Schedule 10: The alternative vote system: further amendments Part 3: Amendments of other enactments
150.Paragraph 23 makes a consequential amendment to the definition of “qualifying party” which is used in the provisions inserted in the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 by section 12 of and Schedule 11 to the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011. Those provisions provide for public hearings about Boundary Commission proposals. The amendment specifies that in the event that the alternative vote system is implemented, where share of the vote in the most recent parliamentary general election is used to determine whether a party is a ‘qualifying party’, this would be done with reference to the percentage of first preference votes received by the party at that election.
151.Paragraph 24 amends section 3A of the 2000 Act concerning the four Electoral Commissioners put forward by registered parties and makes provision for determining the size of two registered parties with the same number of MPs under the alternative vote system. Currently, the relative size of any two or more parties is determined by the number of MPs each party has – if they each have the same number, the party that secured the most votes at the most recent general election is deemed to be the larger party. The amendment provides that this will be determined in accordance with the total number of first preference votes cast for candidates standing for the party at the most recent general election.