The top 5 most-read ERS articles from 2023

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 time around, here are our top 5 most-read articles of 2023.

5. Liz Truss’ resignation honours could be a turning point for reform

Back in August, we thought that Liz Truss’ resignation honours list would be just around the corner, little did we know…

Our Head of Communications, Mike Wright looked into how her appointments could be the turning point for reform.

4. Here’s how SNP leadership elections work

Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan sought the votes of SNP members across Scotland in February. ERS Scotland’s Jonathan Shafi explained how the election will work, and why so many parties use the Alternative Vote to elect their leader.

3. 90% of seats on less than half the vote? That’s England’s local democracy

In the 2023 local elections, the First Past the Post system once again failed to reflect the views of voters. I looked at some of the most disproportionate results found by our research team.

2. Will I need photo ID to get a postal vote?

The government launched an expensive public information campaign, but polling for the Byline Times found that 60% of voters do not know they will be unable to vote in England’s elections if they don’t have one of the government’s ‘valid’ forms of photo ID.

1. How many countries around the world use proportional representation?

Proportional representation is the most popular form of democracy for countries in the world today. Proportional Representation isn’t one electoral system though, it’s the simple idea that the strength of each faction in parliament should closely match their popularity in the country. For many people, that is what living in a democracy means. In our most-read article of the year, our Research and Policy Officer Thea Ridley-Castle explained the broad families of electoral systems.

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