How did Denmark get proportional representation? Denmark today is home to one of the most proportional voting systems in the world, but, for a long time, elections to the Danish Folketing took place using First Past the Post. So why and... Posted 01 Mar 2023
How do elections work in Estonia? Estonia is undoubtedly one of eastern Europe’s biggest success stories since the collapse of communism – its economy has developed quickly (with a GDP (PPP) per capita now on a par with Japan) and it... Posted 25 Feb 2023
Here’s how SNP leadership elections work The deadline for contenders to put themselves forward for the next SNP leadership passed at midday on the 24th February, so it is now confirmed there are three potential future leaders. Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes... Posted 24 Feb 2023
Why did Belgium adopt proportional representation? In 1899, Belgium became the first country in the world to adopt a proportional system for national elections. At that point, it had primarily been the preserve of theoretical debate, with only a handful of... Posted 01 Feb 2023
What are the alternatives to First Past the Post? Westminster’s First Past the Post system means we don’t get a parliament that fully represents the voting public. Millions of people can support one party and get a single MP, while a few hundred thousand... Posted 19 Jan 2023
How did Switzerland get proportional representation? In the early 1890s, a handful of Swiss cantons (states) held the first public elections in Europe to truly use proportional representation (PR). The success of these early votes meant that over the next few... Posted 06 Jan 2023
The top 5 most-read ERS articles from 2022 Every year we have a look through the stats to see which of our articles were the most popular with readers in the year coming to a close. So if you missed them the first... Posted 15 Dec 2022
The 9 best politics Twitter accounts to follow for fans of elections Becoming more informed in politics can be daunting. There’s so much information to consume and it comes at you so fast that it’s easy to become intimidated and give up. Here are some of the... Posted 09 Dec 2022
Ed Davey – Let’s make the next general election the last fought under First Past the Post This week we supported a panel with Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey, as part of a rescheduled conference event. The ERS attends all the major party conferences, but this year’s Liberal Democrat conference was cancelled... Posted 01 Dec 2022
2022 at the ERS: How we’ve worked with other organisations Each year we write an Annual Report which looks back at our achievements across the last 12 months, and explains how our team have campaigned towards securing our vision for a democracy fit for the... Posted 30 Nov 2022