Yes or no

[altariel]

OK, f'listers, let rip. In 100 words or less, and without reference to the other case, tell me why I should vote either 'yes' or 'no' to the following question:

"Do you want the United Kingdom to adopt the 'alternative vote' system instead of the current 'first past the post' system for electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons?"

Non-UK perspectives welcome.

Comments

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

We used STV in Scottish local elections for the first time back in 2007. The experience of that election was that few voters had difficulty with ranking candidates, and the number of spoiled ballots was in line with previous FPTP elections. The method of voting in AV is identical to that in STV.

[There were of course well-publicised problems with the Scottish parliamentary vote on the same day, which uses a cumbersome and unintuitive Additional Member System that no-one sane is proposing for Westminster.]

So yes, it's been done, and it's not a problem. Unless Scottish people are intrinsically brighter than the English...