There could be some important changes to UK elections very soon

[Harry Hayfield]

1) Dissolution of Parliament

The current constitutional convention is that the Prime Minister can
request the Monarch to exercise her prerogative power to dissolve
Parliament. Dissolution will trigger a general election. At the end of a five year term, Parliament is automatically dissolved (under the Parliament Act
1911); and the Prime Minister will, by convention, ask the Monarch to
dissolve Parliament when it has passed a motion of no confidence in the
government. Otherwise, Parliament is only dissolved if the Monarch so
chooses and in practice, for over a hundred years, he or she has done this
whenever, and only when, the Prime Minister has requested it. This gives
the Prime Minister significant control over Parliament.

The Government believes that the convention should be changed so that the Prime Minister is required to seek the approval of the House of Commons before asking the Monarch for a dissolution. Any new arrangements would have to provide for the situation in which it proves impossible to form a government which commands the support of the House of Commons and yet Parliament refuses to dissolve itself.

2) Voting Day

Holding general elections on a working weekday puts the UK in a minority
among Western democracies.While the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland,
the US and Canada have elections on weekdays, the great majority of
other European countries hold elections either at the weekend or on a
public holiday.

Every general election in England since 1945 has taken place on a Thursday, but the statutory requirement is only that a general election must be held on a week day. Prior to 1945, general elections took place on a variety of days; the last UK general election to take place on a weekend was on Saturday, December 14th 1918. Local elections are now required by law to be held on a Thursday but for a time elections to certain Urban District Councils were held on Saturdays.

The Government will therefore consult local authorities and others on the merits of moving the voting day for general and/or local elections from Thursday to the weekend, and on the best way to do this. Moving to weekends for either general or local elections would require legislation. The consultation will take into account the needs of religious groups, to ensure that those with religious objections to voting on a Saturday or Sunday have an opportunity to vote in a way that is consistent with their beliefs.

It will also consider whether weekend voting would be more costly than the current arrangements or if there might be a negative impact on turnout for local elections. This might be a particular issue if local and general elections were held close together but on separate days. These proposals would not affect elections to the devolved legislatures.

3) Voting Method

In line with the Government’s manifesto, it is carrying out a review of the
experience of the new voting systems established since 1997 to contribute
to the debate. The review will include information on the elections for the
Northern Ireland Assembly in March 2007 and for the National Assembly
for Wales and the Scottish Parliament in May 2007. It is anticipated that
the review will be completed by the end of this year.

[freek]

3) Voting Method

In line with the Government’s manifesto, it is carrying out a review of the
experience of the new voting systems established since 1997 to contribute
to the debate. The review will include information on the elections for the
Northern Ireland Assembly in March 2007 and for the National Assembly
for Wales and the Scottish Parliament in May 2007. It is anticipated that
the review will be completed by the end of this year.

Do you think that this will eventually result in abolition of FPTP? And will it become a system "Scotland-style" or "Northern Ireland-style" then?

[afleitch]

3) Voting Method

In line with the Government’s manifesto, it is carrying out a review of the
experience of the new voting systems established since 1997 to contribute
to the debate. The review will include information on the elections for the
Northern Ireland Assembly in March 2007 and for the National Assembly
for Wales and the Scottish Parliament in May 2007. It is anticipated that
the review will be completed by the end of this year.

Do you think that this will eventually result in abolition of FPTP? And will it become a system "Scotland-style" or "Northern Ireland-style" then?

STV is as far as they will go. It allows for proportionality and maintains a geographical link with each MP's constituents.

However the UK parliament usually swings in the right direction of public opinion at election time and unlike Scotland and Wales where there is one party entrenchment governments do change. It would be much easier (and cheaper) to redraw the constituencies to partially redress the imbalance than it would be to set up a new system.

[Democratic Hawk]

3) Voting Method

In line with the Government’s manifesto, it is carrying out a review of the
experience of the new voting systems established since 1997 to contribute
to the debate. The review will include information on the elections for the
Northern Ireland Assembly in March 2007 and for the National Assembly
for Wales and the Scottish Parliament in May 2007. It is anticipated that
the review will be completed by the end of this year.

Well, scrapping the European Parliamentary Election Act 1999 would be an excellent start . Putrid like all list systems. I'd certainly favor STV for Euro elections

For general elections, the constituency link is vital so I'd favor either AV (at least everyone's vote ultimately counts) but I'm open to STV and would oppose anything that goes further than that

Dave

[Verily]

3) Voting Method

In line with the Government’s manifesto, it is carrying out a review of the
experience of the new voting systems established since 1997 to contribute
to the debate. The review will include information on the elections for the
Northern Ireland Assembly in March 2007 and for the National Assembly
for Wales and the Scottish Parliament in May 2007. It is anticipated that
the review will be completed by the end of this year.

Well, scrapping the European Parliamentary Election Act 1999 would be an excellent start . Putrid like all list systems. I'd certainly favor STV for Euro elections

For general elections, the constituency link is vital so I'd favor either AV (at least everyone's vote ultimately counts) but I'm open to STV and would oppose anything that goes further than that

Dave

What if all of the constituencies were maintained, but Parliament were expanded to include regional proportional seats as well?

