A Government ponders changing the electoral system for party political advantage

Not Zimbabwe but the UK, where the Labour government are rumoured to be considering moving from the first past the post system to an alternative vote system in an attempt to hold onto power.

The Telegraph reports that "Ministers are thought to be considering a new system which would see voters being allowed to choose a second preference as well as their first-choice." If the polls continue to show double digit Conservative leads then "Gordon Brown might be tempted to give the green light to a highly controversial change to the voting system, the first significant reform for at least 50 years."

The fact that Jack Straw recently argued in the Commons that "one cannot use changes to the electoral system as some kind of partisan tool" does not reassure me at all.



UPDATE:
Justice Minister Michael Wills written ministerial statement on the publication of the government's review of voting systems including these two statements do not completely put my mind to rest either:

"It remains the Government's strong view that since the voting system for Westminster Commons elections could fundamentally change the way parliamentary democracy operates, any proposed changes would need to be endorsed by a referendum."

"Strong view" not vow or promise.


"At this point, it would be premature to seek to reform the electoral system for the Commons while the voting system for a reformed and substantially or fully elected House of Lords is still to be determined. Reform of the electoral system for the Lords to a wholly or 80 per cent elected chamber was supported by the House of Commons free vote in March 2007 and the Government is committed to formulating a comprehensive package of Lords reform, including developing detailed proposals for a wholly or mainly elected second chamber. Good progress is being made on the cross-party talks on Lords reform and the Government intends to publish a White Paper in the first part of 2008 reflecting the outcome of these discussions."

"At this point", matters might change if Labour are 20 points behind in the polls in 2009. Then reform of the electoral system for electing MPs might need to be urgently changed so as to keep the "political wing of the British people" in power for ever.