Today we learned about the political system in Britain, and one of the topics we read about in our book was called ”the winner takes all”. Counting the votes in Britain are still done by hand, and while people are counting these votes, the candidates for the election are waiting in another room. This is some very nervous hours, because the system of representation in the UK is the “first-past-the-post” This means that only one candidate is elected, and that is the candidate with the most votes. If there are four candidates, one vote can decide who gets elected to parliament. The other candidates can go home and get on with their normal lives. This also mean that the people who have voted for one of the other candidates but the person that wins, have, in a sense, wasted their vote. Is this unfair? Many people think so, because of this system makes it very hard for middle-sized parties to have a voice in their country.
tirsdag 10. november 2009
The Winner Takes All - Elections in Britain
Today we learned about the political system in Britain, and one of the topics we read about in our book was called ”the winner takes all”. Counting the votes in Britain are still done by hand, and while people are counting these votes, the candidates for the election are waiting in another room. This is some very nervous hours, because the system of representation in the UK is the “first-past-the-post” This means that only one candidate is elected, and that is the candidate with the most votes. If there are four candidates, one vote can decide who gets elected to parliament. The other candidates can go home and get on with their normal lives. This also mean that the people who have voted for one of the other candidates but the person that wins, have, in a sense, wasted their vote. Is this unfair? Many people think so, because of this system makes it very hard for middle-sized parties to have a voice in their country.
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Nice summery of the subject. Yes it is interesting to discuss if the system is fair or not. They are discussing this issue in the UK. Even thought it might seem your vote can be wasted, it is important for everyone to vote.
SvarSlettHi Camilla!
SvarSlettThis is a good post and I like that you've mentioned the fact that voting on a loser, is actually the same as wasting a vote. Some people might think it is unnecessary to vote.
Hi Camilla.
SvarSlettIt's interesting to read your blog post about British politics, which is in fact different than our Norwegian system even though we both have a democracy. You have angled your blog entry in a critical way which makes people think twice about the British system.