[EM] Idiots and tyrants?

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

For folks who did read the below on the ER list---
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View tables in a monospace font for alignment.

UNITED KINGDOM
HOUSE OF COMMONS
1 MAY 1997 ELECTION

659 Single member districts- Majority 330
    
                         Votes    Pct of Total

659 WIN               16,164,483     51.68
330 LOW WIN            7,015,677     22.43  ***
330 LOW LABOR WIN      7,968,286     25.48  ***
TOTAL VOTES           31,275,702    100.00

*** INDIRECT MINORITY RULE PERCENTAGES

UNOFFICIAL DATA-
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/timb/uk97.htm
(The data only shows the top 3 vote getting candidates in each district).

For some unknown reason there appears to be NO U.K. government website 
containing the official votes cast for EVERY candidate in the 1997 election.

The 51.68 percentage of the votes cast for ALL winners is possibly one of the 
lowest in the world for a so- called democratic legislative body (due to the 
combination of the infamous first- past- the- post (plurality) winner system 
and the unequal numbers of voters in each constituency (aka district aka 
riding).

A simple proportional representation method--

Sec. 5. (a) The United Kingdom shall be divided by law into [at least] [but 
not more than] [____] Representative districts. (b) Each city shall be 
divided by ordinance into at least 2 [but not more than ____] Councilor 
districts. (c) The members of each legislative body shall be nominated and 
elected at partisan- independent Elections in each year for 1 year terms.

***

Sec. 8. (a) The names of nonincumbent candidates shall be placed on the 
Election ballots by a nominating Petition which shall be signed and filed 
between [252] and [84] days, inclusive, before the Election by a number of 
Electors equal to between [0.25] and [1] percent of the Election Voters in 
the electoral Area of the Office divided by the number of Persons to be 
elected to the office and may not be withdrawn. (b) A petition shall be [on 3 
inch by 5 inch forms], as follows: NOMINATING PETITION- I nominate (Name and 
Address of candidate) for (name of office) in (electoral area of office) at 
the (date) Election. (Date, Signature, Name and Address of Elector). (c) An 
incumbent seeking another term in the same office may file an affidavit of 
candidacy at least [182] days before the Election which may not be withdrawn. 
(d) Each Candidate may have a [0.4 inch by 0.4 inch] symbol of their choice 
shown next to their Names on the Ballots. (e) Partisan candidates shall have 
their political party's name (of not more than [15] letters and spaces) shown 
next to their names on the ballots and independent candidates shall have the 
word "Independent" shown next to their names on the ballots.

Sec. 9. (a) An Elector may vote for 1 or more legislative candidates on the 
ballots in a district (plus not more than [2] write-in votes) by voting “1”, 
“2” and so forth for his or her first, second and so forth choices. (b) If 
there are more than [5] candidates (or remaining candidates) in the district, 
then the candidate having the lowest number of votes shall be a losing 
candidate. (c) Each vote for a losing candidate shall be transferred to the 
Elector's next choice (if any) who is a remaining candidate in the district. 
(d) The 2 prior steps shall be repeated until there are [5] remaining 
candidates in the district who shall be elected. (e) A lottery shall be held 
if tie votes occur in any step. (f) Each member of a legislative body (or his 
or her replacement) shall have a voting power in the legislative body and its 
committees, in person or by written proxy, equal to the votes that the member 
finally receives in the Election [(subject to Article 1, Section 2 changes)]. 
(g) Example-
C = Candidates          Voting Power
C1  22        = 22 +   1   = 23
C2  20        = 20 +   5   = 25
C3  15        = 15 +   3   = 18
C4  12 + 5    = 17         = 17
C5  12 + 1    = 13 -  13   =  0
C6  11 + 3    = 14 +   2   = 16
C7   9 - 9    =  0         =  0
VNT  0        =  0 +   2   =  2
   101         101          101
   C7 Loses   C5 Loses
VNT= Votes not transferred

If interested, then ask for a copy of the entire proposed U.K. Constitution.