We are all now waking up to the realisation that the 2019 election was won by the Conservatives with all that implies. Was the 2019 election fair though?
I will make the case that it was not even slightly fair.
I took the total votes cast for the eight main parties and divided that by the number of seats it brought them. This gives the cost per seat in the number of votes (rounded to the nearest whole number).
For the visual thinkers among you, here is that data in chart form.
Now, you tell me. Was the 2019 election fair?
Why do some parties need orders of magnitude more votes to get a seat? How come the conservatives (who got the most) needed so few votes per seat?
Am I the only one who feels that something is really off about this?
Clearly it is not fair Matthew. The question is what the hell are you going to do about it ?
The same thing we do every year – fight for a fairer election system. We came close with the AV referendum. Another one (say, STV) seems unlikely right now. That’s not going to stop me saying that we need to change things.