A similar thing happened to the SNP in a recent round of local elections.
They'd got in to the habit of only standing 1 candidate in 4 seat wards and were surprised when they got enough first and second preferences to elect 2 candidates.
And for me it's that sort of thing that makes STV less than awesome when using it in wards with 3-4 seats in a political environment where we have 5 - 6 parties. Everyone knows more or less that they are going to get 0-1 or 1-2, or 2-3 seats in a particular ward and only stands that number of candidates. It's not hugely proportional at a ward level and the voter doesn't get a choice between different candidates from the same party.
Don't get me wrong (and I have to say this because having stood a few times for the Electoral Reform Society's council I know people are scrutinising my social media to see how much of an STV supporter I am) - STV is my favourite electoral system. I am glad we use it in Scotland for local elections. I just don't think we get the full benefit of using it in our local elections the way we use it. I have concerns about how we might set up our Holyrood elections to get the best out of STV.
no subject
They'd got in to the habit of only standing 1 candidate in 4 seat wards and were surprised when they got enough first and second preferences to elect 2 candidates.
And for me it's that sort of thing that makes STV less than awesome when using it in wards with 3-4 seats in a political environment where we have 5 - 6 parties. Everyone knows more or less that they are going to get 0-1 or 1-2, or 2-3 seats in a particular ward and only stands that number of candidates. It's not hugely proportional at a ward level and the voter doesn't get a choice between different candidates from the same party.
Don't get me wrong (and I have to say this because having stood a few times for the Electoral Reform Society's council I know people are scrutinising my social media to see how much of an STV supporter I am) - STV is my favourite electoral system. I am glad we use it in Scotland for local elections. I just don't think we get the full benefit of using it in our local elections the way we use it. I have concerns about how we might set up our Holyrood elections to get the best out of STV.