The Return of the Gerrymander With all the media attention focusing on the upcoming American Presidential Election, it’s easy to forget that it isn’t the only election happening on that day. Voters up and down the country will be voting... Posted 30 Oct 2016
PR across the pond: the push for fair votes in the US This week is European Local Democracy Week 2016, and to mark it, we’re running a series of discussion articles on how to make the London Assembly more democratic. Yesterday we published our first piece in the series,... Posted 11 Oct 2016
In Australia, as in the UK, the voting system is at breaking point In 2010 Australia delivered its first hung parliament since 1940. A seemingly freak one-off, the election followed a period of unrest in the incumbent Labor Party (ALP) who had replaced their Prime Minister Kevin Rudd after just... Posted 04 Jul 2016
A Mayor for the Bucharest of Us Bucharest, Romania’s largest city and capital, has had a rocky four years since the 2012 local elections. The city is governed by a city-wide mayor and general council, and divided into six pizza-slice shaped sectors... Posted 07 Jun 2016
Obvious Route for Australian Senate Reform Ignored Interest in the Australian political system has been building over the last couple of weeks over a proposal to make some notable reforms to the electoral system for the Senate. Each of Australia’s six States... Posted 23 Feb 2016
Canada heads to the polls Of all the former colonies to which Britain has left behind the Westminster model of democracy perhaps none so obviously resembles the UK in its politics as Canada. Canadians have a House of Commons with... Posted 19 Oct 2015
What is the plural of referendum? Political disengagement… Switzerland. A land of chocolate, neutrality and a surprisingly well-armed population. Switzerland is also home to a unique democratic system, the closest to direct democracy in the world. Citizens have the ability to force two types... Posted 15 Oct 2015
Taking advantage of the Greek electoral law Greece will return to the polls on September 20th. This is the third nationwide poll this year, after an earlier election in January and a referendum in June. It is also the fourth general election... Posted 21 Aug 2015
The New Zealand Flag Referendum For many years the New Zealand flag has been the subject of much debate. Adopted when New Zealand was still a part of the British Empire, their national standard has the British flag within it.... Posted 18 Aug 2015
The Canadian Senate – A second-rate second chamber In the current debate about Lords reform it can often be tempting to look for easy solutions which broadly keep the structure of the Lords as it is, but deal with some of its defects.... Posted 03 Aug 2015