[em] PR + DD = Utopia

[New Democracy]

 -------- Forwarded Letter ---------
From: Salva
To: "Colin Stark"
Subject: PR + DD = Utopia
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 00:02:03 +0200

Stark: "You may be our first Spanish Subscriber, Welcome:"

Salva: I'm not Spanish, I'm Catalan and I have a webpage on electoral formulae.
       www.geocities.com/Broadway/Stage/8733/formules.html

     On my webpage I talk about the Hont law, Sainte-Laguë, Hare, Droop and
Imperiali formulae. The problem is that it is written in Catalan. I'm sorry
guys, my purpose is to inform the blind Catalan population that they are
not governed under proportional representation(PR) as they think. And also
I wish to exert pressure on the Catalan government to change its electoral
formulae, the Hont law, which is the least proportional.

     Although many things need to be changed in the Catalan electoral
system, the main change needed is a change in the four constituencies. This
is the feature that gives the most disproportionality to the election
results. In the last election the fourth party in number of votes got fifth
place in number of seats, and the fifth in number of votes went fourth in
seats due to the constituencies thing. Apart from the Barcelona
constituency, the other three are so small that only parties with 10% of
votes can obtain seats in those constituencies. But even in the Barcelona
constituency, parties need at least 3% of voting to obtain the right to
have a seat. This has left the Green party without representation in the
Barcelona constituency. The Green party would have obtained 2-3 seats if
there was not a legal limit [artificial threshold]. There is a right wing
party that has obtained absolute majority of seats in many elections, but
has never obtained a mandate of an absolute majority of votes.
     Many things need to be changed about what is called proportional
representation.

     About direct democracy: It is forbidden. The Catalan government cannot
call a referendum, even if this was its wish - incredible but true.

Stark: "I would rather see Direct Democracy, where the Government becomes
directly..."

     Well, of course direct democracy(DD) is better than Plurality, but
what is even better is DD+PR. So, you should not only support DD, but also
PR, and within PR you should not support any lessor forms, even if they
still call it PR. You should support the Hare Quota which is the most
proportional formula, and a single election area for the whole country, and
no legal limit to minimum representation [no artificial threshold]. By the
way, currently there is no place in the world that applies these three
conditions (Hare, single election area, no minimum) simultaneously, so PR
is a thing that only exists in literature. Some governments say they use it
to keep the people happy, but nowadays it is purely a theoretical concept,
not applied anywhere. So, representative democracy is a lie and here we are
already pushing for DD. It is a hopeless cause in our lifetime (maybe our
grandchildren will see true PR and their grandchildren DD).

- this is a message of hope from Salva :-)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dear Salva,                           October 26 1998

     I agree that the Hare Quota is the best quota to use.

     I agree that conducting an election in a single area gives the best
proportionality.

     I agree that there should not be any artificial threshold (legal limit).

     You are batting three for three with me - keep up the good work.

     You are a breath of fresh air - please continue to write.

Regards,
Donald Davison


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