Campaigners for proportional representation claim the voting system makes Parliament unrepresentative. Chris baker reports on the calls for voting reform.

It may be another American idea doing rather well over here but vote swapping by email, in a less clear cut election than this one, could decide who goes to Downing Street.

More than 3,000 voters in Labour and Lib Dem marginal seats have so far swapped votes in a bid to defeat Tory candidates via the internet-based organisation tacticalvoter.net It is a tiny fraction of the 30 million people likely to go to the polls on June 7 but when the 1992 General Election was swung by as few as 1,000 voters in a handful of South-East marginal seats the potential is clear.

One Sussex voter who has arranged to swap is Chris Horton, managing director of Glynde engineering company Caburn-MDC.

He will vote Lib Dem in Lewes, while his email partner votes Labour in a Tory-held marginal in the North. He said: "The beauty of the tactical vote pairing, if you like, it does allow maximum impact for your vote.

"In principle I support proportional representation and I am disappointed that the Labour Party seems to have gone very cold on the idea since they grasped power."

A fellow Lewes vote-swapper is student Victoria Swain, of South Chailey, who wants to vote Labour but will vote Lib Dem at home.

Her Lib Dem supporting swap partner will vote Labour at Enfield and Southgate, the scene of Michael Portillo's demise after a tactical voting campaign in 1997.

She said: "First past the post means a lot of votes are wasted. The number of safe seats is increasing and I suppose it is a way of giving a voice to voters who would normally have no chance to effect anything."

Underlying the popularity of tactical voting is the current first-past-the-post system, easy to understand but one that allows politicians to concentrate on a handful of marginal seats and many voters feeling left out.

Electoral reform, replacing first-past-the- post with proportional representation (PR), was one of the key themes of meetings this week up and down the country, organised by the democratic reform pressure group Charter 88.

The voting system recommended by the Jenkins' Commission on electoral reform in late 1998 was AV-plus, backed by Charter 88 as the minimum improvement although it would prefer a purer form of PR.

Lawrence Hall, who organised the Brighton and Hove meeting, said first-past-the-post was unrepresentative, unfair and removed choice.

He said: "The principle idea of PR is that each vote counts and at the moment in a general election it is only a few votes in marginal constituencies that count.

"Parties only have to concentrate on the marginal constituencies, on those 1,000 people, which is grossly unfair."

Using AV-plus, voters would list their preferences in order with each candidate needing a majority of popular support to be elected - either on first choice votes or, if necessary, taking into account second and subsequent preferences.

Each constituency would be represented by a single MP. The plus part of AV-plus is a regional top-up, designed to give smaller parties representation.

Had AV-plus been used in the 1997 General Election the number of MPs for each of the three main parties would have stood at (actual number of MPs elected in brackets): Labour 367 (419); Conservative 167 (165); Lib Dem 92 (46).

Labour, which set-up the Jenkins' Commission, promised a referendum in its 1997 manifesto; this time round there is no firm commitment to reform. The Conservatives shun reform and want to keep first-past-the-post.

The Lib Dems are traditionally the most ardent supporters of PR, which would have transformed their 1997 result.

Chris Berry, Lib Dem challenger in Eastbourne, the party's ninth most winnable seat, was one of Charter 88's original signatories 13 years ago. He is a staunch supporter of reform and a likely beneficiary of email vote swapping.

He said: "What is happening at the moment is people feel disenfranchised and frustrated. I would say PR was crucial to the health of our democracy. It is as important as that."

The Lib Dems favour a purer form of PR than AV-plus, the single transferable vote, which would entail large multi-member constituencies as large, in some cases, as East Sussex.

Among smaller parties, yet to be represented at Westminster, the urge for reform is equally as strong.

Bill North, of the Socialist Alliance, which is fielding candidates in Hove and Crawley, said: "First past the post gives a big advantage to the major parties, whereas PR does mean minority parties get a chance at it."

Keith Taylor, standing in Brighton Pavilion for the Green Party, said when elections had been held using PR, such as the European Parliament and the Greater London Assembly, Greens were represented.

He said: "We have a situation in Brighton Pavilion where 20 per cent of the people who voted at the last local election for the Greens don't have a national voice.

"That has got to be wrong. No wonder people are apathetic."