tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17639100.post1153143609290828887..comments2024-01-30T20:05:29.835+10:00Comments on Woolly Days: London waits as Labour face massive council election defeatDerek Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15581505641163336050noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17639100.post-57372207596915376312008-05-03T08:54:00.000+10:002008-05-03T08:54:00.000+10:00Thanks for the clarification, edinburgh. And I cer...Thanks for the clarification, edinburgh. And I certainly will not be deleting your valuable comment (the only comments I delete are spam). <BR/><BR/>I take your PR differentiation between election where there is only winner and multiple ones. That is why the Irish voting system (which returns 3, 4 or 5 seats per electorate) is much better than the Australian which only returns 1 seat for each electorate.<BR/><BR/>Nonetheless I would argue that the London system or Aus system is better than a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system in that it at least takes some form of preferences into account.<BR/><BR/>In an example like the London Mayor where there can be only one winner you can certainly tinker with the system to make it better but not fundamentally so, in my opinion.<BR/><BR/>Certainly I'd agree that the "supplementary vote" system you describe is a poor form of PR, but still better than FPTP.<BR/><BR/>Derek<BR/><BR/>ps If you need to send an email, it can be found on my "profile" page.Derek Barryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15581505641163336050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17639100.post-87019793041452219892008-05-03T02:27:00.000+10:002008-05-03T02:27:00.000+10:00DerekI didn't really want to post this as a commen...Derek<BR/>I didn't really want to post this as a comment, but I could not find any way of sending you a private e-mail. So I'll be happy for you to delete it when you've dealt with it.<BR/><BR/>The London Mayoral election does NOT use proportional representation. There cannot be any form of proportional representation when you are electing only one winner.<BR/><BR/>This election uses the (appalling) Supplementary Vote in which each voter can mark only a first choice and a second choice, no matter how many candidates there may be. If no candidate has an absolute majority of the first choice votes, there is a run-off between the top two candidates. <BR/><BR/>All the other candidates are eliminated together, and the second choices on those ballot papers are examined. But it is only the second choices marked for one or other of the top two that are counted. All the other second choices are discarded and count for nothing. So for your second choice vote to count at all, you must guess in advance which candidates will be the top two and you must vote only for one of them.<BR/><BR/>James Gilmour<BR/>EdinburghJames Gilmourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17374325929212547383noreply@blogger.com