Campaigners in the No2AV group – who want to keep the first past the post system – demanded that the Electoral Reform Society stop its backing for the Yes vote in order to protect “the integrity of the British electoral system”. Jenny Watson, the chairman of the Electoral Commission, was urged to intervene. The No2AV campaign said that the Electoral Reform Society is one of the biggest donors to the Yes campaign, providing seconded staff and up to £2.5 million in funding. It also owns a subsidiary company – Electoral Reform Services Ltd — which is administering postal ballots for the referendum. Matthew Elliott, the campaign director of No2AV, said that next month’s referendum will be the first time that a campaign group will be both printing ballot papers and observing the return of ballots. He claimed “insider knowledge” would allow the Yes campaign to know who had voted in a postal vote days before the polls close. No2AV said that because the Yes campaign owns the business that is printing and distributing ballot papers, it can link what ballot paper comes from what voter. This potentially gives the Yes campaign an advantage by allowing them to narrow down the list of people they still need to encourage to vote, it said. In a letter to Katie Ghose, the chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society and a director of the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign, Mr Elliott said: “The subsidiaries of the Electoral Reform Society are too closely intertwined with the referendum process for them to be removed at this late a stage. For the sake of the integrity of the British electoral system, I urge you to withdraw both yourself and your organisation from the Yes to AV campaign forthwith.” In a letter to Miss Watson, the chairman of the Electoral Commission and the chief counting officer at the referendum, he said: “You should be prepared to intervene to uphold the integrity of the first UK-wide referendum of modern times.” Last night, Ashley Dé, from the Electoral Reform Society, said: “The only people counting ballots in this referendum will be local staff organised and overseen by local authorities. “This is another unwelcome distraction from a No campaign that has absolutely no defence for first past the post.”Pro-AV group accused of conflict of interest
The body that will help count the votes in the referendum over electoral reform was
last night accused of having a conflict of interest because its parent company is one
of the biggest donors to the “Yes to AV” campaign.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
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