The " No to AV, Yes to PR", is backed by former SDP leader Lord Owen.
Former cabinet minister Lord Owen predicted that the rules would leave the NHS "massively changed".
Crossbenchers including Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and Lord Owen lent their support to the amendment.
Make no mistake: Gold, just like Lord Owen or Colonel Gaddafi, is always a political beast.
IR Lord Owen should study the origins of European integration before raising the bogey of federalism (January 24th).
Crossbencher Lord Owen said Lord Marks had "succinctly explained what this bill needs".
So maybe Lord Owen is in the know, with the CIA or Tripoli itself choosing to tip-off the 73-year-old peer.
To some of us, however, Lord Owen's case may still be anathema.
Lord Owen insists that if a referendum campaign ever happens he will be prepared to make common cause with the hardline Tory Eurosceptics.
"He saw, from our point of view, the necessity of dealing with this problem and he put his weight behind it, " Lord Owen said.
So will the Lib Dem rebels vote for Lord Owen's "double scrutiny" - or will they be restrained by the internal dealings of the coalition?
Former Labour foreign secretary Lord Owen said Mr Kennedy had his flaws but he had made a key contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process.
He says that Lord Owen's group will fight on the political front, and that his own group will concentrate on marshalling support in the business world.
Last week I posted about crossbench peers Lord Owen and Lord Hennessey's attempt to send sections of the bill to be scrutinised by a special select committee.
Unfortunately, instead of the condemnatory treatment he deserves, the Serbian dictator has recently won effusive praise from Lord Owen for Milosevic's eleventh-hour embrace of the Vance-Owen plan.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The Moment Of Truth: The US Must Stop Serbian Aggression Now
Whether Lord Owen gets his special select committee to consider aspects of the bill, or not, we can expect a blizzard of amendments to the bill for consideration at committee.
BBC: Parliamentary warfare breaks out in Lords over NHS bill
Introducing his motion, Lord Owen, who founded the Social Democratic Party but now sits as a crossbencher, said it was important to listen to what the tribunal had to say.
Lord Owen said he was supporting a "no" vote in the referendum because AV "can produce wildly disproportionate results, and the second preferences of the least favoured candidate carry the least weight".
Lord Owen argues that the bill is now so fiendishly complicated, and so encrusted with amendments, that some sections of it simply cannot be sorted out by a process of adversarial amendment on the floor of the House.
Lord Owen, a former GP and health minister who led earlier calls for the bill to receive more committee scrutiny, reiterated his views that the bill was "disastrous" and would "utterly change the principles of the National Health Service".
Earl Howe, the junior health minister piloting the bill in the Lords, attempted to negotiate a programme for consideration of the bill with Lord Owen - who, as a crossbencher, was in no position to deliver any kind of agreement.
BBC: Parliamentary warfare breaks out in Lords over NHS bill
Lord Owen does not think the bill should be passed until the House of Lords have had "at the very least" a chance to debate the freedom of information ruling that a document called NHS Transitional Risk Register should be disclosed.
Lord Owen denies this is a cunning attempt to block the bill - arguing that because the parliamentary year will not end until well after Easter, there is plenty of time to have the debate he wants and then for the bill to reach the statute book.
In the latest legal battle, Tim Owen QC, appearing for Hindawi, told Lord Justice Thomas and Mrs Justice Nicola Davies that the justice secretary had been "implacably opposed" to Hindawi's release throughout the parole process.
Lord Clement Jones, a peer close to the party leadership just rejected the Owen amendment.
"I met with Lord Coe who was very receptive and enthusiastic about the idea of the torch visiting Anglesey, " said Mr Owen.
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