[EM] Electoral reform in Poland: do away with proportional representation

[Rob Lanphier]

James Gilmour wrote:

>I didn't understand your comment about majoritarian rule amongst the elected
>representatives.  No matter how you build a consensus on any issue, at the end of
>the day it will require majority support in the Parliament if it is to become
>accepted national policy.  
>
I was probably being too glib, but what I meant by this is that there's 
a number of decisions (e.g. selection of a prime minister) where the 
coalition building is made very difficult by the fact that it's done 
using first-past-the-post (FPTP) rather than approval, Condorcet, IRV, 
etc.  Even things that are seemingly simple up/down votes often involve 
a series of amendments and riders.  Moving to proportional 
representation ensures that there's better representation on issues, but 
in current practice relegates those representatives to use FPTP for 
everything.

>That will apply no matter whether you have majority
>government of one party or a coalition, or minority government.  Of course, you
>can improve the stability of the Parliament (and of the government) by avoiding
>the stupid rule that any successful vote against the government automatically
>means that the government falls.
>
Indeed, that seems pretty awful.  Is that what Poland is doing?

Rob