83% of the seats on less than 50% of the vote!

How did that happen?

The severe limitations of the 'First Past the Post' voting system (FPTP) have been exposed by the results in the recent County Council elections in Derbyshire Dales.

There are 6 'County Electoral Divisions' in the Dales and 26,148 people cast their vote either in person or by postal ballot. Of these 13,023 voted Conservative but this allowed them to secure 5 out of the 6 seats.

Labour and Green voters - 7925 of them, over 30% - secured NO SEATS.

Lib Dems were more fortunate with 19% of the vote share overall, securing one seat. (Sue Burfoot held on to Matlock with almost 58% of the local vote)

If 1.3% of the electorate had changed their minds, 33% of the seats would have been won by other parties.

Closer examination shows that it would have taken just 139 voters in Bakewell and 206 in Derwent Valley to have voted differently (a total of just 1.3% of the electorate) for there to be one Lib Dem, one Green and one Labour Cllr now representing Derbyshire Dales in the County Council.

This is the consequence of FPTP - votes do not count equally in different situations.

To find out more about how to change this unfair system visit Make Votes Matter