AV - Apathy for UK referendum

Voting-a-plenty for citizens around the UK on May 5th!

There's the Scottish Parliament election; Welsh Assembly election; some local elections in England; Northern Ireland Assembly election as well as elections to local councils; and throughout the UK a vote in the referendum on the Alternative Voting system (or, AV).

AV would replace the 'first past the post' system that's currently used to elect MPs to the House of Commons. This is our chance to decide whether we want to change from 'first past the post' to 'AV'. However, it seems many people around the UK are either unaware of what it means or give half a toss as to whether it'd benefit us or not.

So, in the 'first past the post' system the candidate with most votes wins, regardless of their share of the total votes cast.

In AV, the idea is that a winning candidate should secure at least 50% of the total votes cast. That's achieved by allowing voters to rank candidates in order of preference. If after an initial count any candidate has more than 50% of the vote they are duly elected. However, should this not be the case, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes re-assigned using the second preference indicated on those ballot papers. This goes on until a candidate gets 50% or more of the total share of the votes. Believe it or not it's still possible that any one candidate may not recieve 50% of the total share of the votes (if for example, many people haven't indicated 2nd preferences), in which case the candidate with the highest total share would be elected.

Three other countries around the world use AV: Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. And, it was recently used to select Ed Milliband as Labour Party Leader.

Here's what The Guardian Newspaper says is "everything you need to know about the AV Referendum".

Unlikely bed-fellows David Cameron (he's the UK Prime Minister and Conservative leader) and John Reid (Labour) have shared the stage to campaign for a 'No' vote in the AV referendum.

Siding up beside each other for the 'Yes' to AV are Nick Clegg (Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader), Vince Cable (Business Secretary and Lib Dem) and Ed Milliband (Labour leader).



For more info, visit The Electoral Commission website