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Introduction
Alternative Vote Plus
HOW IT WORKS: Voters have two votes. With the first, for the locally-elected MP, voters rank candidates in order of preference (ie, 1,2,3,4 instead of 'x'). With the second, for a top-up list, the voters votes for a particular party.
To be elected in a constituency seat, a candidate needs over 50% of the votes. If no-one gets enough first preference votes candidates with the fewest votes are knocked out and their second preferences are redistributed. This continues until one candidate gets more than half the votes.
The second votes are then counted to give the level of support for each party in a county or region. If a party has only managed to win a few constituency seats, they get top-up seats to get their final total more in line with their vote share.
PROS: Retains the link between constituency and MP, and gives proportionality across the country
CONS: Does not provide proportionality in the constituency.