The Reformer

All Around the World Basics Case Study Current Affairs Commentary Developments at the ERS ERS Cymru ERS Northern Ireland ERS Report Launch ERS Scotland Featured Polling Your Questions Answered

First Past the Post means a party doesn’t need to win a majority of votes to rule alone

Electoral Reform in Westminster

First Past the Post would have given the AfD nearly every seat in Saxony-Anhalt

There has been much coverage in recent days of the outcome of the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, which lies in...

Is talk of an early general election justified by any changes seen in the polls

Electoral Reform in Westminster

August 2026 in the polls: The latest UK monthly political polling averages

August is a month of long summer holidays for both schoolchildren and parliamentarians. However, it did not feel like politics...

Most Kiwis consider the voting system a settled matter

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Questioning New Zealand’s proportional system led to questions about the prime minister’s position

New Zealand heads to the polls on November 7 and as a country with similar political traditions to the UK, it is...

To create a change that lasts, the process needs to be trusted

Electoral Reform in Westminster

What does an independent commission on electoral reform need to succeed?

The idea of an independent commission on electoral reform has been gaining traction lately, with nearly 200 MPs calling for...

There is only a 13 point 9 point gap between the 1st and 5th placed parties

Electoral Reform in Westminster

What do the UK political polling averages for July 2026 point to?

July saw the transition from one UK Prime Minister to another for the fifth time since 2019. Andy Burnham stepped...

House of Lords

Anas Sarwar’s appointment exposes the problem at the heart of the House of Lords

Andy Burnham began his Premiership with promises of change and a break with the past way of doing politics. Which...

healthy democracies depend on strong communities

ERS Scotland

Denmark’s three-day democracy festival that attracts over 65,000 visitors

I had the opportunity to visit Denmark’s democracy festival, Folkemødet, (translated as the People’s Meeting), this June. Representatives from Perth and...

The global ultra-rich can effectively buy political parties outright

Money in Politics

What political finance changes are coming in?

Back in 2015 we published Deal or No Deal which looked at public attitudes to political finance following the failed...

Any bloc with more than 42% of the vote would get up to 70 bonus seats

Electoral Reform in Westminster

Proposed Italian electoral law would remove First Past the Post seats – but it’s not all good news

For much of the post-war period, Italy was famous for having a very proportional electoral system – but this all...

I am a strong supporter of electoral reform

Electoral Reform in Westminster

In Andy Burnham we have the first prime minister who openly backs proportional representation

Andy Burnham’s rise to Downing Street means that for the first time in modern history we have a prime minister...

It is clear there is still a lot more to do

Electoral Reform in Westminster

What legacy does Keir Starmer leave on democratic and electoral reform?

This week we are witnessing an increasingly familiar sight – a change of prime minister. Keir Starmer has left office...

Electoral Reform in Westminster

The problem with tactical voting in Britain’s multi-party politics

At election time, millions of us arrive at the polling station in a conflicted state of mind – do I...