Greece vote

Whatever one might think about the problems that Greece faces at the moment just consider how their government was formed.  In the Greek state elections of January 2015 Syriza won 36% of the vote and gained the largest number of seat at 99.  To gain a majority it would need 125 seats. It was 26 seats short.  It formed a coalition with Azel party with 13 seats making 112 seat -still short of a majority.  However, in Greece the winning party is given a bonus of 50 seats and therefore Syriza was able to form an administration based on 162 coalition seats (majority required 150 seats).   This means that Syriza had a majority over its opposition of 24 seats. So a coalition with 41% of the vote runs the country. Bonus for Britain What if we applied the Greek bonus here.  Like Syriza in Greece, the Conservative party gained 36% of the popular vote.  It won 330 seats   This is a majority but a slim one of 18. If we add the Greek bonus (as proportion of our own parliament) then the Conservative party would now have a extra 130 seats totaling 460. Providing an administration with a majority of 140 seats.  With such a majority the Conservative party would be on a completely different tack than they are today. Election systems make a huge difference to the outcome.  Although our system might not be as odd as the Greek one, it still  produces weird results and in the case of 2015 dangerously divorced from what people actually voted for.