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PoliticsHome. All Todays Politics In One Place

Press Release

Press Releases

Friday 14th January 2011 | 13:56

No2AV: By-election shows why Lib Dems want alternative vote

No2AV press release

In wake of the by-election result, NO to AV release dossier demonstrating
what would have happened if the Oldham East and Saddleworth contest had been
fought using the Alternative Vote system (click here to view full dossier).

KEY POINTS:

* The by-election that would never have happened. Had the 2010 general
election been held under AV, Liberal Democrats would have comfortably won
Oldham East and Saddleworth last May - along with 31 other seats, according
to academics.


* Fringe party supporters would have had more say than mainstream
voters. If the by-election had been held under AV, supporters of fringe
parties like the Bus-Pass Elvis Party, the Monster Raving Loony Party, and
the BNP would have had their vote counted more than once - whilst the 30,000
mainstream voters who chose either Labour, the Lib Dems or the Conservatives
could only have had one vote counted.

* We could still be counting the votes if the by-election had been
held under AV. Experience in Scotland and Northern Ireland shows that
preferential voting systems take four times longer to count than normal
elections.


* The Liberal Democrats are the only party who would consistently
benefit from AV, and that's why they are pushing for the system.

Commenting, Matthew Elliott, Campaign Director of NO to AV said:

"This by-election has given Britain a clear demonstration of why Nick Clegg
gambled so much away to get his referendum on AV. At the General Election in
May, Oldham East and Saddleworth would have been a Lib Dem safe seat using
the Alternative Vote, but because the Lib Dems have lost we have to listen
to senior Liberal Democrats on the radio complaining about wasted votes. In
Britain if you lose the election, you lose the election. Only the Lib Dems
could claim that a vote that isn't for them is 'wasted'."

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