Under the current electoral voting system, general elections are decided under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system and members of the House of Commons are elected from single-member constituencies. The first-past-the-post system is known for its simplicity, because in this system, voters simply put a cross next to a candidate's box on their voting form and the candidate with the most votes wins. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essay Candidates are elected by a simple majority and such a majority constitutes more than half of the votes cast in an election. FPTP keeps extremist parties like UKIP, which is seen as having an extremist xenophobic, homophobic and sexist ideology, out of power by the vast majority of Britons. An example of this is UKIP which received 3.8 million votes in the 2015 general election but only 1 seat in Parliament. because their voters are dispersed and not concentrated. Critics of the first-past-the-post system argue that the system undermines the legitimacy of elected representatives, because MPs can be elected based on minimal public support. The Electoral Reform Society shows, for example, that "in 2005, George Galloway received only 18.4% of his voters' votes, and yet found himself in the House of Commons." This lack of legitimacy is further accentuated when we realize that “only three deputies elected in 2005 obtained the votes of more than 40% of their voters” (Electoral Reform Society). The lack of public legitimacy leads to two fundamental problems. First, it allows the election of governments with minimal public support and, in some cases, these governments may have radical agendas that are at odds with the majority of public opinion. The second problem with the FPTP system is that it wastes a surprising number of votes. Since the only votes that count are those that result in the winning candidate being elected, and the winning candidate almost always gets less than 40% of the total vote, this means that a majority of the total vote is actually wasted . The government recently submitted a proposal to MPs to change the electoral system from a first-past-the-post system to an alternative vote (AV) system. The government received support from MPs to hold a referendum on the alternative voting system before the general public in the form of a referendum in autumn 2011. Under an alternative voting system, voters would have marked candidates on the ballot in order of preference instead of simply placing a cross next to their preferred candidate, as is currently the case in the FPTP system. This means that voters should place a 1 next to their first choice candidate, a 2 next to their second choice candidate and so on. If a candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, they will be elected in exactly the same way as in the current system, but if a candidate gets less than 50%, the second choice preferences will be redistributed and this process will be repeated. until one candidate obtains an absolute majority. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Despite the fact that the alternative voting system is different from the FPTP system, VA also falls under the category of majoritarian electoral systems. Prime Minister Gordon Brown advocated this reform because it offered more choice to the electorate and gave 2010).