Opposition Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has appealed for an overhaul of British politics, saying he wanted changes to an electoral system that has kept the country’s Labour and Conservative parties in power for generations.
Clegg’s perennially No. 3 party has done spectacularly well in the polls, throwing the British electoral contest wide open in one of the most exciting races in decades, but even with a surge in support, Clegg is still not expected to capture enough seats in Thursday’s election to win a majority in parliament and speculation has centered on who Clegg might choose to form a coalition.
The party leader said his focus was on electoral reform and proceeded to talk up the gulf between himself and Conservative leader David Cameron, who has resisted such change.
“There’s such momentum behind the reforms we’re talking about,” Clegg said during an interview aboard his campaign bus on Saturday as it traveled through southwest England and Wales. “That momentum becomes unstoppable. I personally don’t think that any politician after the election can deny the case for very extensive political reform. I’m amazed David Cameron is choosing to do so.”
Clegg wants a change to Britain’s “first past the post” voting system, in which candidates need the highest number of votes — rather than an absolute majority — to win a seat in parliament. The system has tended to stack the electoral math in favor of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, which enjoys broad support across Britain, at the expense of the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives, whose support is more uneven.
Many analysts have said that Clegg would demand the system be overhauled in return for any help forming a coalition government.
Cameron has dismissed the idea of reform, calling the proportional representation demanded by the Liberal Democrats a “great con” that would lead to coalition governments hammering out policy in back-room deals.
At campaign stops, Clegg urged supporters to vote with their conscience.
“This time we have a once in a generation opportunity,” he said at a shopping mall. “This time vote your heart — vote for the kind of change you want.”
Senior Liberal Democrat lawmaker Vince Cable said his party was devoting all its energy to the election — rather than coalition building.
“There are no behind the scenes talks,” he told the BBC. “I’d be a part of them if there were.”
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