AV analogies… *EDIT* in OD

Those of you who live in Britain will know that this week sees the referendum on changing the political system in the UK. This is only the second national referendum in our history though, the first one being before I was born. Strangely however, it’s also the second referendum I’ve taken part in.

This one is to decide if First Past the Post or Alternative Vote will be used for future elections.

A quick breakdown of both systems:

First Past the Post or FPTP is the system used just now. Each person votes for one candidate standing in their constituency. Once voting is over, the votes are counted and the person with the most votes wins.

Alternative Vote or AV is the possible replacement. Under this system, you rank the candidates in order of preference. You do not need to rank them all and you can vote for just one person. After the first round of counting, if no candidate has more than 50% of the vote, the person with the least votes is eliminated and their second preferences are shared out. This process continues till we have a winner.

Now, the No to AV campaign has decided that the best way to make their point is by using sports analogies. Cos, everyone understands them. Well, except for the No to AV campaign themselves…

Here is an example (pic yoinked from Sexton Merryweather):

And here’s the televisual equivalent:

Semms simple enough. The person who wins may not be the winner. Right?

Until a winner has been announced, THERE IS NO WINNER!

What No to AV are doing is transposing the way that FPTP works onto the AV model. The argument is that the person who is in the lead after the first round of counting may not win.

Which is true. Just ask David Cameron and Ed Milliband*.

But whoever is in the lead after the first round of counting, unless they actually get over 50%. The winner would be announced after all the rounds of counting necessary.

No to AV like their sports metaphors, so here’s an obvious one: Had the English Premiership been decided after each team had played one game, the English teams in the Champions League this season would be:

Chelsea (automatically through to the league stage).
Blackpool (automatically through to the league stage),
Aston Villa (through to qualifiers) and
Manchester United (through to qualifiers)

Blackburn Rovers would be in the Europa League.

And that’s why all sports leagues don’t decide things that way. The FA Cup is FPTP. The Premiership, which is to try and decide the best team in the country, makes each team play each other twice to make sure the decision is the right one**. Only after that has happened are the winners announced.

Not after the first week.

Will

*Both the Tories and Labour use AV for their leadership contests. If they used FTPT, David Davies and David Milliband would have won the election.

**Your mileage may vary on whether or not this is accurate.

*EDIT*

I’ve just had it pointed out to me that the Tories use Exhaustive Ballot, not AV, for their leadership elections. Which is a good point. Course, the difference is that under EB, if no-one gets over the amount needed in the first vote, the person with the least votes is eliminated and the vote is taken again. The difference? AV you don’t need to vote again.

Oh, and you can change who you vote for in each round.

Will