Soon it will be time to brave the elements and go to the polls again. On May 5th 2011 you will be able to have your say on one of the most important decisions in political history. How will your vote count in future elections.? Your choice will be to retain the first past the post system that we all know and which is the cause of our "sea saw" government system with each party desperate to get a majority of MPs elected every 5 years.
Or the alternative which will take account of all votes cast and appoint MPs on a proportional basis. This system is used in many civilised countries such as Switzerland and results in a much more stable government.
In the Alternate Vote system proposed by the referendum, voters will still be electing just one candidate associated with one geographic constituency. Instead of simply voting for one candidate choice on the ballot paper (with an 'X'), the voter would instead rank one or more of the candidates in order of preference. If after first preferences have been counted, no one candidate has a majority of the votes cast, then the bottom candidate will be eliminated and their second preferences will be redistributed accordingly. The process continues repeatedly until one candidate reaches a majority and wins.
For more information visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_Alternative_Vote_referendum,_2011#Proposed_AV_system
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