With first past the post, country and city voters take turns being locked out of governmentFar 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
What is a Citizens’ Assembly?Citizens’ Assemblies are often in the news, from the assemblies that led to the referendums on equal marriage and abortion in Ireland, to the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland and local council climate assemblies. While the...Posted 24 Jan 2019
How does proportional representation work in Germany?[Note: Germany updated their voting system for the 2025 election, and introduced new rules. You can find out about that in our article on the election] Elections to Germany’s Bundestag – Germany’s House of Commons...Posted 18 Dec 2018
Why the Brexit TV debate debacle shows party leaders must be compelled to take partThere was a story noticeably absent on the front pages on Monday: Sunday night’s Brexit TV leaders debate. That’s because – for all the valiant efforts of broadcasters, there wasn’t one. The past month has...Posted 12 Dec 2018
The TV Brexit debate tantrums show why party leaders shouldn’t be able to dictate the formatIn an age where much of what we see and read about politics is micro-targeted and atomised, TV leaders’ debates offer a rare shared event for supporters of all parties – one reason why the...Posted 03 Dec 2018
How the Democrats could win the popular vote but not control of the HouseBrenda from Bristol famously cried “not another one!” at the news that we were to hold an election in 2017, just two years since the last one. Let’s hope she doesn’t plan to move to...Posted 06 Nov 2018
Ontario and Québec look towards electoral reformWe’ve covered the exciting moves towards fair votes in British Columbia and Prince Edward Island – two Canadian provinces looking to ditch the broken ‘Westminster model’. But the usefulness of First Past the Post has...Posted 29 Oct 2018
In 1951 more people voted Labour than Conservative, yet the Conservatives formed the governmentThe General Election on this day in 1951 couldn’t have been more decisive. Six years since Labour’s victory in 1945, and one year after their victory in 1950, the public was still behind Clement Attlee’s...Posted 25 Oct 2018
Voting opens in British Columbian electoral reform referendumAttempts at electoral reform in British Columbia (B.C.) – Canada’s westernmost and third most populous province – date back more than 13 years. On Monday, voting opens on whether to scrap the all-or-nothing voting system...Posted 22 Oct 2018
Three things we learnt at Lib Dem ConferenceAfter spending a long weekend at Liberal Democrat conference, I can confirm that EU berets are firmly in fashion, you should never mention the M (moderate) word in their company and there is nothing they...Posted 20 Sep 2018