Thread: Why we should be backing PR and voting 'NO' to AV!

I shall be voting no in the referendum and look forward to campaigning for a no vote but because I favour the status quo

I'm old enough to vote and I back PR.

Originally Posted by jack04

Over 2 million of the electorate are currently not be represented by parliament as the First Past The Post system we currently makes it impossible for the smaller parties to represent. It is the most undemocratic electoral system still around today and is only used by Britain and Canada.
This is why we need a proportional system.
Firstly the FPTP system can be taken advantage of and is often used for tactical voting, which means that Lib-Dem supporters will vote Labour and visa versa, which leads to a continous and undefeated LibLab government (1997-2010).
We should not be backing the AV system as it only benefits the third party, being the Lib-Dems, the AV system would almost double the share of seats the Lid-Dems achieve whilst decreasing the share of seats for the two main parties and most importantly making no differnence to the smaller parties creating a disproportionate influence of the smaller parites and meaning that over 2 million votes go to waste. This is not Democratic, this is not legitimate, this is not fair and it is not representative of the British people. Give people a chance to really vote for what they want and we could see some real change in parliament and bring politics back to life again.

Whichever compromise is used as a voting system, the British party political system is anti-democratic. It is an elected dictatorship.

Direct democracy is the only way to become a true democracy, with people power as a check on Westminster's dogmas.

Switzerland's System of Direct Democracy

Originally Posted by jack04

PR is not just an umbrella when I am prefering to the D'Hondt method of voting which is the most directly democratic voting system.
Just remember a vote for AV is a vote for a continuous Labour government!

How can that be more directly democratic than the population voting for or against policies, that they, the population, have determined should be decided by them directly, and without interference by politicians?

In the Swiss system, the population, in effect becomes the government, unlike any other method of distributing votes to (supposed) representatives every few years, representatives who, if they fail to represent those who voted for them, cannot be removed until the PM calls the next General Election.

D'Hondt method - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia