Campaign group Make Votes Count in West Sussex pushing for change to voting system ahead of council elections

Every part of the county apart from Adur will get to have their say on council elections on Thursday May 4.

Arun, Chichester Horsham, Mid Sussex districts have all out elections this year, while Crawley and Worthing have some seats up for grabs.

But Make Votes Count in West Sussex argues the current system is unfair, pointing out that last time around the Conservatives were overrepresented in Adur, the Lib Dems were overrepresented in Arun and Labour were overrepresented in Crawley.

In Adur in 2022, the Conservatives took 50 per cent of the seats for only 39 per cent of the votes.

In Arun in 2019, the Conservatives took 39 per cent of the seats for 35 per cent of the votes, which was only a little disproportionate, but the Liberal Democrats with fewer votes than the Conservatives (29 per cent) had more seats.

Over in Crawley, in 2019, Labour took 50 per cent of the seats for only 37 per cent of the votes.

A spokesman for the group, which campaigns for a fair voting system by proportional representation, said: “It must be tempting for beneficiaries of this system to defend it but, as we can see just looking at West Sussex, supporters of ALL parties are left underrepresented in some areas. We hope that councillors of all parties will call for a change to a fairer voting system after the elections. Make Votes Count In West Sussex encourages residents to write to their candidates to make their views known.”