A significant overhaul of electoral legislation to give voters a second vote, open polling stations at weekends and make it compulsory to participate is being proposed by the government to increase turnout and improve the legitimacy of the Commons.
Ministers will begin a consultation effort on the plan after local elections in May, and hope the measures will increase the authority of MPs and reduce voter disengagement. In the 2005 general election, only 61% of those eligible participated. Under the alternative voting system, ballot papers would allow for a second preference vote which would be redistributed from the lowest-scoring candidate's share until one candidate has more than 50% of the vote.
News of the proposals came as Jack Straw, the justice secretary, prepares to publish a draft constitutional reform bill tomorrow, before a separate green paper on a British bill of rights and responsibilities and the opening of discussions on a statement of British values.
A white paper on party funding, which proposes capping donations and campaign spending, is also expected shortly together amounting to a substantial programme of constitutional reform.
When Gordon Brown came to power he promised radical reforms to restore trust in politics, but there has been little progress so far.
The decision to examine Commons voting systems has been prompted by proposed reforms in the House of Lords, which will almost certainly be elected by a proportional voting system. Cross-party consensus has been reached on most elements of a smaller second chamber.
Ministers fear that the Commons will have difficulty retaining its status as the pre-eminent legislative chamber if peers, elected by proportional voting, can claim greater authority than MPs, who are sometimes put in office by less than a third of the electorate. Straw has warmed towards the alternative voting system in the past two years, seeing it as an improvement on the first-past-the-post system.
Michael Wills, the constitutional affairs minister, praised the alternative voting system at a meeting on electoral reform last month. "The alternative vote has many attractions, including the fact that you have to get 50% plus one in that constituency, therefore you have a greater legitimacy," he said.
Private research on the impact of the second vote commissioned by the campaign group Make Votes Count found that it tends to result in the number of seats gained being more proportional to the number of votes cast. This could possibly damage the Conservatives.
But the research also suggested that the Tories could gain an overall Commons majority with a smaller share of the vote than under first past the post.
Wills said the decision would not be based on whether Labour would benefit. "It should not be about parties choosing a system that will most advantage themselves, it's about a voting system that delivers democracy for all of us," he said.
The government's consultation paper is also expected to look at compulsory voting and weekend voting as other ways of increasing turnout. Britain is rare in holding its general election on a weekday, but it is difficult to demonstrate that weekend voting leads to a higher turnout.
Compulsory voting has been supported by Geoff Hoon, the government chief whip, because of his concern at recent low turnouts.
Senior Liberal Democrats have been informed of Labour's proposals, and might be able to accept alternative voting as long as it was presented as a staging post to a bigger reform.
Labour advocates of reform argue it will be easier to institute it this side of an election since any change after a election in which Labour lost seats, but stayed in power, possibly in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, would be seen as an effort to stop the Tories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/24/localgovernment.voterapathy.As long as it keeps the Tories out.
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