"For anyone chiefly motivated by keeping Reform's Matt Goodwin out of Manchester, what's clear is that the baffling process of trying to calculate your vote by second-guessing what everyone else is doing, while worrying that you might accidentally make things worse, did not necessarily feel like democracy at its finest."
"FPTP's winner-takes-all design is built around the idea of two main parties and prioritises the swift formation of majority governments: though harsh on smaller parties, it's done a sterling job of keeping extremists out of British politics for decades, even as the far right surged across Europe."
"What it doesn't cope well with is both main parties falling apart in quick succession, creating a three- or four-party system in which candidates can win big on worryingly low shares of the vote."
The Gorton and Denton byelection exemplifies challenges facing Britain's first-past-the-post electoral system. Traditionally a safe Labour seat, the race became competitive with Reform UK and the Greens, forcing voters into tactical calculations aimed at preventing specific candidates from winning rather than supporting preferred policies. This dynamic reflects broader political fragmentation since 2024, where traditional two-party dominance has collapsed. The Electoral Reform Society argues FPTP fails in multi-party systems, allowing candidates to win with low vote shares. While FPTP historically kept extremists out through its winner-takes-all design favoring two main parties, it cannot effectively manage scenarios where multiple parties hold significant support simultaneously.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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