[afleitch]

What if all of the constituencies were maintained, but Parliament were expanded to include regional proportional seats as well?

The Commons chamber is pretty much packed to capacity as it is As countries go, at 1:70,000 ish the size of the parliament is large enough.

As for systems, I don't support AV, because if in use it would see Labour's inflated electoral advantage increase even more. Some models have suggested the Conservatives at the last election under AV would have fell to 125-150 seats at the expense of Labour and the Lib Dems. If anything, FPTP is more 'proportional' in the results it produces than AV.

[Verily]

What if all of the constituencies were maintained, but Parliament were expanded to include regional proportional seats as well?

The Commons chamber is pretty much packed to capacity as it is As countries go, at 1:70,000 ish the size of the parliament is large enough.

The problem lies with the Commons chamber. Why hasn't it ever been expanded?

[Democratic Hawk]

What if all of the constituencies were maintained, but Parliament were expanded to include regional proportional seats as well?

Not the Mixed Member Proportional Representation/Top Up system they have in Scotland and Wales

Preferable, yet not really preferable at all since it still would involve a party list, would be the Parallel Voting/Supplemental Member system, whereby:

1) One vote, using FPTP or, preferably, AV since every vote ultimately counts, would be cast to elect one MP for each constituency
2) A second vote would be cast for a party; the regional seats then being allocated proportionally to that party's total share of the regional vote

Dave

[Democratic Hawk]

What if all of the constituencies were maintained, but Parliament were expanded to include regional proportional seats as well?

The Commons chamber is pretty much packed to capacity as it is As countries go, at 1:70,000 ish the size of the parliament is large enough.

As for systems, I don't support AV, because if in use it would see Labour's inflated electoral advantage increase even more. Some models have suggested the Conservatives at the last election under AV would have fell to 125-150 seats at the expense of Labour and the Lib Dems. If anything, FPTP is more 'proportional' in the results it produces than AV.

I've dug out my 1998 Politics Pal and under the following systems, the 1997 general election result would have been

FPTP: Lab 419; Con 165; LD 46; Nat 10; Others 19 - Lab maj. of 179

Pure Proportionality (List): Lab 285; Con 202; LD 110; Nat 46; Others 89 - Lab 89 seats short of a maj.

Alternative Vote: Lab 436; Con 110; LD 84; Nat 10; Others 19 - Lab maj. of 213

Single Transferable Vote: Lab 342; Con 114, LD 131; Nat 24; Others 18 - Lab maj. of 25

Additional Member System: Lab 303; Con 203; LD 115; Nat 20; Others 18 - Lab 27 seats short of a maj.

Supplentary Vote: Lab 436; Con 110; LD 84; Nat 10; Others 19 - Lab maj. of 213

Dave

[minionofmidas]

Note: While the Netherlands vote on a thursday, polling day is a public holiday.

[Angel of Death]

Note: While the Netherlands vote on a thursday, polling day is a public holiday.

The latter statement is false and it's only regarding the European Parliament that the election is on Thursday. The others are on Wednesday.

[minionofmidas]

Note: While the Netherlands vote on a thursday, polling day is a public holiday.

The latter statement is false and it's only regarding the European Parliament that the election is on Thursday. The others are on Wednesday.

You're right about wednesday, sorry about that - except last time around. The last election was actually held on a tuesday because the thursday was a public holiday (Ascension of Christ) and having two public holidays in a row was deemed inconvenient.

[Angel of Death]

Note: While the Netherlands vote on a thursday, polling day is a public holiday.

The latter statement is false and it's only regarding the European Parliament that the election is on Thursday. The others are on Wednesday.

You're right about wednesday, sorry about that - except last time around. The last election was actually held on a tuesday because the thursday was a public holiday (Ascension of Christ) and having two public holidays in a row was deemed inconvenient.

Again, I need to correct you there. It's true that the election was originally planned one day before on a Tuesday because the next day was a holiday, but this was done for practical reasons and does not mean that election day is itself a holiday. In fact, the whole point turned out to be moot, because this was before the government fell, after which the election still ended up being held on a Wednesday.

Days of the week are capitalized BTW.

[freek]

 The last election was actually held on a tuesday because the thursday was a public holiday (Ascension of Christ) and having two public holidays in a row was deemed inconvenient.

Als Angel of Death already mentioned, this year there were no elections in the Netherlands on the Tuesday before Ascension Day since we already had an early election last year November.

However, the last local elections (2006) were on a Tuesday, March 7. Every year on the second Wednesday of March, the orthodox Calvinists (the ones voting SGP) go to church to pray for a good harvest that year. Therefore, the SGP requested to have the election one day early. Apart from some voters not wanting to vote (or in the case of civil servants, work) on this day of prayer, there was another reason to move the elections. In quite a lot of towns, polling stations are in churches, or buildings owned by a church. A lot of these were not available on Wednesday March 8.

[Hash]

France polls on Sundays, atleast recently as I notice. And scheduled Presidential, (normal termed) legislative, regional (?) elections occur at around the same dates (in recent years atleast)