Fun fact: the Tories actually experimented with open primaries in some constituencies. I don’t expect that to last though
Fun fact: the Tories actually experimented with open primaries in some constituencies. I don’t expect that to last though
Where was suicide mentioned?
I’m not saying the popular vote is more valid than the constituency-based system. I’m saying there’s more nuance to the situation than “the population wanted Brexit because the Tories got a majority”, which is what I thought you were sayin here:
Also, as I recall, there were two elections after the referendum in which UK citizens doubled-down on Brexit by returning the Conservatives to government with landslide victories.
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In any case, with such sustained support for the Tories post-referendum, it’s hard to lay the blame for Brexit at anyone’s feet except the UK citizenry itself.
I can’t deny the last sentence, but using the election as evidence makes it sound like over half of the country wanted the Conservatives in power, which is demonstrably untrue, that’s the only thing I’m arguing against.
While I see your point, I feel like this doesn’t take into account how our voting system can give a party a large majority even if less than half the population votes for them. Just over half the population voted for parties that weren’t pro-hard Brexit, yes the Tories got 56% of the seats on just 42% of the vote. That kind of discrepancy means it’s hard to infer the will of the people based on the composition of the Commons.
In the UK, generally chosen by party membership. There’s been some experiments with open primaries, but nothing really substantial.
It’s probably worth mentioning that, because the timings of our elections are generally left to the whim of the Prime Minister, candidates are normally elected by the party way in advance so they’re ready just in case anything happens. Our election cycles also usually last only six weeks, which isn’t enough time to run an internal election and then campaign.