The Report of the Jenkins Commission (1998), set up by the Blair government to examine the case for electoral reform. The Commission was asked to take into the account
- broad proportionality,
- the extension of voter choice,
- need for stable government, and;
- the maintenance of a constituency link
The Commission recommended a voting system termed "AV+". This is a system designed to permit single-party majority government in circumstances where one party has a high share of the vote, a decisive margin over its opponent or a high level of general consent as implied through preference transfers. The parameters chosen by Jenkins were designed with this in mind. In this respect AV+ is no different from AMS.
AV+ is essentially a version of the Additional Member System (AMS), but with AV instead of FPTP used in the constituency vote. Voters get two votes - the first is a ranked choice (AV) for a constituency MP and the second is by open party list for "top-up" MPs. It leads to a mix of seats as in AMS.
Jenkins recommended a system in which 80-85% of parliamentary seats would be elected by AV, with the remainder elected from party lists; the party lists would be ‘semi-open’, giving voters additional choice.
The AV+ system as proposed by the Jenkins Commission has been criticised on the grounds that this would not provide a sufficient degree of proportionality. However, AV+ could equally well be used with any other ratio of constituency to regional seats and would have equivalent proportionality to AMS.
Where is this system used? This system has not been used anywhere in the world so remains untested.
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