UK proposes major change in voting system

The proposals include reducing the size of the House of Commons from 650 to 600,redrawing parliamentary constituencies to 8220;equalise8221; their size,and a fixed five-year term for governments.

This will take away the traditional power of the Prime Minister to decide when to call a general election.

Announcing the plans in the House of Commons,Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg described them as a 8220;hugely significant8221; package of reforms that,he claimed,would see power shift from the executive to legislature and make the Commons more representative of the people.

According to Clegg,because of the variations in the size of constituencies people were not equally represented and the first-past-the-post system was unfair to smaller parties.

The proposed to the Alternative Voting AV system require voters to rank candidates in order of preference.

A candidate getting more than 50 per cent in the first round would be elected.

If no one gets more than 50 per cent in the first round,the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters8217; second choices are allocated to those remaining.

The process would continue until a winner emerges.

Prime Minister David Cameron has said that his party would ask people to vote against it in the referendum,while political reform has been a key plan of the Liberal Democrats.