Letter: Voting concerns

I DO wonder what kind of bizarre alternate world Michael Kelly lives in. He was, of course, absolutely correct (Perspective, 10 February) when pointing out that there can be no perfect voting system.

However, his assertion that Alternative Voting "gives power to the wrong people" is not only biased and simplistic, it wilfully ignores the fact that his beloved First Past The Post (FPTP), which he clings to like the wreckage of the Titanic, has a far longer history of doing just that.

Few UK governments - Tory or Labour - during the last century can genuinely claim to have had at least some level of support from more than half of those who voted, let alone a majority of the electorate. FPTP ensures that far too many of the MPs sitting pretty in the Commons are actually "representing" constituencies in which the majority of adults either voted for other candidates or didn't vote at all.

It's also a sign of Kelly's desire for simplistic two-party politics to describe the Lib Dems as a "small party" that had suddenly done well because of Nick Clegg's TV performances; a simple check of the results suggests otherwise. The Lib Dem's 23 per cent share of the vote (a mere 6 percentage points less than Labour's, please note) in 2010 was actually only one point up on their 2005 showing under the leadership of Charles Kennedy.

PAUL F COCKBURN

Kensington Gate

Dowanhill, Glasgow