#safe seats

[laurelrusswurm]

Winner-Take-All electoral systems like our own First Past The Post produces “safe” ridings often filled by party hacks.  Unfortunately these are often unassailable so long as the winning party enjoyss disproportional power.

[brokeandfamouseu]

nosebleeds // 2025

[rip-its-tasha]

These 'safe seats' aren't all that safe are they?

[brianjohnspencer]

At least it is possible for election outcomes at Stormont to change. In many ‘normal’ democracies, results stay the same for decades and can be predicted in dispiriting detail before a single vote has been cast. Well over half the UK’s 650 Westminster constituencies are considered ‘safe seats’. Four weeks before last year’s general election, which every pollster called wrong, the Electoral Reform Society predicted the winner in the 364 safest seats and got every one right. The typical such constituency has not changed hands since the 1960s and the phenomenon favours larger parties. In 2015, two-thirds of Tory and Labour seats were safe compared to one-eighth of Lib-Dem seats. Westminster elections in Northern Ireland should in theory be more competitive, due to the presence of four or five major parties. In practice, the constitutional question overrides all and makes us the UK’s second most predictable region, after the north east of England, with 14 out of 18 seats safe. The Electoral Reform Society says: “Safe seats are the rotten boroughs of the 21st century.” It blames them for public disengagement with the political system, as they make millions of votes obviously futile or unnecessary.

Newton Emerson
(Here: http://www.irishnews.com/opinion/columnists/2016/05/05/news/stormont-could-teach-america-a-thing-or-two-about-democracy-507627/)

[ianchisnall]

Low turnout is likely

Low turnout is likely - in the run up to 2015 the offer is not very appetising Angela.

Full credit to Angela Eagle MP who according to a BBC website has concluded that a number of practical changes are needed to help to increase democratic participation following a review entitled peoples politics enquiry. The BBC article has reported that the Labour Party propose making a number of small but important improvements to the way in which the mechanics of election processes are…

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