Musings on Electoral Reform

[whotheheckami]

I've been musing on the assumption that the Lib Dems would insist on Electoral Reform being a condition of joining a coalition and thinking how it would take place

Comments

[the_mendicant]

All the politicos that I've heard interviewed said there would only be a change after a referendum and that would only happen after there's been a cross party working group/enquiry into the matter. so its a long time off.

I feel split on the matter because whilst we all recognise the iniquity of the LibDems getting nearly a quarter of the popular vote and only a tiny fraction of the seats compared to Labour who only got 5% more, under true PR, we'd have seen UKIP getting 20 odd seats and the BNP getting 12 and do we really want that?

[moral_vacuum]

Which of course brings the argument "So you want proper democracy, but only for the right sort".

Cameron would lose the grassroots of his party if he agreed to PR.

[whotheheckami]

*nods* Yes, any form of PR would let minority/extreme parties have seats and Parliament would carry on working. You could get situations where the extreme left or right were "kingmakers" in a coalition. However, the centre parties would always have the option of working together to form moderate coalitions. Do you remember how we used to drive through the South East of Belgium where all the roads were perfect? They were an independent, but moderate power bloc who joined whatever coalition favoured their area. The mainstream parties supported them because it allowed them to "freeze out" the extremists.

[the_mendicant]

Now I have visions of all the roads in LibDem constituencies being perfectly maintained :P