Britain's smaller political parties launch electoral reform petition

Britain's UK Independence Party (UKIP), Liberal Democrats, Greens and Plaid Cymru on Monday joined other smaller political parties to push for electoral reform in the country.

A cross-party delegation, represented by UKIP leader Nigel Farage, the Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood and other leading figures from the minor parties, delivered a petition to Downing Street, calling for "a fairer, more proportional voting system."

Under Britain's current first-past-the-post system, a constituency's parliamentary election is won by the candidate who receives more votes than any others.

The first-past-the-post system usually results in a two-party competition, making it difficult for smaller parties to win seats and thus be represented in Britain's House of Commons, even if they win a considerable share of the popular votes.

In the general election held on May 7, UKIP secured a 13 percent of the vote share nationwide, but only managed to grab one seat in the House of Commons, because its millions of supporters are not concentrated in particular constituencies.

The reform petition, orchestrated by the Electoral Reform Society, said the 2015 general election has shown that the British voting system is "broken beyond repair."

"Our voting system was designed for an era when almost everyone voted for the two big parties. But people have changed: they support a wider range of parties than ever before. It's time the system caught up with how we actually vote," the petition said.

"We want a fairer, more proportional voting system which ensures that seats in Parliament match the way people vote. This would make sure people's choices were fairly reflected in Parliament, and would allow everyone to vote for someone they believe in," it added.

"2015 should be the last election where seats don't match votes. It's time for a fair voting system. We call on all the party leaders to make voting reform a reality in this Parliament," it urged.

The online version of the petition has garnered a total of 133,546 signatures as of 2150 GMT on Monday.

"This campaign for electoral reform is vital, now. The results of the general election show this where five million votes, the views of five million people are now represented by only two MPs; 4 million people voted for UKIP, for only one seat. It cannot go on like this," Farage said in a statement.

"It is important to be here, with the Electoral Reform Society supporting its campaign to make votes match seats," he said. Endit