Voting on Electoral Reform: A Comparative Perspective on the Alternative Vote Referendum in the United Kingdom

Political Quarterly

Volumn 83, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 108-116

  Qvortrup, Matt ^a  

^a CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Campaigning; Constitutional reform; Electoral reform; Electoral systems; Liberal Democrats; Referendums

Indexed keywords

EID: 84856659331     PISSN: 00323179     EISSN: 1467923X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-923X.2012.02270.x     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. D. Kavanagh, British Politics: Continuities and Change, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 60.
2. C. Huhne, 'The alternative vote is not the solution', Guardian, 9 February 2010.
3. A. McSmith, 'Where they stand on PR', Independent, 6 July 2010, p. A4.
4. D. Hodges, 'No we can', New Statesman, 16 May 2011, p. 37.
5. Daily Telegraph, Leader: 'Referendum voters want clarity-not mud-slinging', Daily Telegraph, 25 April 2011, p. 14.
6. Reuters/Ipsos MORI Political Monitor-AV Questions, published: 25 February 2011, fieldwork: 18-20 February 2011.
7. No to AV, 'Keep one person one vote: vote no in the referendum on 5 May', London, No Campaign Ltd, 2011, p. 6.
8. Hodges, 'No we can', p. 37.
9. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/may/02/no-to-av-vote-tory-partyfunding
10. It might be enlightening to give examples here. For example, the Swedish referendum on the euro in 2003 was lost although the 'yes' side spent much more than the opponents, and-to use an example concerning electoral reform-in the 1993 referendum, the two major parties' wellfunded attempt to stop electoral reform failed although they out-spent their opponents by a considerable margin.
11. A. Widfeldt, 'Elite collusion and public defiance: Sweden's euro referendum in 2003', West European Politics, vol. 27, no. 3, 2004, pp. 503-17.
12. Dicey, A. V. 'Ought the referendum to be introduced into England?', Contemporary Review, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 489-96.
13. Vince Cable, quoted in Bagehot, 'Pride after the fall', Economist, 14 May 2011, p. 42.
14. D. Magleby, Direct Legislation: Voting on Ballot Propositions in the United States, Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984, p.
15. I. Burell, 'The mixed messages of the AVs and the AV nots', Independent, 25 April 2011, p. B10.
16. D. Butler and U. Kitzinger, The 1975 Referendum, p. 131, http://www.harvarddigital.co.uk/euro/index.html
17. N. Machiavelli, 'The Prince', in Machiavelli: Selected Political Writings, Indianapolis, IN, Hackett, 1994, pp. 19-20.