For all its flaws, 'first past the post' voting system works for Britain
Richard Harris says it has produced a moderate, stable UK government
It's so unfair!", cry the losing parties. At the end of every UK election, the finger is pointed at the difference between the "first past the post" system that is used to win parliamentary seats in elections, and the "proportional representation" method.
This time is no different, and the issue will also surface as a bone of contention in the US elections next year. The "first past the post" system means that the person who gets the most votes in a parliamentary constituency is the outright winner. No prizes for coming second.
It means that, in its extreme form, a party can get 49.9 per cent of the vote across the country and still not be represented in Parliament. Proportional representation, by contrast, allows small voting percentages to be fully represented.
As an example of the unfairness, the UK election ended with the Conservative Party leading a government composed of 51 per cent of the Members of Parliament even though they received only 36.9 per cent of the vote.
Their key opponents, the Labour Party, landed 36 per cent of the seats but convinced only 30.4 per cent of the population.
The Scottish National Party won 9 per cent of the seats on a mere 4.7 per cent of the vote, while the UK Independence Party (UKIP) that won 12.6 per cent of the ballot ended up with a paltry one seat - the same as the Greens, who polled only a third of UKIP.
It is not a surprise that the losers are crying foul.
