Problems with our type of democracy

I AM the owner of three English language dictionaries, all of which state, the meaning of the word Democracy is:

1. Government by the whole people of a country, especially through representatives whom they elect.

2. A country governed in this way. When elected, all these representatives go to a place called Parliament. The three dictionaries state this is an assembly that make the laws of a country. It also states The Parliament of the UK consists of the House of Commons and The House of Lords.

If this is a correct interpretation of things then the British Parliament is only half democratic because the Members of the House of Lords are not elected but appointed by the

Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister. Some Non Party-Political Members are recommended by the House of Lords Appointment Commission.

The other House is called the House of Commons. The members that go there are elected by a voting system called The First Past the Post. This means that in a contest of say four candidates the one with the most votes is the winner, the votes of the other three candidates are discarded. That means that if there are four candidates in a contest That is Candidate A, Candidate B, Candidate C, and Candidate E, and A polls 10,000 votes, B polls 9,000 votes, C polls 8,000 votes, and E polls 7,000 votes then Candidate A is the winner. All the votes of Candidates B,C, and D go in the bin. That means Candidate A polled 10,000 votes and Candidates B,C, and D polled 24,000 votes, and Candidate A is elected. Not only that but Candidate A is now the political representative of all his/ her constituents in the Constituency and also represents the many who did not vote.

So you could have a Tory “elected” Member of Parliament looking after the interests of a communist constituent and vice versa.

Harry Parfitt Tynte, Rhondda Cynon Taf