Bobbyaro wrote:
Can't see at work.
Briefly, FPTP works as follows:
• Vote for one candidate
• Candidate with the most votes wins the seat
The primarily issues for those against FPTP is that its winner-takes-all approach leads to tactical voting, and it also enables someone to take a seat with a minority backing. There's also the spoiler effect, which the Tories have used well in recent years—the 'left'/moderate vote splits enabling the Tories to win seats that Labour or Lib Dem supporters would have been happy(ish) going to the other candidate.
AV works as follows:
1. Vote for as many candidates as you wish, ranking them in order
2. If a candidate has 50% of the vote, they win the seat, otherwise:
3. Second-choice preferences for the lowest-placed candidates are redistributed.
2 and 3 loop until a candidate has over 50%.
So, say you have a fairly tight content in a UK seat, with three candidates: Left Lib, Lefty Lab and Righty Con. Right Con's a lazy fucker, but he wins elections because the Lefty votes are split. Under FPTP, this happened in 2010:
Lefty Lib: 29%
Lefty Lab: 35%
Righty Con: 36%
As you can see, Righty Con only had a slim majority over Lefty Lab, but the majority of the voters didn't want him. In fact, all the Lefty lot are pissed off and confused, and start talking about tactical voting and how they should have voted for someone who wasn't their first choice. But that might not have made any odds because not everyone would have done this and OH IT'S TOO CONFUSING.
In a magical world where AV actually wins the referendum, here's what happens in 2015, with the exact same turnout:
Lefty Lib: 29%
Lefty Lab: 35%
Righty Con: 36%
Lefty Lib is last, and so he is eliminated (possibly by firing squad) and his second-choice votes redistributed. The vast majority of Lefty Lib supporters thought Lefty Lab was a better bet than Righty Con, and so this happened:
Lefty Lab: 58%
Righty Con: 42%
Lefty Lab wins, backed directly by 35% and indirectly by the majority of the remainder. In 2020, Righty Con will have to work harder to appeal to a broader range of people, rather than being a stuck-up git.