The British voting system, best described as “simple majority voting”, and poorly named “first past the post”, is a travesty.

It is definitely the simplest and the most easy to understand/explain system: everyone chooses a single option, and the one with the most wins. But there it’s advantages end.

In practise, you need to know not only what you are voting for (people, policies) but also how everyone else will vote. Because if there is an option or person that you really want to stop, you have to know who has the best chance of beating them.

This has lead, in the UK, to a large silent, dissatisfied group of “tactical voters”. People who vote for a party not because they like them, but because they dislike them less than the incumbent.

This is a travesty on its own, it is a pair of handcuffs on the voter. But more than that, it is monstrous in the hands of political journalists and parties! We have got into a situation where people accuse each other of “wasting votes,” by voting for the people who are their first choice, rather than the most likely least worst choice.

People must not only listen to the parties to hear their policies, but also to the pollsters to see who is winning, and especially to data about their locality and how it usually votes.

This restriction of political freedom is one of the worst crimes against democracy in the world. Much more insidious than vote rigging – you don’t have to rig things if you’ve convinced people they don’t really have a choice.

Pretty much any other voting system, any which uses a ranking of the candidates rather than a single vote, is better since it allows the algorithm to do the tactical bit for you, once it knows how everyone else voted. You can prioritise proportionality (STV), or a local mandate (AV).

In this general election, make sure you ask your candidates whether they support not only a progressive alliance, but also the abolition of this ridiculous voting system that makes one necessary.