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Should the UKadopt a system of PR for General Elections?

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  • Essay length: 2779 words
  • Submitted: 05/09/2003
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GCSE Politics

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Should the UK adopt a system of PR for General Elections?

In our current system, First-Past-The-Post (FPTP), there are only two parties capable of being elected into government, the Labour and Conservative parties, perhaps including the Liberal Democrats as a potentially influential party. In our 'democratic' society, if you do not vote for one of these three parties, your vote has been wasted. There are only about 250 seats in the House of Commons that regularly veer between parties out of the 650 available, therefore, for a Labour voter in Malvern or a Conservative voter in Ebber Vale your vote has essentially been wasted, either you move to a different constituency or you change parties, otherwise your vote will effectively not count.

This raises the question whether a fairer proportional representation system would lead to a fairer government, but as past examples such as the Weimar Republic have shown, proportional representation also holds problems. The result of smaller parties gaining seats is that in order to gain a majority the larger parties must form a coalition government with the smaller who then gain a disproportionate say in government as the larger party needs their support

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