Negative vote

A year ago,when Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg entered a coalition agreement with the Conservatives,he was riding a LibDem boom that took advantage of the UKs first hung parliament since 1974 and also the changed nature of the British electorate,where class and ideology had made for a greater fluidity of votes. Top on Cleggs agenda was electoral reform. The first-past-the-post system was a long-time Labour and LibDem concern,arguing for a juster process that negated seats-votes-population disparities. Clegg had made commitment to his blueprint for proportional representation mandatory for his support.

In the end,short of Cleggs original radicality,the Coalition agreed on a referendum on the Alternative Vote AV,where the voter would list candidates in order of her preference. In the absence of anybody securing 50 per cent of the vote,the second preference vote of the candidate who comes last would be counted till one candidate got at least half the votes. The argument for the AV was that it would be a fairer reflection of all voters wishes. The counter-argument,which didnt necessarily deny the mismatch between parliamentary power and political reality,was equally strong,so much so that even the LibDems have been wary of too proportional a system. After all,theres always the example of unworkable Dutch politics and that of constituency-less Israel.

A year from his momentous May,Clegg stands diminished and his party near-vanquished. That an overwhelming majority of British voters 67.9 per cent rejected the AV,demonstrates that the reform proposals hadnt convinced them. And the dimensions of this rejection perhaps disconnects the AV from the LibDems other woes of losing around 700 councillors in English local elections and a hammering in Scotland. Clegg is not ending the Westminster system from within. For now,PM David Camerons successful No campaign has shown whos boss.