Part of my degree was in politics and I am pretty sure that tradition - which is what counts here as we don't have a written constitution demands that the outgoing government get the right to try to form the government. The Queen will talk first to the previous Prime Minister and only if he says he cannot form a government will she call on another. This happened with Brown - he went to the Palace first. Now in practice if say the LibDems had not talked to both parties but said from the outset that they would form a coalition with the Tories it would have been immediately obvious that as together they had a clear majority in Parliament then Labour could not hope to form a Government so Brown would have asked to see the Queen straightaway and resigned. Even then he did not have to. Had he chosen to he could still have formed a minority governement withthe little parties and then waited for a vote in the house of commons to be defeated. At that point he would have been forced to resign and the Queen would have asked the Tories if they thought they could.
Roo - I think - like the Poles, French Russians and many others - you under-estimate Hitler. He forced his way to power in a regime that was rocked by the First World War and the reparations Germany were obliged to pay. He stepped into a political vacuum using big business and other groups - he then undemocratically seized power after staging the burning of the Reichstag amongst other things and blaming the Jews. All very interesting history - the favourite period that I studied was 1914 to 1945 at school - but not really relevant in ordinary discussions about systems of government. AV and PR certainly lead to more coalitions as that is the truly democratic result of most elections - but if no majority - over 50% vote for a party what right does it alone have to implement its policies?
You can a have one party in control centrally but locally a different party controlling the local councils,which muddies the water even more!
. Theo - you are just using semantics. The "people" in this instance is just shorthand for the result of the sum of what everyone who has voted. When said the "people" had not voted for x or y I was saying that the "total votes cast by everyone who voted" did not give a majority to one party - it does not matter for what reason they voted - although in a party style democracy you can argue that some people vote as a group. So to rephrase my statement to your liking "if one party has not been able to get sufficient votes to win an overall majority then why should they get the right to form a governemtn on thier own?
NOrway - in Wales (and Scotland it is even more muddled - we have Westminster MPs, the Welsh Assemby Members and local councillors - three leayers - often of different persuasions
In theory it becomes a draw and there should be a re run election, although with voter apathy at an all time high, that prob wouldnt work!! You need to get a higher percentage of the population to vote to get a more credible 50% of the vote.
Well - anyone who does not vote is saying they will accept whoever gets in to power - they therefore have no right to complain - If you want to moan you have to vote (IMHO)
Voted with my feet a few years back! Maybe will come back to the UK to live one day!........but I doubt it!
Can't say I blame you - if Lennietta had not had her heart attack a couple of years ago we would have moved to France not Wales - but our French is not good enough for complicated medical discussions.... and given her recent troubles we made the right choice
Yeah good choice! although if you settle in a more populated area ,you will find a higher standard of english more common amongst the natives! If you live in the wop wops like we do ,then youdo need to pick up a bit of the lingo!
Good one - better than "living in the sticks" We love living in the countryside - Buzzards, Red Kites, Goshawks, Owls, no end of small birds and plenty of wild life animals not to mention our farm ones - and neighbours are very friendly but at a distance
We seem to have a great barter system going here - we supply eggs and various fruit and plants and get given home made bread, hot cross buns, chitney, wine and lemon curd - to name just a few things
A lot of people probably couldn't. But that may have something to do with the fact that it's not in the interest of either side of the referendum campaign to ask it. The Yes lobby want us to focus on the fact that AV is a more representative voting system, and not that many of them would prefer PR. While the No campaign like to band about the miserable little compromise line, they're shrewd enough to know that if they use it too strongly, it will backfire, because it is the Conservatives that insisted on a compromise, rather than allow a straight vote between FPTP and the preferred form of PR.
I think the outcome of the vote is pretty much a foregone conclusion - few people in this country vote for radical change and I think the No vote will win easily. HOwever on the ballot we have here in Wales for the Welsh Assembly - there are about 10 parties - I hope you would not have to place all ten inn order
Hitler coming to power in Germany had nothing to do with the Alternative Vote system, it was not used in Germany. Hitler came to power because the President Paul von Hindenberg selected him at the time - again nothing to do with getting votes. Hindenberg referred to Hitler as the "little drummer boy" because he, and the rest of the German establishment felt that they could control and manipulate him.
