Call This Democracy?

Last night at the Angel Hotel, Cardiff your correspondent attended a public meeting organised by the Electoral Reform Society entitled "Call This Democracy?". The point of such a meeting was, apparently, not to state the case for electoral reform (i.e. a change for Westminster elections to a PR based system) but to have a forum to discuss how to achieve electoral reform; ultimately it was a hybrid of the two.

The meeting was chaired by Ken Ritchie, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society. The panel consisted of Janet Davies AM (Plaid Cymru), Michael German AM (Lib Dems), Glyn Davies AM and Jonathan Evans MEP (both Conservatives). German and Evans, of course, represent this area (not exclusively), in their roles of AM and MEP respectively. The panel took it in turn to say their bit but most impressive were the two Tory representatives. Glyn Davies spoke in favour of the current system but had severe reservations in the wake of the last election. Evans spoke of his desire for change, mainly based on the fact that a Tory vote in the Valleys should be worth the same as a Tory vote in the most marginal of seats.

Both Janet Davies and German spoke heavily in favour of STV (Single Transferable Vote) and against closed party list systems such as that operated for European Elections.

German and Evans quelled doubts regarding coalition governments. Upon taking questions from the floor a young man describing himself as "a centre-left progressive, who on the face of it has the most to gain from electoral reform" was interested as to whether coalitions were a price to pay for a just and fair electoral system citing the example of Leeds City Council where the Greens, Tories and Lib Dems are working in coalition to keep the Labour group out of power. German seemed to feel that if Green voters felt dismayed by this then at subsequent elections their voters could 'punish' them at the ballot box for any unpopular choice of coalition partners.

All in all, it is very difficult to ignore the panel's call for electoral reform. May 5th was the least fair result we've had to an election in living memory. The Conservatives won the popular vote in England yet Labour have more seats there. And they call that democracy? I'm not so sure.

Interested?

How First Past The Post Works
How The Single Transferable Vote System Works
Electoral Reform Society
Michael German Talks About Electoral Reform