Buon voto Gran Bretagna

Fra poche ore la Gran Bretagna inizia a votare. Si deve scegliere fra un uninominale che fa parte integrante della storia dell'avanzamento della democrazia in Occidente, che è il sistema uninominale maggioritario a un turno secco; e un altro sistema uninominale, che invece lascia più spazio ai terzi incomodi e alle forze minori. Il primo si chiama First Past The Post (FPTP) ed è storicamente il sistema uninominale più diffuso in tutte le democrazie anglossassoni. Il secondo si chiama Alternative Vote (AV) ed è conosciuto soprattutto nella versione adottata dal Commonwealth of Australia.

Vi invitiamo a leggere questo statement in difesa del sistema uninominale maggioritario a un turno secco, scritto da David Cameron, il leader Conservative del Regno Unito:

Keeping first past the post is vital for democracy 
Sunday, May 1 2011
David Cameron
Quoting Churchill who fought against the introduction of AV in the 1930s, David Cameron set out four important reasons to save First Past the Post: simplicity; effectiveness; efficiency; and the fact that it "flies in the face" of two hundred years of British history:

"Each democracy in the world has its own story, shaped by its own chain of events", David Cameron argued. "Britain's democracy has its own story. Two centuries ago, voting was limited to a privileged few. Generations of campaigners fought and died to change that. Their struggle gave us the principle that sits at the heart of our democracy today: we are all equal, therefore we all have an equal say at the polls. One person, one vote."

"So First-Past-the-Post isn't just one way of counting votes", he continued. "It is an expression of our fairness as a country. It is enshrined in our constitution and integral to our history - and AV flies in the face of all that because it destroys one person, one vote.

David concluded the article by reminding people that while First Past the Post is "one of Britain's most successful exports - used by almost half the electors on the planet, embraced and understood by 2.4 billion people from India to America", while AV is used by just three countries - and one of them wants to get rid of it.


Lo statement integrale può essere letto sul sito del Partito Conservatore britannico.