Proportional representation

[vilakins]

This may be of interest to some British people post-election. On the news tonight they did a calculation of what the results would be if our MMP (mixed member proportional) system had been used. To explain that: MMP gives everyone two votes, one for a local candidate and one for a party. The winning candidate takes each electorate, then list MPs are added from each party list to make up the proportions of the party votes (excepting parties getting less than 5% of that vote).

There are 650 seats in the UK Parliament, 28 of which were won by small parties and can be set aside. As those parties didn't get over 5% of the vote, they don't take part in the next calculation which goes on the number of votes each party got.

Of the votes for the main three, Conservatives got 41%, Labour 33%, and the Lib Dems 26%. This would give them the following numbers of seats:
- Conservatives 255, 51 down
- Labour 205, 53 down
- Lib Dems 162, 102 up (or 105; the words from Tooth Man--an announcer loathed by me--didn't match the figures on screen)

So the Lib Dems would be in a much stronger position to support a coalition with either side.

I gather the dissatisfaction with the first-past-the-post system may mean a change.