You know what is the biggest problem of all with “First Past The Post”?
There is no post.
That’s right: in this voting system we’ve seen likened to a race, there is no defined finishing post at all!
If there are two candidates standing, you win if you get more than half the votes. With three candidates supported roughly equally (as there are in some constituencies), you could win with just over a third, and let’s go crazy: if there were ten candidates, you might need just 11% of the vote to become the representative of the lot of them.
In fact, the winning threshold under FPTP depends not on your level of support but really on how many dare to challenge you. The more people stand against the incumbent (or the strongest party), the lower the threshold of victory, and the easier the win for whoever is already ahead.
We sometimes say to people, “if you don’t like the way things are, stand up and change them.” But when people do stand as independents or representing small parties, this honourable act of public service steals votes from the main opposition, moves the finishing tape, and ends up making the status quo even stronger. So much for encouraging people to take part in democracy.
AV has a simple answer to this problem. The finishing post is fixed at 50% (as long as there are enough preferences expressed to reach that level). Votes for independents don’t jeopardise the main result. People are a little more empowered, and democracy survives.
This post comes courtesy of possibly the most famous clip from The Matrix and this brilliant and very detailed analysis by a fellow mathematician. Thank you to both!