Germany’s 2021 election: How Germans vote

This Sunday (26th March), Germany goes to the polls to elect its national parliament – the Bundestag. With Angela Merkel stepping down as Chancellor after 16 years, this election will cause only the fifth change...

Posted 23 Sep 2021

This election marks the fifth change in Germany’s head of government in the last 50 years

Early voting doesn’t have to mean long queues

Two news stories stood out this week. As early voting opened in some US states, images of voters queuing all day to vote were greeted as signs of enthusiasm in America but confusion outside, while...

Posted 15 Oct 2020

Parliament House

What is tactical voting and why is it bad for democracy?

In a Westminster election, tactical voting takes place when a voter chooses a candidate whom they wouldn’t normally support, in order to prevent another candidate from winning. For example, if you want to vote for...

Posted 12 Nov 2019

Voters shouldn’t have to change their behaviour to work around first past the post’s failings

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

Outside of Westminster, most ways of electing parliaments and assemblies don’t involve wasting so many votes.