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Shibley's AV poll
Whether you voted for Ed Miliband, David Miliband, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham or Diane Abbott, or none of them, please complete this survey. It takes about 10 minutes to complete. There are 22 questions which should be answered YES or NO. You must be a Labour voter to take part. Please do not take part if you are a non-Labour voter.
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
For interest, the questions are reproduced here.
This survey is simply an exploration of views on the AV – the Alternative Vote.
Please only complete this survey if you are a Labour voter (although the issues are not party-political, officially).
This survey consists of 22 very brief YES or NO questions.
Thank you for agreeing to do this survey.
The survey will close at 11.59 pm on 10th December 2010.
What is AV?
Put simply, under our current system – sometimes referred to as First-Past-the-Post – the candidate that gets the most votes in an individual constituency is elected as the MP. The party with more MPs than all the other parties put together then forms the government.
Under AV – the Alternative Vote – the voters rank candidates in order of preference and anyone getting more than 50% in the first round is elected. If that doesn’t happen, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their second choices are allocated to the remaining candidates. If no candidate at the second stage has a majority of votes, the next lowest candidate is eliminated and their votes are redistributed. This process keeps on occurring until a winner emerges.
QUESTIONS 1-9. Please answer the following general questions.
1. At the beginning of this survey, do you feel that the UK should we have a system of AV?
2. Do you think that an AV referendum is a top political priority, given other recent political events?
3. Would the official Labour party line be relevant to how you vote?
4. Should Labour have specific policy on how to vote in the referendum?
5. Do you think that coalitions break promises?
6. Do you think that Britain should have a system of coalitions?
7. Would AV encourage a hung parliament?
8. Would it worry you if the AV vote encouraged a coalition?
9. Would you consider voting no to AV if Nick Clegg remained as Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
QUESTIONS 10-15 The following reasons have been put forward as reasons to vote for AV. For each reason, do you fundamentally agree with the statement as given?
10. The Alternative Vote is a fairer and more democratic way of electing our parliament
11. All MPs would have the support of a majority of their voters.
12. It penalises extremist parties.
13. It eliminates the need for tactical voting.
14. It encourages candidates to chase second- and third-preferences.
15. It retains the same constituencies, meaning no need to redraw boundaries, and no overt erosion of the constituency-MP link.
QUESTIONS 16-20 And do these issues matter?
16. Does it matter the MPs would have the majority of their voters?
17. Does it matter that it penalizes extremist parties?
18. Does it matter if it eliminates the need for tactical voting?
19. Does it matter that the constituencies are the same?
20. Does it matter whether it encourages candidates to chase second- and third-preferences?
GENERAL QUESTIONS
21. And finally, at the end of survey, do you feel that the UK should we have a system of AV?
22. Are you likely to be influenced by any campaigning on this selective issue?
Thank you for completing this survey.
Votes at 16 – do you see its importance?
The Liberal Democrats did a sudden U-turn on this tonight, but Stella Creasy MP for Walthamstow managed to get several MPs to attend the vote in the House of Commons by tweeting about it. The support for lowering the voting age has been steadily growing in the UK, and has become a reality in many parts of the British Isles. In the Channel Islands, 16 and 17 year olds already enjoy the vote and although it is a reserved matter the ruling party in Scotland, the SNP, recently passed a policy motion in support of the rights of 16 year olds to vote.
There are also international precedents with some German Lãnder reducing the voting age to 16 for local and regional elections some years ago. Last year Austria reduced the voting age to 16 for all public elections. There are active Votes at 16 cam- paigns across Europe, and it has been adopted by the European Youth Parliament. There are substantial moves afoot for radical reform of the electoral system, not least the big AV vote. Do you think that votes at 16 is a good idea, in a week that mooted lowering the age of sexual consent to 14?
Oh, by the way, if someone complains about the use of the Ishihara plate because it diagnoses colour blindness, may I say in my defence my father is colour-blind, and that this picture is to make the point whether ‘votes at 16′ makes a perceivable difference.
Dr Shibley Rahman is a research physician and research lawyer by training.
Queen’s Scholar, BA (1st.), MA, MB, BChir, PhD, MRCP(UK), LLB(Hons.), FRSA
Director of Law and Medicine Limited
Member of the Fabian Society and Associate of the Institute of Directors
