If Stephen Fisher’s latest GE15 forecast is right LAB could win most seats with just 31.3% of the vote
Latest GE15 forecast from Oxford's @StephenDFisher has CON winning most votes with LAB most seats pic.twitter.com/B8MJIVMc8W
— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) October 18, 2014
CON with 2.7% more votes in the forecast get 7 fewer seats
We’ve been here before and we’ll be here many times in the next six months – the way that on national vote shares at least the “system” seems to favour LAB so much.
The latest from Oxford’s Stephen Fisher is in the panel above which illustrates a scenario that could happen.
This is all because the aggregate national vote shares are irrelevant when determining the outcome. What matters, as I keep on saying, is what happens in the 650 constituency battles each held under first past the post.
The rise of UKIP as a fourth force means that the aggregate LAB+CON vote share could be lower than ever before and many seats could be won with fewer than 30% of the votes. The key driver in most of the key battlegrounds is the relative position of LAB and CON.
Much of the apparent bias in the system is down to much reduced vote shares in Labour’s heartlands where the red team finds it difficult getting its supporters out as we saw in the Heywood by-election. Another driver of the bias is that LAB seats have on average smaller electorates than CON or LD ones.
On top of that there’s the effect of tactical voting which could be higher and more complex than ever before. At previous elections LAB voters have been ready in LD-CON battles to use their vote to stop the Tories thus depressing the national LAB vote share. I don’t rule out at GE15 some LAB switching to CON to stop UKIP in certain seats.
- A LAB “victory” on just 31.3% will surely raise questions about the legitimacy of whatever government emerges.
Ladbrokes are currently offering 3/1 on LAB securing most seats and CON most votes.