AV

AV

1. Used in labour and lib dem leadership elections

2. 2011 referendum demanded by Lib dems. voters rejected the introduction of AV.

3. HOW DOES IT WORK?

   • representatives are elected in single-member constituencies
     • The winning candidate has to achieve an overall majority of the votes cast
       • voter indicated their preferences by ranking candidates in order of preference.
         • the lowest candidate is eliminated, the second preference of their votes are transferred to other candidates. This process is continued until their is a majority.

4. advantages

   • representatives are elected by majorities in their constituencies.
     • The winning candidate must achieve broad support
   • THe link between represtative and constituency is retained.

5. disadvantages

   • it is not proportional And can produce less proportional results than FPTP.
     • If it was used in the 1997 election, labour would have one more seats than the conservatives.
   • the candidate that secures the most votes may not be elected when second preferences have been distributed.
     • the second preferences of electors who voted for small extremist parties are taken into account.