AV Referendum

Northern Ireland’s referendum result (exclusive!)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 7, 2011, 2:30 am

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It was a quite a contrast to the previous referendum – the Good Friday Agreement poll – which was announced to vast crowds of waiting politicians, campaigners and the world’s media. With the final count completing in Fermanagh & South Tyrone, tonight’s regional AV referendum result for Northern Ireland was finally declared at 2.10am in an almost empty Kings Hall … shortly after the overall UK result was finally able to be announced in London. No official media were present …

The Death of AV

Turgon on May 7, 2011, 12:06 am

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The AV referendum has been lost, and by a large margin. More people than expected turned out (41%) and of those 69% were against and only 31% for the change. The BBC’s political correspondent Ross Hawkins has an analysis of the two campaigns here. Essentially the Yes campaign argument is that they were defeated by the campaigning power of the Prime Minister; a hostile press and a tough opposing campaign. Some of that is true and the Liberal Democrats allege …

The After-Life of Brian…

Pete Baker on May 5, 2011, 5:07 pm

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There’s an interestingly signed letter in the Guardian today • Nick Clegg has repeated the Yes campaign’s claim that only the Conservatives and BNP oppose AV. Here in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist party, the Greens, and Ulster Unionist party all back a No vote. AV would be a tremendous step backward for Westminster. It’s not a fair election system and would rig the electoral system against smaller parties. AV is an obscure, expensive and unwanted system. Tom Elliott Leader, …

AV Referendum: Don’t vote – it only encourages them! #meh2av

Paul Evans on May 5, 2011, 10:54 am

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I hope you don’t vote in the AV referendum today. A while ago, I posted a general criticism on the use of referendums. As I put it then, using a referendum to choose an electoral system is like using trial-by-combat to pick the winner of a peace prize. The conduct of the AV campaign has vindicated the strongest of these criticisms – and then some. We will be told over the next few days that a No verdict (a certainty, …

Vote early, bring your spectacles … but don’t stand in the middle of the road or you’ll get run over

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 4, 2011, 11:30 am

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Chief electoral officer Graham Shields and head of the Electoral Commission in NI Séamus Magee posing with enormous ballot papers

While the Chief Electoral Officer Graham Shields and NI head of the Electoral Commission Séamus Magee are clearly holding dummy oversized ballot paper samples, the real thing won’t be much shorter in some polling stations. With an inch-high rows per candidate and space for the constituency details at the top, the East Belfast Assembly paper – with 17 candidates – could be close to two feet long! That’ll be fun to manipulate and fill in on the polling booth shelves. …

AV Referendum: “Why I am voting No…”

Jane Kennedy on April 21, 2011, 4:32 pm

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Whatever the method of voting used to elect the government, in a democracy, there is one thing that everyone accepts, and that is, that there are winners and losers. At the moment in the UK, every one has one vote. You have the right to use that vote & freely choose who to vote for. You don’t have the right to vote for the winner. We have used the system called ‘first-past-the-post’ with universal suffrage since 1928. It is simple, …

Why Northern Ireland should say Yes to the Alternative Vote

Stephen Glenn on April 21, 2011, 2:12 pm

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Is it right that only three of Northern Ireland’s 18 MPs had the backing of over 50% of those who voted last May? Or right that another three had only one in three people vote for them? That is the situation that Northern Ireland found itself in last May after the only election that we place an X on our ballots rather than ranking our candidates by order of preference. On Monday the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) released …

AV Referendum: “politics, like life in general, is full of panaceas”

Pete Baker on March 16, 2011, 2:26 pm

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The Guardian’s Michael White is still undecided over AV or not AV ahead of the May 5 referendum. But in returning to the topic he makes an important point. In tough times, and easy ones, politics, like life in general, is full of panaceas: joining Europe (or the euro), going decimal, getting rid of the Windsors, putting fluoride into all drinking water, banning page 3 girls in the Sun, promoting complimentary medicine … In this case the Yes camp claims MPs …

AV: “But it certainly gives voters at least the illusion of power…”

Pete Baker on February 28, 2011, 10:32 pm

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The Guardian’s Michael White is, rightly, sceptical of the arguments in favour of the proposed proportional representation on offer in the UK’s AV referendum. From the Guardian Political blog I have to say right away (I suspect it’s obvious anyway) that my heart remains with the FPTP crowd for several reasons I still think compelling, not least my distaste for political quick fixes. If you want to believe that PR voting will make politicians work harder, be more honest and …

AV: Yes, No or Meh? What are we being asked?

Paul Evans on February 21, 2011, 4:03 pm

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I don’t know about you, but I find the outcome of the AV referendum less interesting than the fact that we’re being asked about voting systems at all. Like everyone else, I’ve got my own prejudices here – I particularly dislike the fact that it’s a question that is subject to a referendum in the first place – a strong enough reason to resist the change itself, perhaps? I don’t know whether to vote Yes, No or just say ‘meh‘ …

Three ballots on the same day

Paul Evans on October 15, 2010, 11:50 am

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So despite Peter Robinson’s concerns that it will confuse voters if the ballot on voting reform, it seems that the AV Referendum will happen on the same day as both the Assembly Elections and the local council elections – 5th May 2011. Following the totally unpredictable SNAFU around local government reform, readers will recall that the plans to condense the current twenty six local authorities down to eleven super councils next year has meant that Councillors in NI have been …