The Most Disproportionate General Election Ever
General Election years are always significant for us, but this one was particularly so with results being the most disproportional in history, and many people voting as if we already had PR.
During the election campaign we highlighted the many barriers facing voters at the polls, from our analysis of the numbers missing from the electoral register, to the challenges of voter ID and of course, the results themselves. Our analysis featured throughout the campaign in the media, in print, broadcast and online.
Many of our members and supporters joined our campaign actions and thousands signed our PR pledge. Our supporter numbers grew extensively in this period.
The election itself provided the strongest case for PR yet with not only the most disproportional result, but also a significant shift away from two-party politics and the second lowest turnout since universal suffrage. We highlighted the failures of FPTP as soon as results were out on our General Election 2024 dashboard. We will be sharing our full analysis in our General Election 2024 report, which will be released in early December 2024.
You can read more on our team’s work during the General Election campaign here.
Winning Fair Votes for Welsh Councils
Three councils in Wales moved to the consultation phase on adopting STV voting systems this year. Gwynedd and Powys voted to move to consultation last December with Ceredigion joining them this year. The response to the public consultations across the board was an overwhelmingly positive one with 67% backing STV in Ceredigion, 72% in Gwynedd and 61% in Powys.
Despite this clear signal from their residents, in Powys, councillors chose not to back the change to a fairer electoral system. In Gwynedd, the result was one vote short of the two-thirds super-majority needed, with over 65% of councillors supporting the change. Ceredigion Council also voted by a majority in favour of the change but again this was short of the two-thirds majority required. All three councils failed to reach the high bar of a two-thirds majority, despite the majority of the public backing moving to STV and the majority of councillors in two councils also backing the change.
This has been a significant piece of work for the ERS this year. We have been working with councillors in the three consultation areas for nearly five years now and ran significant campaigns in each of the areas to encourage residents to respond to the consultations. The evidence is clear, there is appetite to improve local democracy from both the public and councillors in Wales, but the piecemeal approach of the Welsh legislation and the high threshold needed remains a barrier to change.
You can read more about our team’s work on the Wales STV campaign here.
140 Years of the ERS
On the 16th January 2024 we celebrated the 140th anniversary of the Electoral Reform Society.
Across those 140 years, the Electoral Reform Society was involved in the successful adoption of the Single Transferable Vote in the Republic of Ireland, and helped to defend it twice against politicians’ attempts to return to Westminster’s electoral system. The Society was also involved in the adoption of the Single Transferable Vote in Malta and aided the campaign in Australia.
In the UK, our advocacy for proportional representation paid off with fair elections now held in Northern Ireland for the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont and all local councils. In Scotland, proportional systems are used in the Scottish Parliament and for all local councils, and in Wales, a proportional system is used for the Welsh Assembly and councils have won the right to choose STV. London also now has an assembly elected on a fair basis.
Over the last 140 years of our advocacy, First Past the Post has changed from the default electoral system to an outlier.
The Best System
To mark the first 100 years of the Society in 1984, the Electoral Reform Society commissioned a history of the Society, modestly called The Best System. 40 years later, to mark the 140th anniversary, we have made it publicly available once again. The publication is now available on our website, and we published an article to mark the occasion. This is a historic document, reproduced in its entirety. If you are interested in the history of the Society, the earliest records are held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.
Read The Best System: An account of the first hundred years of the Electoral Reform Society
Support the ERS
As momentum builds for electoral reform, your support is more important than ever. Members support our work in parliament, in the press and at conferences like this one – making the case, and backing it up – for how we can fix Westminster’s broken system.
Click here to become an ERS member from just £2 a month