Electoral reform for Local Government
From Democracywiki
Central Lobby
October 2006
 Our View Unlock Democracy believes that Citizens and not politicians should choose the electoral system. We worked with David Chaytor MP in the last session of Parliament to promote the Electoral Choice Bill which would allow citizens to initiate a referndum to propose a change of electoral system if 5% of the relvant constituency supported it. Alternatively they could use this mechanism to call for a Citizens Assembly to decide on an appropriate electoral system. While we very much welcome this initiative in Lewisham and hope that other Councils will follow this lead we believe that citizens should also have the right to propose changes to the electoral system. |
Lewisham Council has approved a motion for the Single Transferable Vote to be piloted at the Council elections in 2010.
The motion noted that the Scottish local elections were being fought by single transferable vote (STV) and called for the next Lewisham full council elections to be fought under a fairer system. A proposal will be put to the relevant government department requesting permission for Lewisham to operate a pilot scheme at the 2010 local elections.
Proposing the motion Liberal Democrat Cllr Mark Morris said,
- "If Councils up and down the Country demand STV for local elections the Government might agree to several pilot schemes and that could herald the end of the first pass the post system south of the border as well as in Scotland."
Lewisham Council has a record of supporting a fairer voting system having held an independent review in 1999 which advocated that Lewisham Council adopt the Additional Member System.
Lewisham's Elected Mayor, is also prominent Labour supporter of proportional representation.
