Reasoning With the Liberal Democrats averaging around 20% in recent polls, some are questioning again whether it’s time for reform in the UK voting system. The ‘first past the post’ system (FPP) seems unfair since it does not give minor parties the number of MPs in proportion to the number of popular votes they receive. The Electoral Reform Society estimates that under FPP about 2/3 of seats are ‘safe’ and therefore not genuinely contestable at each election. So what are the alternatives? The Alternative Vote system (AV) allows voters to select candidates in order of preference. If no candidate has a clear majority (50% or more of the vote), then voters’ second choices are taken into consideration. Another system, Mixed Member Proportionality (MMP), allows voters two votes – one for the constituency member and one for the party of their choice. This system elects two categories of MP – constituency members and list members. The number of list members is determined by the proportion of votes gained by each party.

209. If an election were held today under the ‘Alternative Vote’ system, the Liberal Democrats would win about 20% of the seats in parliament

	(a) True
	(b) False
	(c) Cannot say
	(d)

210. The Electoral Reform Society estimates that under FPP only about 1/3 of seats are truly contestable at each general election

	(a) True
	(b) False
	(c) Cannot say
	(d)

211. Mixed Member Proportionality is a better system because it elects two MPs for each constituency

	(a) True
	(b) False
	(c) Cannot say
	(d)

TOTAL

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