经济学人下载:英国剧变,英国正在宪法剧变的边缘

Constitutional reform
宪法改革

All change
英国剧变

Britain is on the verge of constitutional upheaval
英国正在宪法剧变的边缘

THIS may seem an odd moment to make the claim, but Britain is a country in the grip of a modernising frenzy. The outside world may see an unvarying kingdom of royal weddings, golden carriages and clip-clopping Horse Guards, with a young prime minister drawn from the old Establishment. But strip away the pageantry, and David Cameron’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition is proposing radical changes to the constitutional order.

现在似乎还不是下结论的时候，但是英国正受到对现代化的狂热情绪支配。在国外人看来这个王国并无变化：皇室婚礼、黄金马车、马蹄得得的皇家骑卫队以及正当权的年轻首相。但是在这华丽的虚饰下，大卫??卡梅隆的保守党、工党、自民党联合政府正提议彻底改革宪法。

A national referendum on May 5th and months of parliamentary wrangling lie ahead. But if all the changes being proposed by the coalition come to fruition, British democracy could look and feel very different by the next general election, set by the coalition for May 2015.

5月5日全国范围的公民投票后是长达数月的议会辩论。如果所有联合政府提出的改革都得到成效，下一次联合政府举行大选时（2015年5月）英国的民主会让人们看到、体会到很大的不同。

Depending on the outcome of the referendum, that general election may be held using a new voting system: supporters of change call it the biggest shake-up since votes for women in 1928. Voters are to be asked to choose between keeping the winner-takes-all system of first-past-the-post (FPTP) and moving to the alternative-vote (AV) method, in which voters rank candidates in numbered order of preference. Under AV, if no candidate wins more than 50% of voters’ first preferences, the least popular candidate is eliminated and the second preferences of those who voted for him are distributed. The process continues, redistributing third, fourth or lower preferences until someone crosses the 50% line.

公投的结果将决定大选是否会采取新的投票体制：改革支持者称之为继1928年妇女获得投票权后最大的改革.投票人将选择是保留赢者通吃的简单多数制（FPTP）还是改为排序投票制（AV），后者框架下投票人根据喜好对候选人排序，如果没有候选人获得超过半数的首选，得票最少的候选人将被淘汰，其选票划入排在第二位的候选人名下。以此类推，经过对排在第三位、第四位甚至更靠后的候选人选票重新划分直到有人的得票超过半数。