Electoral Reform Society: A tale of two systems. new reports show that England faces 'democratic apartheid'

Tuesday, 26 February 2008 12:00 AM

New reports from the Electoral Reform Society have pin pointed the growing gulf between local democracy in England and Scotland.

The 2007 Elections in Scotland were the first to be fought under the Single Transferable Vote system.

Dr Ken Ritchie the Society's Chief Executive commented:

"We have a new divide in this country. One country has had dynamism and choice restored to local democracy, and a new playing field for voters. The other features increasingly moribund councils, elections devoid of competition, and complacent one party states. These are places where the voter is simply an afterthought.

"Make no mistake. The change in the way Scotland votes has transformed the political landscape. It has empowered voters to boot out previously unshakable administrations that simply don't enjoy popular support. It has given a voice to independents and party candidates in places that were until 2007 no go areas.

"For England 'business as usual' means nothing less than democratic apartheid. Second rate elections will continue to mean second rate representation until we see change south of the border."

"Scotland has shown the way."

ENDS

. Local Authority Elections in England, Report and Analysis by Gertrud Malmersjo is available for download here..
http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/downloads/Englishlocalreport2007.pdf

. England, a summary:

1. Despite the fact that First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) is a system which generally favours the main party, the number of councils with no overall control was high. If voters continue to diversify their votes, coalitions will be inevitable, even under this electoral system.
2. There were 15 councils with wrong winners (i.e. the party with most votes failed to get the most seats), 42 councils where parties gained no seats despite receiving a substantial percentage of the vote and 30 councils with a high number of uncontested seats.
3. Labour was the party which most frequently found itself losing out on seats and gaining no representation despite having a considerable vote in some local authorities.
4. Wrong winners mostly prejudiced the Conservative Party, which lost out in ten elections this way. Conversely, the control of four councils was lost to the Conservatives due to this flaw in the voting system.

. Local Authority Elections in Scotland, Report and Analysis, by Lewis Baston is available for download here.. http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/downloads/Scottishlocalgovernmentreport.pdf
. A pdf summary of the report is available at http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/downloads/ScottishLocalGovernmentReportsummary.pdf
. For a hard copy of the reports please email ers@electoral-reform.org.uk .

Contacts

Lewis Baston, the Society's Research Director and principal author of the Scottish report, the Society's Chief Executive Ken Ritchie, Scotland Director Amy Rodger and other colleagues will be available to discuss the report's findings

Contact the Society's press office on 020 79281622

The Society's Chief Executive Ken Ritchie is available on 07754 165551

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