Originally published March 15 2011

THE NATIONAL Union of Students (NUS) Scotland has voted in support of electoral reform at the annual NUS Scotland conference in Irvine.

Notes from the conference voice a commitment to, “sign up to, and publicise widely, the ‘Yes to Fairer Votes campaign’” and to “encourage constituent members to run a pro-Alternative Vote campaign as part of their wider Scottish Parliament election campaigns.”

This move by the NUS Scotland comes as part of an increase in support for the introduction of a proportionally representative voting system, after a recent YouGov poll revealed an 11 per cent lead for the ‘Yes’ vote in Scotland.

On May 5 a UK wide referendum will be held asking the public whether they wish to change the method of electing representatives to the House of Commons from the current first past the post system to an alternative vote (AV) system.

AV allows the public to vote for candidates by listing them in order of preference. If an outright majority is not achieved in the first round of voting, the first preference votes for the losing party are eliminated and the second preference from those same ballots is tallied in; this process is repeated until one party gains a majority.  

Advocates of AV argue that requiring electoral candidates to consider both the first and second preferences of the public can result in a more representative political system. In the Scottish parliament, 59 of the 129 seats are already elected by proportional representation.

However, the move to AV has faced a stringent campaign against moving away from the current electoral system.

Prime minister David Cameron remains firmly opposed to AV on the grounds that such a system will contribute to more indecisive general elections, and has urged his party to vote ‘No’ in the upcoming referendum. 

Liam Burns, NUS Scotland president, told The Student that, “More and more people, including students, want their MPs to be more accountable for the decisions they make. Students in Scotland, including in Edinburgh, can hold the balance of power in many constituencies, yet too often face an insurmountable challenge on exercising this in the first past the post system. Changing to AV would mean MPs would have to get 50 per cent of the vote to be elected and they would have to work harder for our votes.