov 2019
How do elections work in Japan? For the next six weeks the eyes of the world will be fixed on Japan. Ok, probably not all the eyes just the ones that enjoy watching rugby. This week marks the beginning of the... Posted 19 Sep 2019
An elected House of Lords wouldn’t just be a clone of the House of Commons The Electoral Reform Society has long campaigned for the House of Lords to be abolished and replaced with a new modern, fairly elected democratic second chamber. We also want to see the one ‘democratic’ chamber... Posted 10 Sep 2019
Is there proportional representation in Scotland? For most of the 20th century, every election in Scotland was conducted under the First Past the Post system, from elections of MPs to local councillors. Much like in the rest of the UK, this... Posted 05 Sep 2019
What is the main purpose of the House of Lords? Even those of you out there who have a passing knowledge of our campaigning work will know we are not the greatest cheerleaders for the House of Lords. Who could blame us? If you asked... Posted 21 Aug 2019
How is the European Parliament Elected? Voters across the EU will be heading to the polls this week to elect the 751 representatives to the European Parliament (known as MEPs). Elections will be held in the UK on the 23rd of... Posted 21 May 2019
Does Australia use First Past the Post? Australians head to the polls tomorrow to elect all 151 members of the Federal House of Representatives and 40 of their 76 Senators. Australian elections are world-renowned for their beloved ‘Democracy Sausages’ and the fact... Posted 17 May 2019
Is there proportional representation in France? Apart from the UK, France is the only other European democracy not to use some form of proportional representation for its state-wide elections (Here’s a list of voting systems used at the state-level in Europe).... Posted 07 Mar 2019
With first past the post, country and city voters take turns being locked out of government Far too often, debates around electoral reform are characterised as the idea of making two pie charts match: one pie chart represents how the country voted, the other the make-up of parliament. The 2015 general... Posted 28 Feb 2019