Debates over Alternative Voting

Allister Craddock
The Politics Show, East Midlands

AV would allow people to vote for candidates in order of preference.

You might think the Labour MP for Leicester South, Sir Peter Soulsby, would be seriously opposed to it.

Under Alternative Voting backed by Gordon Brown he probably would not be an MP now, he might well have lost out to the Liberal Democrats.

He tells the Politics Show it would be much fairer than the current "first past the post" system.

AV would allow people to vote for candidates in order of preference.

It would mean that if no one has 50% on the first count, the candidate with the least amount of votes is eliminated and their second preferences are distributed.

The process continues until there is a victor.

The Electoral Reform Society say it would probably have meant Wellingborough would have gone to Labour instead of the Tories.

First past the post

But unlike Sir Peter Soulsby, sitting Conservative MP, Peter Bone, wants nothing to do with Alternative Voting.

He thinks 'first past the post' is a more viable system. And he vehemently disputes the contention that AV would have produced a different result in his constituency.

MP Peter bone believes calculations do not add up

He clearly believes the calculations on people's second and third preferences just do not add up.

Meanwhile the Electoral Reform Society have wider reform on their minds.

Gordon Brown has promised an early referendum on AV should Labour win the next election.

But the society says it does not go far enough. They want people to be given the chance to vote on other systems too, including proportional representation.

That would see Sir Peter Soulsby and Peter Bone on the same side of the argument. Neither wants to endanger the present system of parliamentary constituencies where MPs are arguably more accountable to their electorates.

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