CANDLEWOOD — Premier Stephen Cameron has confirmed that his government intends to hold a referendum on changing the voting system, but not until ‘spring at the earliest’.
Electoral reform is a flagship policy of the Premier’s Democratic Party. Currently, New Ulster uses the plurality-at-large method of voting common in other UK overseas territories. Under the system, voters in New Ulster’s three ridings have as many votes as there are candidates to be elected. For example, the Premier’s riding of Candlewood elects 2 MPs so voters there get 2 votes.
However, the Democratic Party favour the single transferable vote (STV) voting method whereby voters rank candidates in order of preference. Those votes can then be transferred to produce proportionality. The system is used in elections to the Northern Irish Assembly, the Dáil in the Republic of Ireland, and the Australian Senate.
Cameron described the current system as ‘not fit for purpose’ and highlighted his own party’s performance as a reason. In the last election his NUDP won 36% of the vote but less than 30% of seats. ‘With [STV] we have not only proportionality but preference taken into account,’ the premier said.
The announcement is the first major policy initiative undertaken by Cameron’s government after it ousted Ethan McAllister as premier last week.
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