United Kingdom's first referendum in more than 30 years will be held on May 5 when people will decide whether to abandon the current first-past-the-post voting system in favour of Alternative Vote (AV), a form of Proportional Representation, in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. It is practised only in three countries — Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
The Tories and their partners in the coalition government, the Liberal Democrats, are pitted against each other with the former campaigning against a change and the latter leading the “yes'' camp. The Opposition Labour Party is also deeply divided. It's leader Ed Miliband is backing the “yes'' vote but many of his senior colleagues are supporting the “no'' campaign.
Opinion polls give a significant lead to the “no'' camp and barring a dramatic surge in the closing days of the campaign, the “yes'' campaign looks set to lose. A defeat will be a huge personal blow to the Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who has tried to sell the referendum as a major victory for his party's campaign for more comprehensive electoral reforms. It was one of the major concessions he extracted from the Tories as part of the deal to join the coalition after Labour's defeat in a general election last year.
For the Tory leader and Prime Minister David Cameron, too, a lot is at stake. He agreed to a referendum despite vehement opposition from within his own party and an adverse outcome could make his position vulnerable.
The campaign has been marred by personal attacks with the two sides accusing each other of resorting to “smear'' tactics.
Relations between senior coalition partners, including Mr. Cameron and Mr. Clegg, have come under strain amid speculation that it could have a lasting damaging effect on the unity of the alliance.
The last referendum was held in 1975 over Britain's continued membership of the European Common Market and it was won by the “yes'' camp. Since then, referendums have been held in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and London but not across the United Kingdom.
