When democracy gives way to shamocracy

The dust is settling on Thursday's elections and it's becoming increasingly obvious that the first past the post system has got to change.

It is absolutely indefensible that 1 in 8 votes went to UKIP yet there will only be one UKIP MP taking the oath of allegiance next week when the SDLP will have three MPs after securing just 2.57% of the number of votes UKIP did and the SNP will have 56 MPs from two and a half times fewer votes.

Party	Votes	%	MPs	Votes per MP
Conservative	11,334,920	36.9%	331	34,244
Labour	9,344,328	30.4%	232	40,277
UKIP	3,881,129	12.6%	1	3,881,129
Lib Dem	2,415,888	7.9%	8	301,986
SNP	1,454,436	4.7%	56	25,972
Green	1,181,694	3.7%	1	1,181,694
DUP	184,260	0.6%	8	23,033
Plaid	181,694	0.6%	3	60,566
UUP	114,935	0.4%	2	57,468
SDLP	99,809	0.3%	3	33,270

If the other parties had to secure as many votes per MP as UKIP did they would still be counting the 2.5bn votes for the foreseeable future but the House of Commons would be pretty empty if their MPs cost the same number of votes as UKIP's did with just 7 MPs sitting on the famous green benches.

Party	UKIP votes needed for MPs	MPs by UKIP votes
Conservative	1,284,653,699.00	3
Labour	900,421,928.00	2
UKIP	3,881,129.00	1
Lib Dem	31,049,032.00	1
SNP	217,343,224.00	0
Green	3,881,129.00	0
DUP	31,049,032.00	0
Plaid	11,643,387.00	0
UUP	7,762,258.00	0
SDLP	11,643,387.00	0

First past the post just isn't working, it is disenfranchising millions of voters. It's hard to calculate how many MPs each of the parties would have got under a system of proportional representation but as a rough guide by allocating MPs by vote share things would have been a little more balanced.

Party	MPs under PR
Conservative	242
Labour	200
UKIP	83
Lib Dem	52
SNP	31
Green	25
DUP	4
Plaid	4
UUP	2
SDLP	2

UKIP should join the Electoral Reform Society's campaign for electoral reform not out of self-interest but the national interest. The electoral system we have now is a sham. It's not democracy, it's a shamocracy. If we are to have a government that represents everybody and not the biggest minority then we need some form of proportional representation.