Why AV system matters

ON the face of it, you might wonder if the Alternative Vote (AV) would make any difference to the safe seat of Bexhill and Battle. The current MP was elected with 51 per cent of the vote and the same party has won ever since the constituency was created in 1983.

By The Newsroom

Published 11th Mar 2011, 09:10 BST

Updated 7th Jun 2018, 21:26 BST

However under AV, it would only have taken another 1,800 people to have turned out and voted for other parties to have reduced the current MP’s vote share to under 50 per cent, which using AV would bring peoples’ other preferences into play.

When you consider that nearly 25,000 constituents in Bexhill and Battle didn’t vote at the last election, it wouldn’t take much for less than one in 10 of them to go out and vote... and maybe with the result no longer a foregone conclusion, this empowering reform would provide the necessary motivation.

So even in safe seats, AV could really change the election landscape and give the voters that little bit more power. It might even encourage those who usually stay at home to finally turn-out and vote!

CLIVE BISHOP

Asten Fields

Battle

Bexhill Battle