Post by Admin on Oct 22, 2017 20:50:53 GMT
The Electoral System sets the stage for the Legislature:
1. First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) is our current system there is NO QUOTA of voter support a Candidate needs to be elected. The elected Candidate only needs to have MORE VOTES than any other Candidate. The fact that there is no quota of support produces a wide variation of support. A few Candidates are elected with less than 30% voter support, some are elected with 50%+, most are elected with between 30 - 40% support.
With such a wide variation of support means that the Majority of MLAs (MPs) are actually representing a MINORITY OF VOTERS. The votes' of the MAJORITY are too often WASTED VOTES. This produces a Legislature or Parliament that is only able to represent the MINORITY OF THE ELECTORATE. This is at the expense of the Majority of the Electorate.
Our Electoral System is the FOUNDATION of any Democracy. How we elect our Representative will decide what type of VOICE the Electorate will have in our Legislature or Parliament. Is it democratic to have the majority of voices MUFFLED when the majority of votes are wasted or ignore? In such a system the VOICE of the Electorate in the Legislature is WEAK and easily manipulated.
With the Government representing a MINORITY of the Electorate,
it makes having an accountable Government difficult.
This lack of accountability means the Government can dictate with limited restrictions.
it makes having an accountable Government difficult.
This lack of accountability means the Government can dictate with limited restrictions.
2. Proportional Representation (PR) in ALL its many forms focuses on Party-Proportionality. The Majority of the Electorate is more represented, but greatly divided into many small groups (Parties). This division of the Electorate results in Minority Governments more often than not. This puts the Parties in a position to LOBBY each other to try and form a WORKING GOVERNMENT. PR requires “backroom” deals in order to form allies with other Parties to form Government. When these “backroom” deals fail we have a NON-WORKING GOVERNMENT.
Most countries in Europe have some form of PR. We have seen the chaos that having many small Parties in government can have. Belgium holds the record of 500 days without a working government in 2010 - 2011. Spain in 2016 went 9 months without a working government. Greece and Italy both have a history of having months without a working government. There are many more such examples.
Germany (MMP) had elections in the fall of 2017 and went 6 months without a working government as the Parties Lobbied each other to form the government. The Constituencies (Local) elected a total of 299 Representatives, the Parties were assigned a total of 410 Representatives for a total of 709 Representatives in the German Parliament. The PARTIES have total CONTROL of the Parliament!
The German Lobbying process took 6 months to reach a coalition. The largest Party is (CDU) and only had a combination (CDU -200 seats & CSU -46 seats) of 246 seats but need 355 for a majority and to form the next government. The second largest Part is (SPD -153 seats) and did NOT want to form a coalition with the CDU as the SPD wanted to form the Official Opposition Voice. This meant that the CDU had to LOBBY the fourth (FDP -80 seats) and sixth (Greens -67 seats) largest Parties for a 3 Party Coalition. The fourth largest Party (FDP) refused. This meant that the CDU and the SPD had to reach an agreement or force another election. The PRICE was the SDP demanded to have 6 Cabinet positions in the New Coalition.
[The Parties are NOT COOPERATING but are SELLING their support for POWER in the government]
Germany's Official Opposition Status; With the SPD giving up the Official Opposition Status in order to form the Coalition Government the third largest Party (AfD -94 seats) forms the Official Opposition. The AfD is the extreme Nationalist Party (pro-Nazi) and now has a official stage to gather more support. This stage is what SPD wanted as it gives them a independent voice. With the SPD forming the Coalition they sacrifice their independent voice.
This environment of the German Parliament will make for a very interesting next General Election.
This division of the Electorate turns the many Parties into "Lobbyists" and creates a fertile environment for "Corporate Lobbyists" to flourish. This division also makes it almost impossible to make the Candidate or Party ACCOUNTABLE. This division of the Electorate also encourages the use of Negative-Campaigns with Attack-Ads in the Party's election campaigns to try and divide the Electorate even more.
The question becomes - Do we want a Government based on Lobbyist techniques, a government that is NOT accountable, more of the Negative-Campaigns with little to no substance to them? This is what Proportional Representation gives us with the sound-bite - "30% of the votes = 30% of the seats" - nice sound-bite until we look deeper.
Proportional Representation produces the Majority of Voters represented in the Legislature.
However, the Legislature is divided into many small Voices with their own priorities,
the VOICE of the Electorate is weak and splintered!
- the Legislature is divided and unable to focus on anything and being divided the Legislature is easily manipulated by Lobbyists .
However, the Legislature is divided into many small Voices with their own priorities,
the VOICE of the Electorate is weak and splintered!
- the Legislature is divided and unable to focus on anything and being divided the Legislature is easily manipulated by Lobbyists .
3. Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) does the opposite of both FPTP and PR:
IRV unites the Voice of the Electorate. IRV requires that each MLA or MP has the MAJORITY of voter support of their Riding. The Riding’s Popular Vote is well represented.
With this requirement the MLA or MP and their associated Party is much more Accountable to the Electorate. The next election the Majority support may not be there. A majority of support is difficult to achieve BUT easy to loose and this makes the MLA much more accountable to the Electorate, not the Party.
With the need for the Majority of support the election campaigns need to have much more SUBSTANCE to them. Negative-Campaigns are much more able to backfire on the candidate/party. If the candidate is not the Voter’s 1st choice, they want to be the Voter’s 2nd or 3rd choice. Persuading a Voter to make the candidate their 1st choice requires more substance to why the candidate should be their 1st choice. In order for the candidate/party to stay high in the voter's ranking both need to actually LISTEN and RESPOND to the Voter.
IRV produces Majority Governments more often than not. However, the Majority Governments are a lot more accountable to the Electorate. The Majority Government needs to LISTEN to the Electorate in order to maintain their Majority support in the next general election. These make the Government much more accountable to their campaign promises or lose their support.
IRV unites the Voice of the Electorate, the Electorate has a strong and clear voice in the Legislature.
IRV creates a productive, responsible and responsive Government!
This is how Electoral Systems affects the operation of our Government.
Electoral Systems is not just about how we vote, but more on how our Government operates or not.
Electoral Systems is not just about how we vote, but more on how our Government operates or not.
