AN MEP has called on voters to support changes to the electoral system.
A referendum to decide whether the UK should ditch the First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system in favour of the Alternative Vote (AV) system for electing MPs to the House of Commons, will be held on May 5.
Under FPTP, voters back one candidate and the candidate with the most votes is elected.
Under AV, voters rank candidates in order of preference.
If no candidate has a majority of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes reallocated according the voter’s preferences.
The process is repeated until one candidate obtains a majority.
Fiona Hall, Liberal Democrat MEP for the North-East, called AV a fairer voting system after joining the Yes to AV campaign in Durham City, on Saturday.
Ms Hall said: “The referendum on fairer votes is hugely important. It is a once-in-ageneration opportunity to make politics fairer and to ensure everyone’s vote counts.
“Safe seats will be a thing of the past.”
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