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Keir Starmer says a 3 way referendum - No Deal, May, Remain is too risky as No Deal might win. So he wants the latter two. Gina Miller wants all three as it would stop the Brexiters calling foul.

Wouldn't the latter be also good decause the non-remain vote would be split, increasing the chances of Remain winning?

I'm sure that calculation has also been made by all concerned. It'll be interesting to see what happens if a 2nd referendum comes closer, Brexiters will be pushing for a referendum without more than 2 choices..... but which two? It's hell for them, no wonder they're so keen not to have a second ref.

Generally a referendum will never occur with three options on the paper and the top one winning.

I'm unaware of any electoral system that uses that form of referendum. A couple of years back, I read a terribly dull and dense book about the evolution of electoral systems... turns out the majority of the different voting systems / democratic processes were developed in European monasteries in the Middle Ages who saw the ability to achieve "perfect representation" when choosing internal positions as getting "closer to God".

Actually fairly fascinating stuff... but tough to write an engaging book on!

All of which is a tangential way of saying that a referendum with more than two options is almost certain to be run in two stages.


EITHER it will be Option A:
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Referendum 1: "Leave or Remain".

If "Remain" -> done.

If "Leave" -> a second referendum "Deal or No Deal"


OR MORE LIKELY it will be Option B:
=========================================
Referendum 1: "3, 4 (or more) options"

Referendum 2: run off between the top two.

Option B is by far the most common way - globally - to deal with a referendum with 3+ options. But Option A is used occasionally.

We shall see...

The other big question if a second referendum were called is who gets to vote this time?

- 16-17 year olds (as per Scottish indie ref)
- EU Citizens living in the UK
- UK citizens living in the EU

All of these are up for (hotly disputed) discussion.