- The prime minister has said Labour will seek to alter Britain’s voting system should it win the next general election, opening the door to a potentially historic change.
- Currently, the UK uses the first-past-the-post – FPTP – system, through which candidates with the most votes in each constituency are elected.
- However, Andy Burnham has previously backed a move towards a proportional representational (PR) model, which UK Parliament defines as “an electoral system in which the distribution of seats corresponds closely with the proportion of the total votes cast for each party”.
- Several different PR models are currently in use worldwide, with examples including the single transferable vote system which is used for Scottish council elections.
- Under this model, voters rank candidates by preference, and votes are redistributed as candidates are elected or eliminated until all seats are filled.
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