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| You are here: Home > Features > Electoral Reform Movement in Canada |
Options for Electoral Reform in Canada?
Choices for governments
range from maintaining the status quo to implementing pure proportional
representation.
This section provides a brief overview of some of the alternatives
to the first past the post system.
Proportional Representation
There are many variations among proportional representation (PR)
systems, particularly with respect to how voters fill out the
ballots and how seats are allocated. However, the main features
of this type of electoral system are as follows:
- PR is more about the distribution of seats among political
parties, rather than electing individuals to the legislature.
- Its goal is to ensure the makeup of the legislature accurately
reflects the percentage of votes received by each political
party.
- It uses ‘multi-member districts,’ with more than
one member being elected in each riding district. The exact
number of members can vary from district to district, depending
upon factors including population and geographical size.
- Under PR the size of each district can vary significantly.
- Seats are allocated based on a mathematical formula.
- In most systems, political parties need to obtain a minimum
number of votes, called a threshold, in order to elect
members to the legislature.
Types of Proportional Representation:
Party Lists, the Single Transferable Vote (STV)
The system most commonly used to achieve proportional representation
is the party list system. The two types of lists used are the ‘open
list’ and the ‘closed list.’ In both the open
and closed list systems, the names of each political party and
the candidates they are running are listed. The main difference
between the two is that, under an open list, voters can select
individual candidates within the party. There are several methods
of doing this, from asking voters to cast one vote for a specific
candidate within a party, to asking them to rank the candidates
within a party in order of preference. Under a closed list, the
voter selects a political party, and the candidates are elected
in the order in which they appear on the list. Under this system,
the voter has no opportunity to mark the ballot for a specific
candidate. The advantage of the closed list is that it allows
the political party to manipulate the list to ensure more women
and/or minorities are selected. In either case, in each riding
district votes are counted for individual parties, not individual
candidates.
Another method used to achieve proportional representation is the
single transferable vote (STV). Used in the Republic of Ireland
since 1922, this system achieves proportionality by having voters
rank their preferences among individual candidates, rather than
political parties. Voters receive one ballot, and rank the candidates
in the voter’s order of preference by placing a number
beside each; “1” for their favorite candidate, “2” for
their second favorite, etc. The quota, or number of votes a candidate
needs to be elected, is set ahead of time and can vary. Once
a candidate receives enough first preference votes to be elected,
s/he does not receive any additional votes. Instead, the second
preference votes on the ballot are counted and distributed. Similarly,
if a candidate receives too few votes to be elected, that candidate
is dropped from the list and the second preference votes on the
ballot are used. This process continues until all of the district
seats have been filled.
The main advantage of the single transferable vote is that it gives
voters a method of proportional representation that allows each
voter to select individual candidates, instead of political parties.
Since there is no such thing as a ‘safe seat’ in
STV systems, party discipline is very weak.
Mixed Member Proportional
Sometimes called ‘the best of both worlds,’ mixed member
proportional (MMP) is a increasingly popular means of applying
proportionality to the first past the post system. Under most
MMP systems, voters cast two ballots (voters may actually be
given two separate ballots, or one ballot with two areas to mark).
The first ballot is for a specific candidate, and the second
is for a political party. The winning candidate on the first
ballot is chosen based on first past the post; whichever candidate
obtains the most votes wins. The second ballot is designed to
take care of any discrepancies in representation as a result
of the first vote. For example, if a party received 40 percent
of the popular vote, but won only 20 out of 100 district seats,
it would be given an additional 20 seats for a total of 40. Like
most PR systems, political parties need to receive a minimum
percentage of votes (usually five percent) to receive seats in
the legislature.
The mixed member proportional system creates two types of members
in the legislature: those who are responsible to the electorate
in a specific geographic district (“district MPs”),
and those who owe their position to the political party (“list
MPs”). The advantage of mixed member proportional: it provides
voters with local representation, and, at the same time, corrects
any major discrepancies between the percentage of votes a party
receives and the percentage of seats it wins (the problem that
is viewed by some as plaguing the FPTP system). It is used in
New Zealand, where, in the upcoming 2005 election, 69 MPs will
be elected from district constituencies, and 51 will be elected
from party lists. It’s also used in the German Bundestrat
(Parliament), where one-half of the 600 members are elected in
single member districts, with the remainder being elected through
the party list system using regional lists.
The type of regional mixed member proportional system used in the
Bundestrat (and also in Scotland and Wales ) is the one being
considered by many Canadian provinces currently exploring electoral
reform. Under this model, the list MPs would represent specific
regions made up of a group of ridings.
For examples of open list, closed list, single transferable vote
and mixed member proportional ballots, see the Accurate
Democracy web site
Alternative Vote
The alternative vote (AV) is not a proportional system. Like SMP,
it elects single members to represent districts. Under AV, voters
are required to rank the candidates in their order of preference.
If no candidate receives a majority of votes on the first ballot,
the candidate with the least number of votes is dropped from
the list; the voters’ second-place choices are then considered.
This process continues until one of the candidates receives a
majority of votes.
Like FPTP, the alternative vote is designed to elect individual
candidates to the legislature. The main difference between the
first past the post system and the alternative vote is that the
alternative vote gives the winner a clear majority (50 percent
plus one) instead of a relative majority (more votes than any
other candidate).
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