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‘Britons to swap votes as system wastes ballots’

Monday, 04 May 2015 3:46 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 04 May 2015 5:46 PM ]

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A growing part of British electorate is set to swap votes in the May 7 election over concerns that their ballots might go to waste.

Thousands of disillusioned voters across the country are pledging to trade their votes with other people, using swapping websites.

One website, Vote Swap, has only been live for two weeks, but already around 12,000 people have vowed to vote for a party in their constituency on behalf of another voter elsewhere in the country, Sky News reported.

The theory behind vote swapping is that some votes are wasted in General Elections because of the first-past-the-post system.

For example, a Labour voter living in a seat held by the Conservatives with the Liberal Democrats in second may feel that their vote will make no difference to the outcome.

Therefore, they might pair up with a voter living in an area where there is a tight battle between Labour and the Conservatives and swap votes.

"I feel it's giving me more power in this election. It's not ideal, but there are a lot of disillusioned people who think the system wastes votes," Sky news quoted a swap voter as saying.

Now Robert Evans, British politician and a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in London says: “We are moving in this country towards a system where increasingly people vote in different ways in different areas and do amend their principles, but I think possibly we will find that in a while, we will be wanting to change the whole system in this country in Britain because if it continues in this trend with 3, 4 or 5 parties, then I don’t think our system holds up well.”

MTM/GHN

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