SIR – It’s sad that most opponents of the alternate vote and getting rid of our unfair voting system lack some very basic knowledge.

I wrote to correct one correspondent (T&A, April 12) , when Emmerson Walgrove, on the same page, wrote a totally erroneous letter about our voting system which he called “one person, one vote”.

Few countries actually use a first-past-the-post system, which may only produce a majority, (i.e. over 50 per cent) in a two-party system. Most countries have more than two political parties including Germany.

The additional member system was imposed on West Germany after the Second World War by British lawyers. The idea was to create a fair system to keep extremists at bay.

The English Tories introduced the single transferrable vote into Northern Irish local elections to give minorities there a fair voice locally. The Irish don’t find ‘fair votes’ complex or confusing, Mr Walgrove, so why should you?

Councillor John Hall, (Lib Dem, Windhill and Wrose) Pennithorne Avenue, Shipley