Southampton MP calls for weekend voting

12:45pm Wednesday 26th March 2008

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VOTERS should be allowed to cast their ballots at weekends to help encourage a better turnout, Southampton MP Alan Whitehead has said.

Dr Whitehead backed proposals currently under consideration by the Government to scrap a rule which says all General and Local Elections must be held on Thursdays.

The Labour MP told the Commons that relaxing the timing of polls might help boost the "legitimacy" of Parliament, which depended on how and when elections were conducted.

Just 61 per cent of the UK population took part in the 2005 General Election, with turnout in Dr Whitehead's Southampton Test constituency falling to 57 per cent.

Dr Whitehead told the Daily Echo: "One of the most important things is to make sure elections to Parliament and to local authorities are legitimate and we don't end up with very few people going out to vote.

"I strongly believe we should do all we can to enable people to exercise their democratic rights. Too often work and family commitments can make it difficult to get to a polling station on a Thursday. Spreading voting out over a weekend will let more people in Southampton have a say in how their city is run."

The MP said he also backed calls to replace the first-past-the-post voting system with the "alternative vote" system, under which voters' second preferences are recorded and transferred until one candidate has obtained the support of more than 50 per cent of voters. But he said he was against the introduction of compulsory voting like in Australia, where people who do not take part in elections can be fined.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw, responding to Dr Whitehead in the Commons after publishing a draft Bill on constitutional reform, confirmed the Government was "consulting" on weekend voting.

He said: "There is much evidence that if voting takes place over a more extended period, turnout is likely to be higher, all other things being equal. I cannot give you a firm commitment that the measure will be in the Bill when it comes before Parliament in its final form, but we are looking for an early legislative opportunity, if the measure is what the public want."