Holyrood shows hung parliaments work

All of the opinion polls conducted so far have invariably pointed to this election resulting in a hung parliament come 7 May, and I take issue with the ludicrous notion being trotted out by the two parties traditionally favoured by the distinctly unfair and undemocratic Westminster first-past-the-post electoral system that hung parliaments provide for weak unstable governments.

This is complete nonsense! On the contrary: such instability is created by the intransigent attitudes of those politicians who put narrow party political interests ahead of what is really important, because they're unwilling to think outside the box and work together for the good of the country.

This Labour/Tory scare story has more than adequately been proved wrong by the success of the Scottish Parliament, which is elected by a form of PR which makes it virtually impossible for any one party to achieve an overall majority, in completing its first two full terms as a Labour/Lib Dem coalition, and is showing every sign of completing the current term too, because the minority SNP administration has shown a willingness to work with the other parties in the interests of the Scottish people.

The electorate have no reason to be scared of having a hung parliament, but perhaps the politicians should be scared of the wrath of the electorate being visited upon them if they fail to fulfil the settled will of the electorate.

COLIN CI DOUGLAS

Mansfield Road

Scone

Perthshire

The claims by the Tories that a "hung" parliament will lead to "economic crisis" smacks more than a little of desperation (27 April).

If you look away from Westminster, in the European Union only France, Malta and that paragon of good governance, Greece, boast single-party governments. Many countries rated most highly for good government such as Germany, New Zealand and the Scandinavian countries have multi-party rule.

Multi-party administrations have been as effective in maintaining fiscal discipline as single party ones. One only has to look at the Scandinavian countries and Canada on one hand, and the UK, France and Greece on the other, to evidence this.

If no party wins an outright majority there is no need to panic as politicians here are pledged to tackle the deficit and are more than capable of adapting and forming an effective administration.

ALEX ORR

Bryson Road

Edinburgh

With comic arrogance, the big two parties warn us of the danger of a "hung parliament". The only danger would be an outbreak of democracy. Both are scared stiff of the Lib Dem challenge to their two-party rule.

A democratically elected parliament would represent the wishes of the electorate as expressed by the votes cast, and unless one party wins a majority of the actual votes – not seats – a coalition government should be the result.

Proportional representation is the only fair outcome of party politics, but the electorate must decide the form of PR to be employed.

ROBERT DOW

Ormiston Road

Tranent