UK's Main Electoral System and Should It Be Reformed

1161 Words3 Pages

UK's Main Electoral System and Should It Be Reformed

Over the years Britain's pluralist electoral system has been

scrutinised by many political and pressure groups, such as the Liberal

Democrats and the Electoral Reform Society. In their 1997 Manifesto,

the Labour Party did state that they would look into the matter, by

holding a referendum on the issue, however there was no change as

Labour had a large majority in 1997 and Labour has preformed

disappointingly in elections where Proportional Representation had

been used. The main electoral system in the UK should be reformed

because the 'first past the post' system does not represent the

electorate in a democratic manner. It also under represents smaller

parties, as the system creates a two party system in which either

Labour or the Conservatives have been in Government. This has been the

occurrence since 1945, and to amend this and be represented wholly, we

should reform our electorate system using a method of Proportional

Representation in which the electorate would be represented.

The current system does have some advantages, such as it is a simple

system and the concept can be grasped by anyone, and it produces clear

results. Therefore, there would be a strong majority government and no

weak coalitions. The author of 'Electoral Reform,' David Agnew agrees

with this statement, and also states that with Proportional

Representation, we would need coalitions and lead to a weak

government. It also creates a strong bond between and MP between his

or her constituency, which Agnew also agrees with.

The case can be argued in many ways and that is that there are too

many disadvantag...

... middle of paper ...

...e must consider political issues,

which are crucial regarding electoral reform. For example, the way in

which the elections proceed must be fair along with the way in which

the seats are decided. To be truly democratic, the electorates' views

should be represented and parties must not be over represented nor

under represented. The Government should be strong like our present

government and there should be no weak coalitions.

From analysing our current electoral system and analysing others

alternative systems, the UK should reform its main electoral system to

that of the Single Transferable Vote. This is because the system is

remarkably fairer than the first past the post system, and is more

democratic. Through reforming to this system, the electorate would

have more representation and the UK would be more democratic.

Open Document