A national referendum was being held in Britain Thursday on replacing the country's traditional voting system to elect parliamentarians, as dap reported. The vote on the so-called first-past-the-post (FPTP) system is Britain's first referendum since 1975, when citizens were asked to give their opinion on membership of the European Union (EU) - then known as the European Community. This time, Britons are asked whether they want to replace FPTP by the Alternative Vote (AV), a method under which electoral candidates are ranked by preference, and votes are redistributed under a system of elimination. The referendum has seen the two coalition government parties - the Conservatives and the Liberals - campaign on opposing sides. The Conservatives, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, reject AV, whereas the Liberal Democrats have initiated the referendum. In addition , regional and local elections are also taking place in large parts of England, as well as in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Results will not be known until Friday.
