It is election day today, as a citizen of an EU country I can vote in the local, but not in the national election, and I have exercised that right. The possibility of a so-called “hung parliament” has generated a huge amount of interest both in and outside the UK, with many both in and outside the country struggling to understand what the “first-past-the-post” system is all about.
I lived in the UK between 1991-1997, moved back to Denmark, and then moved to the UK again in 2006 so this is the third UK election I am witnessing. When I was a kid, there was atime when something like 15 political parties were represented in the Danish parliament. Almost all governments were minority governments and hardly any of them sat for the full four year period possible in Denmark. So I must admit that the “first-past-the-post” system appealed to me the way the winners representation tends to get exaggerated. It is usually the case that the winning party here received less than 50% of the vote, yet it has more than 50% of the representatives. Today I have changed my mind somewhat, a proportional system would be fairer. But just because the system might seem a bit arcane to other Europeans who have never experienced it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its merits.
As is usually the case, nothing is black or white…
