this important referendum is nearly upon us and i thought it would be interesting explore the views held by this BB

after much thought, i have decided to vote against AV
i do not dispute that "first past post the post" is in some ways unfair - so is life and golf! - but i am far from convinced that AV is intrinsically much better

i would rather have a stronger gov't of some hue than a weak coalition or mps (and parties) who have felt obliged to trim their sails to offend the least number and thus gain a few more secondary votes

full-blown PR is at least "fair", but even then, there are many examples of horribly weak and unstable gov'ts, which is also pretty disastrous

finally, and of greatest concern, i suspect the turnout for this referendum will be +/-35% at best and probably a lot lower in many parts of the country
it follows that those who vote in this will be (relative) "activists" for lack of a better word, for the run-of-the-mill voter will find the whole thing too complicated and voting on it all, too much of a fag
thus, if there is a change in our voting system, then it is very likely to have been pushed through by <20% of the electorate - is that fair?

The vote on AV may be low in London as there are no council elections at the same time.

now look at the history of local elections everywhere, and i'll bet they don't average much more than 40% .... to say that this referendum is being met with total disinterest would be overly optimistic - which is why casting your vote is imperative if the nutters on both sides are not to control the field

Morning cynic
In answer to your 83, the answer is that if a majority of people voting vote yes, or no, then that should stand. You could argue about turnout in government and local election contests- just because people can't be bothered to vote doesn't make a result less democratic.

cynic . we must not let these libs in with a yes vote they would destoy the uk .they
are a bunch of nutters and have proven this in the last 12 months . my family will vote NO

Very democratic Tanker........do you have a small moustache dark in colour and have a funny walk???.,.

a debatable point coeliac, given that the "yes camp" use "my" argument as the prime reason as to why the FPTP system should be changed

bal. only idiots and libs want a yes vote . we would never have a clear winner ever again and would have these lunny libs with there lies and crazy people in power
it would then be time for the rich to leave

lighten up tanker.,. :))

tanker, you should cheer up a tad and deal with the arguments in a less aggressive way. Surely the idea of AV is to ensure that each constituency has a majority for a candidate rather than the situation at present when you can win with not much more than a third of the vote? You don't have to vote for a second or third choices if you don't want.

http://www.comres.co.uk/independentavreferendumpollmay11.aspx

ComRes has a new poll in the Independent, presumably their final call for the AV referendum. Topline referendum voting intention taking into account likelihood to vote and excluding dont knows and wont votes stands at YES 34%, NO 66%. 32 points is by far the largest lead weve seen for the NO campaign, up from 20 points in the last ComRes poll a week ago.

Just three countries in the world use AV (Alternative Vote) to elect their National Parliaments. A recent opinion poll showed that six in ten voters in Australia want to get rid of AV and switch to the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) electoral system used to elect MPs in the UK.

av must be a NO - because if av was used in the last election those idiots at labour would have won it - and look at the mess they left for the current government - as a labour treasury guy said to the new chancellor 'the cupboard is empty' and laughed as he left his post - what a shower labour are for that reason alone av is NO!

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/AV-No-Campaign-ComRes-Poll-Shows-Increased-32-Point-Lead-Over-No-Campaign/Article/201105115984911?lpos=Politics_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_2&lid=ARTICLE_15984911_AV%3A_No_Campaign_ComRes_Poll_Shows_Increased_32-Point_Lead_Over_No_Campaign

if the yes is winning it will be due to a low turn out and people not really realising the consequences - amazing!

vote NO! if you are bothering to vote!

No is winning by 2 to 1.

coe. the only party that would benefit from a yes vote .
and that is a BIG NO FOR ME they aremuppets and liars

ahh - common sense still alive then - cheers

labour and there failed education system multiple revamps, teachers teaching subjects they have no qualifications in & cut price teachers assistants was not able to completely destroy that too then!! phew - some hope remains for uk plc then!

coeliac - to pursue your argument .... would you regard it as democratic if 20% of the electorate proved able to change the current system? ..... my opinion is that that is akin to 20% of a trades union being able to impose strike action on their whole membership

I thought that's what happened anyway.

I see Eddie Izzard is campaigning for YES and getting lots of air time on BBC and SKY. What is this obsession with the opinions of celebrities on every subject. You might as well ask Ken Dodd what he thinks.