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UK first-past-the-post voting system favors Tories

Monday, 11 May 2015 4:32 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 11 May 2015 4:32 PM ]

The United Kingdom’s first-past-the-post voting system is tipped in favor of the ruling Conservative Tories, says a senior Green Party member.

“What we have always known is that the popular votes across the country do not translate into actual MPs proportionately,” Shahrar Ali, deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, told Press TV’s UK Desk in a Monday interview.

“At the moment, first-past-the-post favors the Conservatives especially over the Labour even. But either the Conservatives or Labour have benefitted from this voting regime.”

Ali further noted, “UKIP also has a cause for complaint, having amassed 4 million votes and also having one MP to show for it, whereas if you look at the SNP, who did particularly well, the amount of votes required on average for each MP was very small by comparison with some of the other parties.”

“What tends to happen is that the larger parties are able to compete for the marginal seats, and the smaller parties, even though they are polling very well across a whole range of seats, will find it very difficult to get their first MP in through first-past-the-post as it suggests.”

His comments come days after UKIP leader Nigel Farage wrote in an Independent article that “the first-past-the-post system is now totally bankrupt. It has turned general election campaigns into: “Please vote for me, I’m not quite as ugly as the other one” situations, rather than parties fighting over policy positions and serious issues. It has directly led to a campaign of total negativity and triviality.”

Now the Green deputy chief believes alternatives should replace the existing system.

“There are a number of proportional systems on offer and in use. For example the European Parliament has a proportional system; we have Assembly Elections in London for example, which have both a constituency element and a proportional system which is a kind of a top up so that the popular vote does reflect more closely the number of people elected.”

MTM/GHN

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