April 26th, 2010
Over the last few days Nick Clegg has started focusing on the popular vote after the general election, and the fact that it wouldn’t be right to have Brown in Number 10 if Labour is the third party in terms of Popular votes.
Now, I’m not looking to score some cheap party political points over this, nor am I trying to jump to the conclusion that Clegg is getting ready to support Cameron in Number 10. But as someone who is committed to Electoral reform and Proportional Representation I am outraged by these comments. If Nick Clegg is serious about shaking up the rotten First Past the Post system then he needs to act like it, he should know better that there is no accuracy about the popular vote in the First Past The Post system.
First Past The Post encourages voters to tactically vote, it is a rotten system, voters are forced to decide between the top two or in rare cases three candidates in order to see their vote counted (not to mention all the Liberal Democrats Charts which encourages Labour or Conservative voters to vote for them because “only Liberal Democrats can win here.”)
If Nick Clegg is serious about Proportional Representation, he should use this election to show how rotten FPTP is, rather than trying to score cheap party political points, by taking popular vote in the coming election as an accurate reflection of the electorates will, by doing this he is validating the First Past The Post system.
Kaveh Azarhoosh
