Compulsory voting and fixed term elections

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): One consequence of the appalling, drawn-out spectacle of the political class getting its knickers in a collective twist as to whether an election should be snapped is that people will want them to be fixed term. It was a mistake of Brown's not to give us a date in two year's time. But without rules how can anyone disguard the opportunity of choosing one's own timing - it is just too tempting? It is also more than tempting not to vote for the lot of them, as increasing numbers are doing, especially younger citizens. At a recent Fabian conference called Democracy Day, Fiona MacTaggert MP set out the case for compulsory voting. An aghast Suzy Dean sent openDemocracy a strong attack on Fiona which you can read here. Fiona has replied with eloquence, facts and draws on her experience as an MP. Read the exchange and comment on it here. I have also done an introduction for oD's global readership, which connects the issues to the dLiberation debate on Europe as well. Do we need some constitutional rules?