I've just had another look at Bristol's local election results from last week, which took place under our 'first past the post' voting system.
The Lib Dems obtained 27% of the vote but now have 44% of the councillors (31 of them).
Labour got 29% of the vote but have 36% of councillors (25 people).
The Conservatives gained 25% of the vote but have just 19% of councillors (13 individuals).
The Green Party gained 15% of the vote but have a mere 1.4% of councillors ( ie 1 Charlie Bolton).
The 'winner takes all' electoral system doesn't seem to be a fair one to me!! In Bristol this is especially true for the Greens, though other small parties and even the Conservatives lose out due to the system too.
With a strictly proportional voting system the council would look something like this (assuming an unlikely no change in voting habits and range of candidate choice of course): Labour 20 councillors; Lib Dems 19; Conservatives 18; Greens 11; others 2. Most alternative voting systems are not strictly proportional of course but this does give you some idea how different our local council could be but for our voting system.
