The Northern Ireland Assembly poll shows that the single transferable vote system of proportional representation he...
The Northern Ireland Assembly poll shows that the single transferable vote system of proportional representation helps voters express their true preferences, according to LGC election experts Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher.
But in Northern Ireland, more than 80% of voters will have contributed to the election of a candidate.
Writing in this week's LGC, the professors contrast STV with a first-past-the-post electoral system 'designed for 19th century local government'. They say that while 'many shades of public opinion can find political expression' in Northern Ireland, many voters in English council by-elections last month had little influence over who was elected.
They cite contests in Bexley and Ealing LBCs. In both cases, a single party captured all three available seats, showing that a 'significant proportion of voters in those wards literally wasted their votes'.
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