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Small pro-Remain parties and their supporters seem to think that proportional representation will stop the Remain vote being split in the Euro elections. They're wrong. A mini thread:
The “superior system” used in EU elections means splitting the vote “does not arise”, says a Change UK MP. PR “means every vote counts and every vote can make a difference,” says a Green spokesman. These are big misunderstandings
Most EU countries operate as a single constituency in EU elections. Britain is one of five that split into regions. Our 73 MEPs are split among 12 constituencies. Some are quite big, like the South East (10). Others are v small, like the North East (3)
One might assume that under a PR system a party that got, say, 5% of the vote would get about 5% of the seats. But if you get 5% of the vote in the North East, you don't get 5% of the seats - you get none, because there are only 3 of them
Last time, in 2014, the Lib Dems got 10.7% in the South West. It wasn't enough to win any of the region's six MEPs
What's more, the UK doesn't use the single transferable vote (except in Northern Ireland). So if you're a Lib Dem supporter in the South West you don't get to say that your second choice would be, say, the Greens, or Change UK
The upshot for voters is that tactical voting may well be a good idea, despite PR - especially if you live in a small constituency. In 2014 Labour, UKIP and the Tories were the only parties with much hope of winning one of the 3 seats in the North East
The upshot for small parties is that an alliance of some sort might have been a good idea, at least if the aim was to win seats. (They may have other goals, of course - as @stephenkb has pointed out, Change UK want to prove they are more popular than the Lib Dems)
Either way, all the stuff about how because of PR the vote can't be split is, sadly, very wrong, as I fear the small Remain parties are about to find out. More here: economist.com/britain/2019/0…
