By Daniel Kawczynski MP
We now know the date for the referendum when the British public get the opportunity to decide whether we change from our traditional first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system to the Alternative Vote (AV).
As co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the promotion of first-past-the-post, my views on this are somewhat obvious but always worth repeating. First-past-the-post is tried and tested, simple, it brings about quick results, is relatively cheap, which given the economic mess left by Labour is an important consideration, and it allows voters to clearly demonstrate which party they feel should form the Government. It is this last point where a deeply unacceptable side affect of AV becomes apparent.
When we go to the polls as a nation, the majority of us are voting to support the philosophy and policy of one political party. Even though an individual's vote may change from election to election for varying reasons, at the end of the day when we enter the polling booth, we enter it hoping that our vote will help bring to power the party we support. AV doesn’t essentially change this. I can still cast just one vote and make it for the party I most favour, but herein lies the problem. Whilst I and millions of other individuals have more or less fixed party allegiances and will only vote for one party, others will cast their alternatives, twice or maybe three times. What AV allows is two classes of voter, those who will cast one vote and those who will have two or three bites of the cherry.
In a tight contest where no overall majority is achieved, the second preference votes are then counted up and have the same weighting as the original votes. My key question is this, why should someone’s second preference vote, essentially the “I don’t like this candidate much, but will allow them as an alternative” count as much as my original vote?
It is this unfair weighting of votes between those who support and often campaign on behalf of a certain party and those who are happy to vote two or three times which highlights my clear concerns about AV. This is why I will gladly be throwing my support behind retaining FPTP in the run up to the 5 May 2011.
