利物浦，9月29日——英国首相安迪·伯汉姆于周二表示，工党将在下次大选中把修改选举制度作为竞选宣言的承诺，此前他宣布成立一个国家委员会来研究改革。
LIVERPOOL, England, Sept 29 - Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Tuesday the Labour Party will contest the next election with a manifesto commitment to change the electoral system, after he announced he was establishing a national commission to look at reform.
伯汉姆长期以来一直支持英国放弃多数代表制（该制度要求政党在650个议席中赢得至少326个议席才能在议会中获得多数），转而采用比例代表制。
Burnham has long supported Britain ditching its first-past-the-post system, which requires a party to win at least 326 seats out of 650 to secure a majority in parliament, in favour of proportional representation.
他在工党年度会议上表示：“我们将在下次大选中带着修改选举制度的竞选宣言承诺参选。”
"We will contest the next election with a manifesto commitment to change the electoral system," he told the annual Labour Party conference.
下次大选定于2029年举行，伯汉姆表示他将邀请所有政党参与委员会的工作，并为改革寻求跨党派支持。
The next election is due in 2029 and Burnham said he would invite all political parties to take part in the commission's work and seek cross-party backing for reforms.
在批评该国近期的动荡政局（他是10年来的第七位首相）时，他表示当前的制度具有分裂性，因为这意味着一个政党可能仅凭30%或更少的选票就能上台执政。
Criticising the country's recent turbulent politics -- he is the seventh prime minister in 10 years -- he said the current system was divisive because it meant a party could find themselves in government with 30% of the vote or less.
他说：“我想用一种新的政治来巩固我们的英国计划，”并补充说，虽然这些改变将是困难的且不会受到普遍欢迎，但它们是必要的。
"I want to underpin our plan for Britain with a new politics," he said, adding that while the changes would be difficult and not universally liked, they were needed.
5月的地方选举凸显了英国传统两党制的破裂，曾经占主导地位的工党和保守党将选票流失给了右翼的英国改革党、左翼绿党以及苏格兰和威尔士的民族主义者。
Local elections in May underlined the fracturing of Britain's traditional two-party system, with the once-dominant Labour and Conservative parties losing votes to right-wing Reform UK, the left-wing Green Party and nationalists in Scotland and Wales.
在2011年英国举行的一次全民公投中，引入被称为“可选投票制”的偏好投票系统的提议遭到否决。
In a 2011 referendum in Britain, a proposal to bring in a preferential voting system, known as alternative vote, was rejected.