Letter: Choices for electoral change

Sir: It is not surprising that the major political parties target their campaigns on the 70,000-odd undecided voters in the marginal constituencies, since under our grossly unfair electoral system these people will determine the outcome of the election.

The current government was elected on 42 per cent of the popular vote, but with a Parliamentary majority sufficient to delay a further election for the full five years. This is a recipe for mediocrity and sleaze. In my university 40 per cent is a "bare pass without honours" mark, and so Britain gets the governments its electoral system dictates, but that its electorate scarcely deserves.

If we reform the electoral system so that MPs are elected as at least the first or second choice of a proper majority of voters in any constituency we might have a better chance of good government. I am a long-time Labour supporter, twice I was a Labour parliamentary candidate, but in this constituency, Oxford West and Abingdon, I must vote tactically for the Lib Dem candidate to have any chance of defeating the Tories, under the current system. This is not an easy decision and invites criticism.

Our electoral system must be reformed by the incoming government, please, to make these Machiavellian machinations unnecessary next time. Maybe we do not need full PR, but we certainly do need a modicum of electoral reform.

Professor GERALD ELLIOTT

Oxford