[Election-Methods] RELEASE: Instant Runoff Voting (Chris Benham)

[James Gilmour]

Abd ul-Rahman Lomax > Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 7:19 PM
> But, in the United States, where I live, IRV 
> isn't replacing pure FPTP. It's replacing Top Two 
> Runoff (TTR). And it is pretty clear to me that 
> TTR is superior in just about every way,

I suspect all such judgements must in the end be matters of opinion, but the French Presidential election of 2002 shows the major
failing of Top-Two Run-Off.  I think many commentators would take the view that IRV would have been superior to TTRO in that
election.  

Had that election been by Exhaustive Ballot (eliminating one candidate in each round) or by IRV, I am fairly sure that the final
contest would not have been between Chirac and Le Pen.  It is also reasonable to suggest that, in such circumstances, the eventual
winner would not have been Chirac, but a candidate much more representative of the voters.  The implications of a different result
for French politics during the subsequent five years would be pure speculation on my part, so I'll leave it there.

James Gilmour

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