Extra voting power proportional to votes won

Hugh Warren

Representative democracy is best served by electing representatives by preferential transferable vote, and, in the body to which they are elected, whether parliament or elsewhere, using modern technological means to allow them the same number of votes as they themselves obtained in their election.

It might be argued that in the Trades Union Congress, the representatives of the various Unions are, in effect, already given the voting power of the number of persons they represent. But what is unsatisfactory about the TUC way of doing things is that the representatives from the Unions are elected from single representative constituencies, with all the shortcomings that such a method generates.

'Allow them the same number of votes as they themselves obtained in their election'

With the preferential transferable vote proposed, the voter simply marks the candidates on the ballot paper in order of preference. In the count, after the first preference votes have been counted, the candidate with the least votes is eliminated, and the votes cast for that candidate transferred to the voters' second preferences. This process is repeated until the number of candidates is reduced to the number to be elected.

In subsequent councils, by giving the representatives as many votes as they won in their election, we are recognising that they are voting as the representatives of those who elected them.

The same philosophy clearly applies to parliamentary elections, by interpreting what has above been called a 'council', as the 'batch' of representatives that a multi-member constituency would return to parliament. The MPs would all have as many votes in parliament as they won in their election. In this way every citizen would have an influence on every decision taken by parliament.

Hugh Warren, 19 Rectory Road, Farnborough, GU14 7BU (tel 0252 545175).

Previous / Next / Table of Contents