Last of First Past the Post?

May 10, 2010 23:50

OK, I wouldn't bet the house on it just yet, but the Dutch Auction for continental style voting seems to have really warmed up today. If I'm following it correctly, the sequence seems to have been roughly: "Referendum on AV!" "We'll match that!" "Primary legislation on AV!" "Whipped vote on that!" "We'll throw in a ritual sacrifice of our leader!" "Referendum on PR!" Though it didn't take long for the backlash to start; several Labour types have emerged from the woodwork to poo-poo, one MP even suggesting that the "parliamentary arithmetic" wasn't correct: well, his certainly wasn't, since he seemed to be asserting that 258+57 < 306. (This clip's been shown more than once, with no-one picking him up on it, bizarrely.) It's clear that the Tories are both trying to be as minimal as possible on electoral reform (only AV; will require a referendum; will campaign *against* it), they're also instinctively lurching to the right to "balance" the cabinet. (David Davis and Michael Howard? Do me a favour...) I swear I heard one news report in which it was being suggested that the Labour party leadership contest might be not just brother-vs-brother, but also husband-vs-wife, but in subsequent reports I've only seen Yvette Cooper being accosted about whether said Ed is standing. You'd bet confidently against nothing at this point, though.

Meanwhile, the ECB seems to have decided to stratbomb the government bond markets with cash. "Shock and awe" seems a somewhat unfortunate metaphor to me, given its history, but at least some breathing space seems to have been, well, bought.

electoral systems, politics, euro, election

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