Yesterday’s British parliamentary election provided yet another
breath-taking example of how an antiquated winner-take-all voting system
distorts election results.
With 626 of the 650 seats declared (8am, May 7), the Conservatives
won about 47% of the seats with just 36% of the votes. Labour received
an equivalent windfall of undeserved seats: 40% of the seats with just
29% of the votes.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats won only 8% of the seats, despite
winning about 23% of the votes. As Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg
said, it is “abundantly clear the electoral system is broken.”
“As ludicrous as Britain’s election results are, they are no worse than
what we experience in Canada,” said Bronwen Bruch, President of Fair
Vote Canada, a multi-partisan citizens’ campaign for voting system
reform in Canada. "The big difference is that Britain may well move
forward on electoral reform, since both Labour and the Liberal
Democrats, who together represent a majority of voters, are prepared to
scrap the discredited first-past-the-post system. The Liberal Democrats
are expected to demand action on proportional representation.”
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