Electoral Reform in Britain - Coursework Example

electoral reform in britain Introduction The purpose of electoral reform in Britain is to ensure that poll campaigns are fairer, voting age is reduced and the political culture in the country is conducive for greater participation by women, while opening up more opportunities for them in the country’s politics. In addition, the reform aims at harboring the political culture in which politics belongs to the people of the country. Therefore, several arguments have come up in favor of these reforms, which aim at addressing the issues of bringing back general masses, who are feeling alienated from politics and political groups, as mass participation is essential for any democracy to work effectively. While people have greater disregard for politicians, many are looking at them with mistrust, as they feel that politicians have no solutions fro the ills that face the country. As, the country needs more aggressive approach towards politics and the requirement to bring the required changes in political culture and conduct of politics, the methods to do so should include expansion of citizenship and voter education programs. However, the greatest need is to change the voting system, without which the above-mentioned goals may not be achieved. Hence, this paper shall discuss on the merits of the desired changes, which are called as electoral reform for Great Britain. In this direction, the effective application of advantages of “Single Transferable Vote” (STV), would require massive interaction with the politicians and citizens, encouraging younger blood to participate in elections, analyzing electoral results and reporting of election news by media in a mature and responsible manner.....(Electoral Reform Society, 2009) Different voting systems While the liberal parties have always favored a change in the voting system, conservative parties like the labor party and its allies are happy with the present system of voting. However, the adoption of Proportional Representative method of voting would necessarily change the present system of FPTP. FPTP system As this system is prevalent in UK and USA, we find number of countries in the continent that follow a liberal proportional representative (PR) system of voting. The present system of FPTP allows for demarcation of constituencies, according to their geographical location and demographic characteristics, while the electorate is divided into such constituencies allowing a candidate to contest polls from a particular territory. Under this system, there is no difference in the winning methodology as any candidate is winner, whether he or she receives one or one thousand additional votes. In addition, the party with maximum number of winning candidates would form the government, provided the house has majority of members from this party, either singly or in combination with its supporters. The advantages of FPTP are the ability to form governments quickly as results are declared immediately after the voting. In addition, casting a vote for any candidate belonging to a certain party is the vote for the party to form the government. However, there are many disadvantages of this system, which is the reason to call for an electoral reform. The major drawback with FPTP is that the votes cast for other candidates by the voters, in a constituency that is a stronghold of a particular party would become meaningless as the winning candidate has the required number of votes. Therefore, votes cast in favor of loosing candidates have no affect on the result outcome. Accordingly, smaller parties and other independent candidates are sidetracked, which in turn means the government and parliament would have lesser representation of overall people..........(Smith, UK electoral reform...page1) PR system Under the Proportional Representation system, the number of candidates elected to parliament is directly related to the percentage of votes received by the party. Accordingly, the list system adopted for this purpose requires that each party publish a list of their candidates. Thereafter, the number of candidates elected to the parliament would be equal to the overall percentage of votes received by the party. However, more complex system would include the listing of first, second and third choice of the voters, in a certain constituency, which would determine the overall number of winners. The advantages of this system include the essence of voting, as every vote counts, which contributes to the overall percentage of votes polled for a particular party. Thus, the system has more affect on the outcome of the poll results. The governments can be formed by real consensus method, while smaller parties get a say in the parliament and government. However, since this results into the formation of coalition governments, in most of the cases, certain parties joining the coalition may have to give up their electoral manifesto, while extremists can employ pressure tactics on the majority party to get through their own agenda........................(Smith, UK electoral reform...page2-3) As an ideal example of the wasted votes can be the 1989 European elections, in which the green party could not get a single seat in the parliament although it received a significant 15% of the total cast votes. This would mean that 15% of the electorate did not have any say in the proceedings of European parliament. However, with the PR system in place, the situation would have been different with green party representing the electoral percentage voted in their favor. Therefore, with the PR system, the voter has a flexibility of choices to select a person from any of the parties, either big or small, as well as any independent individual contestant. This reflects the true electoral process as required in a democratic set up.....................(Bany, Exam Question: Electoral Reforms) Single transferable vote While this system is used in countries like Australia, Ireland and for elections to European parliament, every vote counts as voters declare their choice by preference given to the candidates. Hence, there is a minimal wastage of votes, while voters can select candidates according to reasons that may not only consider their party affiliations. Therefore, this kind of electoral reform gives more powers to the electorate and people in general. The advantages of an electoral reform, as STV would include the following: Voters have more say in the actual working of the government, as elected candidates are accountable to such voters who have helped them to win through their personal votes. This results in broader representation of voters’ views in the parliament. Voters can elect candidates from a single party or others as well, meaning voters can support the abilities of a candidate while disapproving other candidates. As it is simple for the voters to cast their votes under this system, the parliament has full representation of people from all segments. While no vote is wasted, governments formed according to this electoral method are more stable, as it has the support of majority voters..........(Voting Systems, 2009) Disadvantages of FPTP Any party candidate can be declared elected, even if the total votes cast in the particular constituency may be less than half of the total electorate votes. This practically means a minority government in the making. This goes against the basic constitutional rights given to the citizens, under a democracy, as minority could force its opinion on the majority. It ultimately supports two party systems as voters are forced to vote for the party candidate, which they may not like as an individual. This is mainly because the party affiliations count more than the individual merits of a candidate. This also results in the marginalization of small parties, which may represent the majority in a particular constituency...............(Jones, Reforming the electoral system, BOOK, “Political issues in Britain today”, pages 42-48) Additional Member System While majority of electoral reformers accept that PR should retain the basic features of presently employed FPTP system, there is yet another system, which is called Additional Membership system that incorporates the basic characteristics of FPTP and PR, to give the electoral representation a better shape. As AMS has certain advantages, it has been tried in countries like Germany where they find it useful as an effective electoral reform tool. A few advantages of this system are listed below: While the parties announce their coalition pattern before the elections, AMS helps the voters to express their opinion on the proposed coalition, instead of a single party as in the case of FPTP. The ballot paper under this system requires only two crosses and therefore, it is simpler and easier to understand for the voter of any profile, including an illiterate one. While the link with the constituency is well maintained under AMS, it also results in the best proportional representation of the voters’ choice. However, there are certain drawbacks in this system as it recognizes the political parties, rather than the individual candidates, as coalitions partners are declared before the elections. This goes against the fundamentals of Anglo-Saxon political tradition, as voters are forced to vote for faceless candidates affiliated to a certain party, instead of individual candidates, whom they know personally....................(Jones, Reforming the electoral system, BOOK, “Political issues in Britain today”, pages 42-48) Conclusion The best electoral reform would be to find a combination of systems that incorporate the positive features of FPTP, PR and AMS, as Britain cannot afford to relinquish the present system of polling and voter constituencies, altogether. Therefore, while PR system is the more appropriate choice for following an electoral regime, the structure of politics should also be considered to apply effectively this system for the British electorate. 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