Call for AMs to be barred from also being councillors
ASSEMBLY Members should not be allowed to be councillors at the same time, an influential group has argued in a submission to the Welsh Government.
Responding to a public consultation in advance of a Bill, the Electoral Reform Society Cymru (ERS) said: “Given the constraints of the current size of the Assembly, we believe that AMs are currently significantly overstretched.
“As a result of this we would agree that the ability to serve as both an AM and a councillor should be ended.”
Currently South Wales Central AM Neil McEvoy also sits as a member of Cardiff council. He is currently suspended from the Plaid Assembly group after criticising Plaid’s support for a move to end the right of council tenants to buy their homes. However, he remains leader of the three-strong Cardiff council Plaid group.
Other AMs who have previously done the job while remaining councillors include Plaid’s Lindsay Whittle and Lib Dem Peter Black.
In its consultation response, ERS backed the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote system of proportional representation for electing councillors, saying it is fairer than the current First Past The Post (FPTP) system.
The society said it did not support a proposal under which it would be up to councils to choose their own voting system,
The submission said: “Currently FPTP makes for unfair results and strongly monocultural councils.
“Under the current system, those who finish third in terms of share of the vote can go on to win the most seats.
“The starkest example from 2008 was Cardiff, where the Liberal Democrats came first in terms of seats but third in terms of votes.
“June’s general election showed further problems with the current voting system used at both general and local elections in Wales, with a quarter of voters being forced to vote tactically as FPTP failed to make their vote matter.”
Explaining its opposition to letting councils choose their voting system, the society said: “A patchwork of voting systems at local elections level would likely cause confusion, and make educating the public on the system in their area more complex. This is exacerbated by the fact we currently have different voting systems at different elections in Wales already.
“It is undesirable to have different voting systems in a patchwork across 22 councils in Wales. They would provide inconsistency in governance, make for confusion for voters and parties, and would often place the powers over scrutiny with those who have an interest in maintaining the status quo.”
Backing the proposal to reduce the voting age to 16, ERS said: “Evidence from the Scottish independence referendum, substantiated by research from Austria and Norway, shows that, aided by the encouragement of families and schools, 16 and 17 year-olds have higher rates of turnout than 18 to 24 year-olds.
“If young people are registered early and get into the habit of voting, we will see lasting improvements in turnout. If they vote early in life, they keep voting in later life.
“The next generation of voters are the first to have received citizenship education, yet are being denied their full rights as citizens. Giving 16 and 17 year-olds the right to vote would allow a seamless transition from learning about voting, elections and democracy to putting such knowledge into practice.”
ERS also calls for universities and care homes to be able to “block” register residents, backs a single electronic register for Wales to ensure it is as accurate as possible, supports the idea of mobile polling stations to ensure rural access, proposes allowing people to vote at any polling station and suggests a move to weekend voting rather than Thursdays.