Introduce voting by proportional representation (Single Transferable Vote) in all General and Local Elections.
Introduce a fixed duration for all Parliamentary by-election campaigns and prevent the incumbent party from moving the writ at a time of their own choosing for maximum electoral advantage.
Investigate feasability of electronic voting at all elections, with a view to increasing accessibility and turnout.
Investigate feasability of direct digital democracy - using online tools to gradually replace representative democracy with increased direct participation in the legislative process by all electors.
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Are current general election campaigns fixed length? Would this be appropriate to apply to all elections?
@PaulJRobinson - about 10 years ago
The Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011 prevented governments from calling general elections at a time of their own choosing to maximise electoral advantage. The duration of a general election campaign has remained fixed, and isn't an issue of contention (to my knowledge).
But when an MP dies, or is automatically removed from office because of a serious criminal offence the incumbent party currently gets to choose when to 'move the writ' which triggers the subsequent by-election. Until they do this an MP of the same party in a neighbouring constituency is allowed to run constituency matters, and the seat essentially remains vacant until the by-election is called. The incumbant party may choose to move the writ immediately to prevent a long campaign and prevent opposition parties from gaining on them (eg Wythenshawe and Sale East by-election being held today when it is alleged the Labour Party wanted a quick campaign to hinder other parties from catching them up) or they may not have a candidate ready and may prefer not to move the writ for some time. The rules currently allow up a 3 month delay to the by-election at which point it's automatically triggered - although apparently there have been some instances of 6 month delays.
http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/by-elections/
The point is that a by-election should be called automatically within a set period of the seat becoming vacant, and not left for the the incumbant party to decide when it suits them.
with kind regards, Paul Robinson
about.me/pauljrobinson
On 13 February 2014 14:52, James Smith [email protected] wrote:
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Are current general election campaigns fixed length? Would this be appropriate to apply to all elections?
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/openpolitics/manifesto/pull/101#issuecomment-34985014 .
The OpenPolitics Manifesto
@PaulJRobinson - about 10 years ago
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