tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115431.post2615117920566848132..comments2023-10-16T15:59:02.445+01:00Comments on NEIL HARDING: Arguing For Electoral Reform Is Difficult.Neil Hardinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01333739272733802133noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115431.post-32465795092955536022008-02-02T23:25:00.000+00:002008-02-02T23:25:00.000+00:00Mark, I wondered if anyone would spot that. I put ...Mark, I wondered if anyone would spot that. I put that in deliberately because I think 'furthest past the post' is more accurate. At least a horse has to reach the end to win. In our electoral system the finish line moves depending on how the other candidates do. So governments can get majorities on ever lower percentages. 35% of the vote, just 21% of electors, how much lower can we go and still have politicians pretend they have a mandate?Neil Hardinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01333739272733802133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115431.post-25031654432558568112008-02-02T23:11:00.000+00:002008-02-02T23:11:00.000+00:00Woah! "First-past-the-post", shurely?Woah! "First-past-the-post", shurely?Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115431.post-60944031318745547052008-02-01T07:46:00.000+00:002008-02-01T07:46:00.000+00:00Lee, thanks, it is not looking good for reform at ...Lee, thanks, it is not looking good for reform at the moment. Labour have finally ditched their promises of 1997 and 2001 (where was the outcry? and it shows how much manifesto promises are worth). Citizen juries would be a great way to educate and allow the public to choose the system they like best and be put forward to a referendum. Lets hope one FPTP election is all we have to wait. Alas if the Tories win next time - it will be two at least and probably a lot more. I hope you are younger than me and get to vote for a government that truly represents us. As I have said New Zealand finally persuaded turkeys to vote for christmas, so there is hope.Neil Hardinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01333739272733802133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14115431.post-43036558498492829992008-02-01T03:33:00.000+00:002008-02-01T03:33:00.000+00:00Great article, have been going in to much of the s...Great article, have been going in to much of the same sort of ting (with less detail) over on my blog. There really does need to be a consensus, but unfortunately I can't see a truly representative answer coming out of anything but a referendum on which system people would prefer (using STV of course ;)<BR/><BR/>If I were all powerful then I'd be making the Ministry of Justice start the process of reform to run alongside the House of Lords reform...no reason for one reform to hold up another. A comprehensive set of citizen juries/assemblies need to be set up so that localities can be informed and discuss the varying systems and put forward their recommendations. These results should be collated to find the most popular alternative system and then that system alone should be put up in a referendum against FPTP before the next election.<BR/><BR/>Alas I know in my gut that we'll have to have one more completely unrepresentative FPTP election before any change can happen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com