[spoonman]

I recall conducting STV counts during my university days.
Tedious in the extreme with all the fractional transfers, and having to explains the system time after time to the many different candidates.

The D'Hondt system is remarkably elegant by comparison - though it makes no attempt to be truly proportional.
I could see it getting used to allocate points for stuff like Scrabble tournaments.

STV counts might be a bit tedious, but it means that there is effectively no wasted vote on any candidate unless the vote becomes exhausted or untransferrable in further counts in the process.

In NI all STV counts use fractional transfers to redistribute surpluses. Down south, fractional transfers are only done AFAIK for local elections where the number of ballot papers involved make it more bearable, but in General and EU elections a surplus is distributed by taking all of the ballots that indicated their highest preference for the candidate at the time they were elected, randomise them and then pick out "blind" the number of ballot papers equal to the surplus to be transferred. Whilst not as accurate as fractional transferring, it is a quicker process and it means that all transfers are done in integers.

Personally I'd consider counts for FPTP & D'Hondt to be equivalent to a quick fumble in the back seat of Ford Fiesta, while STV counts are more like a night of passion in a 4 star hotel with plenty of foreplay.

[Big Arnold]

Last night’s election results will turn into an unprecedented nightmare for the European Union’s elite, according to polling guru Sir John Curtice. The clear triumph of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which topped the polls with 32 percent, could spell huge danger for Brussels. The Brexit Party was the clear winner in the European elections, with the pro-EU Lib Dems coming second

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/11325 ... e-Brussels

Things would be very different if there were MEPs from other EU countries.

[spoonman]

Count number four in NI with the DUP surplus transferred...

Quota: 143,112

Sinn Fein 128,200.5 (+10.5)
DUP 143,112 (-12,310)
Alliance 123,917 (+1,654)
SDLP 82,413.5 (+312.5)
TUV 89,854 (+10,314)

As expected the bulk of the surplus went to the TUV and this means that Colum Eastwood is now eliminated with his votes now due to be transferred. These transfers should expect both Alliance and Sinn Fein will cross the quota at count five leaving all seats filled and the counting over.

[WTF?]

[Things would be very different if there were MEPs from other EU countries.

Fog in Channel, Express completely blind.

[Bones McCoy]

Off of the BBCs:

[Bones McCoy]

I recall conducting STV counts during my university days.
Tedious in the extreme with all the fractional transfers, and having to explains the system time after time to the many different candidates.

The D'Hondt system is remarkably elegant by comparison - though it makes no attempt to be truly proportional.
I could see it getting used to allocate points for stuff like Scrabble tournaments.

STV counts might be a bit tedious, but it means that there is effectively no wasted vote on any candidate unless the vote becomes exhausted or untransferrable in further counts in the process.

In NI all STV counts use fractional transfers to redistribute surpluses. Down south, fractional transfers are only done AFAIK for local elections where the number of ballot papers involved make it more bearable, but in General and EU elections a surplus is distributed by taking all of the ballots that indicated their highest preference for the candidate at the time they were elected, randomise them and then pick out "blind" the number of ballot papers equal to the surplus to be transferred. Whilst not as accurate as fractional transferring, it is a quicker process and it means that all transfers are done in integers.

Personally I'd consider counts for FPTP & D'Hondt to be equivalent to a quick fumble in the back seat of Ford Fiesta, while STV counts are more like a night of passion in a 4 star hotel with plenty of foreplay.

The horror of it comes flooding back.
"Let's eliminate the bottom three"
"We can't because if the bottom two ALL transferred to l third last, they might just leapfrog 4th last".

The other quote I remember was:
"In a couple of years, they'll be doing all this on a computer".

[WTF?]

YES!

In these dark days I'm willing to call this a win. Fargle, along with his Tory cohorts, can command no more than 35% of the electorate. There's only one way this wind's blowin' and we're going to get a second referendum yet. Then we can exact our revenge.

Revenge too strong? OK. Unlike Fargle and Theresa I'm ready to compromise. I'll settle for a second referendum, repair some bridges with our EU siblings, re-enfranchise three million of our fellow Britons across the EU and two million of our fellow EU citizens here in the UK and then we can address the issues facing four million UK kids who are standing on the brink of poverty thanks to these Tory bastards.

I'm off to crack open a bottle and I suggest you ravers do the same. This is a good day for us. Those kipper cunts are fond of a WWII analogy. Fine! This is our El Alamein moment. It's not the end, it's not even the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning and we are on the front foot. Might I humbly suggest that we stick that front foot right up their facist arses just like our grandfathers did.

For your amusment, here's a crazy bus stop bag lady insisting on an invitation to negotiations which have already concluded...

Ha!

And while we're discussing the performance arts might I recommend Red Arrer's dirty dentist at your local theatre. The heartbreak and the pain is second only to the emotion brought on by an extraction without the benefit of an anaeshtetic. Glorious!

[Zuriblue]

I think this sums it up quite well

[Watchman]

My understanding is, that once all the MEP's from the 27 +UK arrive they basically form into self-aligned groupings that are representative of their political standpoint. And I also have the view that those MEP's in the 27 who are loosely termed "populist" are termed such basically due to their anti-immigrant stance, yet maintain a more pragmatic view about what the EU can do for them in terms of funding and trade deals. But I don't see how that would relish having to spend time with a group who are there simply to act the twat, and be gone in October, apart from supporting them in a bit of muzzie bashing

[Big Arnold]

Now Tony Blair (the man whose 'dodgy dossier' took us into the Iraq war) returns to insist Remain votes DO add up to a majority in Euro elections and claims Labour must back a second referendum

Dunno mate, Sussex, United Kingdom, moments ago

This is really boiling the Mail's pìss, isn't it? Yes, the Brexit Party won more seats, but if it had been a referendum, the figures show that more people voted for Remain parties than Leave ones.

+0
—8

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... tions.html

[youngian]

YES!

In these dark days I'm willing to call this a win. Fargle, along with his Tory cohorts, can command no more than 35% of the electorate. There's only one way this wind's blowin' and we're going to get a second referendum yet. Then we can exact our revenge.

It told us what we knew in 2016 that only a third of the electorate would go to the nail on Brexit and a third who were always in. It was always about swaying the remaining third and this election didn't tell us much about them.

[mattomac]

Last night’s election results will turn into an unprecedented nightmare for the European Union’s elite, according to polling guru Sir John Curtice. The clear triumph of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which topped the polls with 32 percent, could spell huge danger for Brussels. The Brexit Party was the clear winner in the European elections, with the pro-EU Lib Dems coming second

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/11325 ... e-Brussels

Things would be very different if there were MEPs from other EU countries.

Anyone know what Curtice actually said, as I note none of that quote is actually marked out as a quote.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I make Brexit-Tory-UKIP 41%
Plaid-Lib Dem-Green-Change got 34%.
Labour on 23%.

I reckon Remain is very competitive in a referendum. Hanretty had Leave on 54% in 2016 in Neath.

[youngian]

Handy guide to NI’s STV preference votes. Noticeable that the AP took more SDLP second preferences than SF.