The petition for Proportional Representation has finally been scheduled for debate in Parliament, thanks to the work of organisations, parties and 103,495 individuals. Keep reading to find out how we all made it happen.

Tweet or email your MP to ask them to attend the debate on 30th October, listen to the arguments and back Proportional Representation for the UK!

We have a rare opportunity - the kind that might only come once in a generation.

In 2022 - or whenever the next general election takes place - we can wake up to a government set on replacing First Past the Post with a system of Proportional Representation fit for a real democracy.

Or we can wake up to what we’re used to: a government determined to keep Parliament, representation and government out of the hands of the voters.

This is a guest blog by Natalia Waring. Natalia is a Make Votes Matter local group leader from MVM Hereford, she played a key role as a volunteer at our recent #SaveOurDemocracy rally.

The results of the 2015 General Election were appalling – the most unbalanced in history – out of 650 winning candidates, 322 received fewer than 50% which amassed over many constituencies. Such an imbalance can be seen in UKIP’s vote share. They received fewer than 4 million votes but gained one MP. In Northern Ireland, the DUP got 8 seats at over 184,000 votes. Together the key minor parties - Greens, Lib Dems, and UKIP - got just 10 seats.

A week on from our third General Election in seven years, we've taken a detailed look at the results, and their implications for our creaking voting system. What emerges is a picture of a broken system that distorts votes, distorts seats and distorts our politics.

The General Election results are in and - inevitably - they are a democratic outrage. While the vast majority of democracies are governed by parliaments that reflect their voters, the UK will continue to be run by politicians who do not represent the people... for now.

We'll be providing detailed analysis over the next couple of days. In the meantime, see below for some of the headlines - and sign up to attend our demonstration and action summit to plan and bring about the end of First Past the Post on Saturday 24th June - #SaveOurDemocracy.

It's almost over - and together, in very little time, we've built a good overview of where the General Election candidates stand on Proportional Representation.

Huge thanks to Democracy Club, the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, the Electoral Reform Society and thousands upon thousands of you who have emailed, tweeted at and spoken to your Parliamentary candidates to get this data together.

One of the worst effects of Proportional Representation is the way it divides the country up into places where votes matter, and places where they do not.

On the one hand, there are safe seats. There are so many of them that vast electoral deserts now extend across much of the UK - where little campaigning takes place and the outcome is a foregone conclusion. 

With under three weeks to go until polling day, we want to update you about our work in the month since Theresa May called a General Election, and invite you to take part in our plans for the coming weeks...

A large majority of voters agree that seats should match votes, including 73% of Labour voters and 68% of Conservative voters.

Polling conducted by ICM on behalf of Make Votes Matter has identified widespread support for the use of Proportional Representation for UK General Elections across the political spectrum. Here's what it found...

So, the General Election will take place on 8th June. The results will be a democratic outrage. The only question is, what kind of outrage? How many millions will be shut out of Parliament? Who will be handed disproportionate power? How many of us will have had to vote for someone we didn't really want?

We will be campaigning before, during and after the General Election to make sure Proportional Representation is right at the centre of the political debate and we'll do whatever we can to make this the last election held under our broken voting system. And we've already started...

Six months ago, MVM team member Tim Ivorson started a petition to make votes matter on the Parliament website - calling for the introduction of PR for the House of Commons...

Read on to hear how we qualified for a full debate on PR, find out about our upcoming demonstration in support of the petition, and donate to make the demo and ongoing campaign possible!

As the Parliamentary petition for PR passes 90,000 signatures, the London Assembly passed a motion today rejecting an attempt by backbench MPs to dismantle the system of Proportional Representation used to elect its members. The motion, proposed by Sian Berry AM, calls on the Mayor to make representations to the Minister for the Constitution, highlighting the success of Proportional Representation in London.

The Electoral Reform Bill, which passed its First Reading last December, would mean abolishing the currently used Additional Member System and replacing it with First Past the Post - and was widely lambasted by cross-party politicians and campaigners as a "cynical attempt to turn back the clock for party-political gain".

Dear Cabinet Office.

I note your response to petition 168657 (“To make votes matter, adopt Proportional Representation for UK General Elections”), my petition for Proportional Representation (PR).

I am aware from Freedom of Information responses that the Government has neither made nor received any assessment of the continuing suitability of the UK’s electoral system since the 2010 election – meaning that you have not considered the issue since the most disproportionate election in British history, in May 2015.

It is therefore unsurprising that your response is inaccurate on a number of points...

Thank you to everyone who voted in the Democracy Awards 2016. We were delighted to be able to present many of them to the winners in person at our Christmas Party last week.

The awards are, of course, really just a fun way of recognising the work, inspiration and commitment of everyone who has taken action to help get real democracy over the last year. Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to all our nominees, voters, activists & supporters!

The world’s greatest democracy has chosen a new president. After many months and billions of dollars worth of campaigning, the American people participated in one of the biggest democratic processes in history. Over 100 million American voters made up their minds and decisively elected Donald Trump as their leader.

Except this didn’t happen. To watch the rolling new coverage you wouldn’t know it, but the candidate who received the most votes was Hillary Clinton - who ended up with almost three million more votes than Donald Trump.

The vast majority want real democracy. Take these two simple steps to help us turn demand outside Parliament into action inside Parliament! 

The EU referendum has compounded the already urgent need for Proportional Representation in the UK. It isn't just that people felt their votes counted in a referendum that was free of the irrationalities of our normal, arbitrary voting system. It's that the outcome has shone light on the internal contradictions of a ‘representative democracy’ that is fundamentally unrepresentative.