Fair Votes Needed To Ditch 'Elective Dictatorship'

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 16th May 2005

The 2005 General Election results have shown once again the flaws of an electoral system that allows a single party to govern while securing less than half of the popular vote. Mike German AM, leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in the Assembly, will be making the case for a fairer voting system in a speech to the Electoral Reform Society in Cardiff tonight.

Mike German AM, said: "For the first time, a majority government in Britain has been elected by fewer people than those who did not vote. Labour's 35.2% share of the vote was lower than the 39% of the electorate who didn't make it to the polling station."

"A fair voting system would ensure that the electorate gets what they vote for. Labour won 130 more seats than their share of the vote across the UK should give them. The Liberal Democrats, by contrast, received only half as many seats as they should have got. It is time for Labour to ditch this system of an 'elective dictatorship' in favour of a system that accounts for wider choice.

"A more proportional system will make voting more meaningful and encourage higher turnout. People feel frustrated and disillusioned with the present system. They want their vote to make a difference. The current system restricts choice to two parties and ignores the diversity of political opinion.

"Fair voting would also promote a more consensual type of politics where cooperation becomes essential. It would help move politics away from being a war of words, and back to being a battle of ideas."

Peter Black won the ballot of AMs to choose his own debate this Wednesday. He will be calling for a fair voting system in a debate entitled "Why some votes are more equal than others".