Thread by @arcofprosperity

So many people are talking about introducing PR (#ProportionalRepresentation) after the #GE2024 election, so here's a concrete suggestion, loosely modelled on the system used in Denmark. Let's call it Sainte-Laguë with personal votes. 1/

(1) Keep the constituencies as they are, but group them. As an example, let's group the 6 Glasgow constituencies together with Rutherglen and Coatbridge & Bellshill, so 8 in total. 2/

The ballot papers will be longer, because they'll list all the candidates in the constituency group (with the local one first), so each party will have up to eight candidates on the ballot paper. Each voter must vote for just one candidate (with an X). 3/

(2) Now, count the votes cast for each party (i.e., for all the candidates standing for it). Now use Sainte-Laguë (), which is like d'Hondt, just dividing the votes by 1 – 3 – 5 – 7 – ... instead of 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 ... This makes it more proportional. 4/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-La…

If the votes get cast like they were two days ago, this will lead to Labour 4, SNP 3, Greens 1 (rather than 8 for Labour). 5/

(3) Finally, to find out who gets elected from each party, count the votes cast for each candidate, and give the seats to the ones who got the most votes. 6/

The result is then:
Labour: 4
Michael Shanks (21460)
Frank McNally (19291)
Patricia Ferguson (18621)
Gordon McKee (17696)
SNP: 3
Stewart McDonald (13542)
Steven Bonnar (12947)
Katy Loudon (12693)
Scottish Green: 1
Niall Christie (5554)
7/

I believe such a system would lead to great satisfaction with the voting system, like in Denmark:
It's easy to understand, keeps politics local, and it gives a lot of influence to voters. What's not to like? 8/8

https://x.com/pmdfoster/status/1804429139232829915