Alternative vote Plus

For the voting system that was the subject of a referendum in the UK, see instant-runoff voting.

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The Alternative Vote Plus (AV+), or Alternative Vote Top-up, is a semi-proportional voting system. AV+ was devised by the 1998 Jenkins Commission which first proposed the idea as a system that could be used for elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.^[1]

As the name suggests, AV+ is an additional member system which works in two parts: the 'AV' part and the 'plus' part. As in the Alternative Vote Instant-runoff voting system, candidates are ranked numerically in order of preference. The important difference is that an additional group of members would be elected through the regional party lists system to ensure proportionality; in typical proposals, these members are 15–20% of the whole body. More specifically, each voter would get a second vote to elect a county or regional-level representative from a list of candidates of more than one person per party. The number of votes cast in this vote would decide how many representatives from that county or region would go on to parliament.

Advantages

Would require relatively minor modifications to existing system, and maintain single-member constituencies.
Would lead to a more proportional result than First Past the Post (FPTP) or AV, but would still give a built-in advantage to the largest party and allow one-party rule during landslide years.
Would lessen the problems of 'split voting' and the necessity of tactical voting.
Coalition governments, which include the opinions of multiple movements of the people, are more likely.
Decreases the chances of 'safe seats' and MPs holding seats for life.
MPs will have to secure 50% of votes to win a constituency seat - making them more accountable and working harder to win over a broader appeal.
Limits the chances for extremists to gain power scraping in with minority support. AV+ shuts down the ability for candidates to slip in with just a minority of the votes.

Criticisms

From FPTP supporters:

It is more complex than FPTP for voters
It is likely to lead to coalition government
It will lead to "two types of MP", as a majority would be linked directly to a constituency with a minority with a larger area overlapping the first group
It weakens the psychological link between voters and their representatives

From AV and STV (Single Transferable Vote) supporters:

It is not proportional enough
It is too likely to lead to one-party government
It will lead to "two types of MP"
The constituencies will still not be able to respect "natural boundaries" (although the top-up regions will)
It will not eliminate "safe seats"
The top-up vote aspect is too complex and either a simple AV system would be better or STV/AMS.

Reaction in the UK

Then Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a statement, saying that the report "makes a well-argued and powerful case for the system it recommends"^[2] and that "it is very much a modification of the existing Westminster system, rather than any full blown PR system as practised in other countries." He also praised Lord Jenkins for his work and gave the recommendations a cautious welcome, pointing out in particular that change would help address the "complete absence of Conservative representation in Scotland", a reference to the then most recent election in which the Conservatives failed to win a single seat in Scotland, despite winning 17.5% of the Scottish vote.^[3]

However, leading figures in the Cabinet at the time (e.g. Home Secretary Jack Straw, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Chancellor Gordon Brown and Margaret Beckett) and the Labour NEC, all strongly opposed reform of the voting system, and blocked the chance of change at that time.

The report was welcomed by the Liberal Democrats and the SNP, although at the time the Liberal Democrats remained largely committed to STV, but preferred AV+ to First Past the Post.^[4] The report was heavily criticised by the Conservative party, with leader William Hague branding its proposals "a dog's breakfast".

In a May 2009 article in The Times, Health Secretary Alan Johnson called for a referendum on the adoption of this system as part of the response to the 2009 parliamentary expenses scandal. In this piece he praised the system as "an elegant solution".^[5] David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party, declared on May 26 that his party did not support the AV+ system, or any other form of proportional representation, as it would create "weak governments".^[6]

In June 2009, it was reported by the BBC that the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was considering changing the electoral system as part of a package of constitutional reform.^[7] In February 2010, the Labour government under Gordon Brown offered a Commons vote on a referendum for an alternative vote system, possibly manoeuvering for political positioning in case of a hung parliament following the general election on May 6.^[8] In a BBC interview on Election Night 2010, Home Secretary Alan Johnson suggested he would like to see the AV+ system introduced if a deal with the Liberal Democrats became necessary.^[9]

A national referendum on the Alternative Vote system was granted as part of the Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition agreement,^[10] but not AV+. The Jenkins Commission rejected plain AV on the basis that it did little to relieve disproportionality,^[11] but favoured it over first-past-the-post as the basis for AV+.^[12]

The referendum on AV was held on May 5, 2011 and rejected the proposed AV voting system in favour of retaining First Past the Post.

References

↑ "Report of the Independent Commission on the Voting System". Retrieved 2009-05-25.
↑ "BBC News - The Jenkins Report - Cautious reaction on voting reform". 1998-10-29. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
↑ "THE 1997 GENERAL ELECTION IN SCOTLAND: AN ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS" (PDF). Summer 1997. Retrieved 2011-04-22.
↑ "Liberal Democrat proposal from TakeBackPower.org". Archived from the original on 31 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
↑ "The Times: There is an alternative to our damaged system - Alan Johnson MP". London. 2009-05-25. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
↑ "BBC news: Cameron in 'people power' pledge". BBC News. 2009-05-26. Archived from the original on 26 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
↑ "BBC news: Brown to propose electoral reform". BBC News. 2009-06-10. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
↑ "BBC news: MPs set for electoral reform vote". BBC News. 2010-02-01. Archived from the original on 4 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
↑ Ashley, Jackie; Glover, Julian; Kettle, Martin; Perkins, Anne (2010-02-01). "Guardian Election Night Live". Guardian (London). Retrieved 2010-02-01.
↑ Oliver, Jonathan (2010-06-06). "Cameron won’t lead campaign to save first-past-the-post voting". The Times (London). Retrieved 2010-06-06.
↑ http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm40/4090/chap-5.htm#c5-a
↑ http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm40/4090/chap-7.htm#c7-d

External links

Alternative vote - what is it? Simple animation explaining Alternative Vote Top-up
Electoral Reform Society page on the AV+ system

Voting systems

Part of the Politics and Election series

Single-winner voting system	Approval voting Borda count Bucklin voting Contingent vote Coombs' method Copeland's method Exhaustive ballot First-past-the-post voting Instant-runoff voting Kemeny–Young method Simple majoritarianism Minimax Condorcet Nanson's method Plurality Positional voting system Range voting Ranked pairs Schulze method Two-round system

Proportional representation	Mixed-member Party-list Single transferable vote Schulze STV CPO-STV Highest averages method Sainte-Laguë D'Hondt Largest remainder method Alternative vote Plus Closed list Open list Overhang seat Underhang seat

Semi-proportional representation	Parallel voting Single non-transferable vote Cumulative voting Limited voting Proportional approval voting Sequential proportional approval voting Satisfaction approval voting

Usage	Table of voting systems by country

Voting system criterion	Condorcet criterion Condorcet loser criterion Consistency criterion Independence of clones Independence of irrelevant alternatives Independence of Smith-dominated alternatives Later-no-harm criterion Majority criterion Majority loser criterion Monotonicity criterion Mutual majority criterion Pareto efficiency Participation criterion Plurality criterion Resolvability criterion Reversal symmetry Smith criterion

Voting system quotas	Droop quota Hagenbach-Bischoff quota Hare quota Imperiali quota

Other	Ballot Vote counting system Election threshold First-preference votes Spoilt vote Sortition

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