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What is AV? by ERS

Key report by Electoral Reform Society. | Other resources.

The Alternative Vote (AV) is an electoral system with single-member constituencies, as with the present First Past the Post (FPTP) system used for the House of Commons. The difference between AV and FPTP is that there is preferential voting under AV – i.e. voters rank the candidates in order of preference 1,2,3… instead of choosing a single candidate with an ‘X’.

“For some, AV is a desirable end in itself. However, for most reformers the aim is for a more radical change.”

This paper aims to study some of the implications of AV in Britain, and assess some of the claims made about AV:

• Is it proportional? 
• Is it better than FPTP at relating shares of seats and votes? 
• What are the party political implications of AV? 
• How would AV affect the political culture of Britain, and the way campaigning is done?
• Does AV get rid of tactical voting? 
• Would it block or open the way to further reform?

The Electoral Reform Society’s policy on the Alternative Vote is as follows: 

The Society advocates the Single Transferable Vote (STV) while not opposing those who campaign for AV as the only change they believe possible in the foreseeable future. The Society regards the introduction of preference voting as a step in the right direction, although under AV only a very minor one.

Is AV ‘proportional representation’?

• No. No system which elects only one candidate in a single district can produce proportional representation.

About the Electoral Reform Society

The Electoral Reform Society is campaigning to change the way we choose our politicians. We believe that a fair voting system will improve our democracy, allow politicians to better represent you the voter and help them to tackle the serious issues facing our society.  Above all we believe that fairness, accountability and a real choice for voters should not be compromised.

The Mission of the Electoral Reform Society is to secure at all levels of representation an electoral system which will:

• Ensure all votes have equal value
• Give effective representation to all significant points of view within the electorate
• Allow electors to vote for their preferred candidates without fear of wasting their votes
• Ensure the accountability of individual representatives to their electorates

And that's why believe the best way to achieve this is through the use of single transferable voting (STV).

Electoral Reform Society principal activities include:

• lobbying politicians, political parties and opinion formers
• publishing research and pamphlets
• running an education programme for schools, colleges and the general public
• a high profile media campaign analysing and commenting on public elections

People from across the political spectrum have signed up to call for fair votes.  Join us.

"Alternative Vote isn't particularly proportional" - Caroline Lucas MP, Green

11May 2010: 1507

Green Party leader and new MP Caroline Lucas says discussions so far about switching to an alternative vote system are "nowhere near enough" in terms of electoral reform. "The alternative vote isn't particularly proportional, it just leads to bigger swings for the bigger parties," she tells the BBC.

Comparing STV v AV for May 2010 Election.

The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) analyse STV v AV for May 2010 Election. 

An advantage of AV is that according to ERS "AV eliminates the need for tactical voting. Electors can vote for their first-choice candidate without fear of wasting their vote."


Without tactical voting elections will have different voting patterns! 

Today Labour should offer the LibDems a bill bringing in STV

In a post to the BBC I said "The LibDem manifesto says (page 87) that "Liberal Democrats will change politics and abolish safe seats by introducing a fair, more proportional voting system for MPs. Our preferred Single Transferable Vote system gives people the choice between candidates as well as parties."

Labour are planning to offer the Lib Dems a bill on bringing in the Alternative Vote (AV) electoral system and a referendum on a fuller system of proportional representation (PR). Conservatives 'final offer' last night to the LibDems was an AV referendum.

The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) in a 10th May press release explain why they strongly favour Single Transferable Vote (STV) over AV. AV is not a proportional system, and can in fact be more disproportional than First Past The Post (FPTP) say ERS.

Today Labour should offer the LibDems a bill bringing in STV electoral reform without a referendum."

How 2010 General would have looked under STV, AV & PR

sources: FPTP, STV, AV figures: Electoral Reform Society; PR: crabsallover via BBC


Single Transferable Vote STV is the best voting system according to ERS. 


Crabsallover thinks STV still under-represents small parties compared to 'true PR' (seats allocated by % voters) - click on graph for larger image. 


"No electoral system is perfect. Some, however, are more perfect than others." say ERS. 


On page 87 of the LibDem Manifesto "Liberal Democrats will:
• Change politics and abolish safe seats by introducing a fair, more proportional voting system for MPs. Our preferred Single Transferable Vote system gives people the choice between candidates as well as parties. Under the new system, we will be able to reduce the number of MPs by 150.


LibDem should demand STV (Single Transferable Vote) and NOT agree to the much less proportional AV (Alternative Voting) system, in negotiations with Lab & Cons.

Hung parliament: Tories' 'final offer' on vote reform

William Hague for the Tories offers an Alternative Vote referendum to the LibDems.

Lab v Cons offers AV

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/liveevent/
10 May 2010 20.05 : Some clarification. Labour are planning to offer the Lib Dems a bill on bringing in the Alternative Vote AV electoral system and a referendum on a fuller system of proportional representation, Lib Dem sources tell the BBC. The Tories, by contrast, are offering a referendum on AV and fixed-term parliaments.


The Electoral Reform Society ERS say that 'AV is not a proportional system, and can in fact be more disproportional than FPTP.'


more about AV from the ERS and how it compares to First Past The Post FPTP.

BBC Election seat calculator

The BBC Election seat calculator is a rough way of converting percentage support for political parties into numbers of seats in parliament.

With the actual result of the May 2010 Election plotted on the BBC Election Calculator shows that the calculator does predict a hung parliament. It predicts 5% fewer (-15) Conservative seats, 3% more (+8) Labour seats and 11% (+7) fewer LibDem seats than was actually gained. See graphic below.