[EM] British Colombia considering change to STV

[James Gilmour]

 Juho Laatu    > Sent: Saturday, May 02, 2009 11:33 PM

> > In Ireland, the constitution requires at least 3 per constituency and
> > over time the average number of seats per constituency is being
> > reduced.  It is currently illegal (by statutory law) for
> > constituencies to have more than 5 seats.  For the upcoming EU
> > elections, Ireland's 12 seats are being returned from all 3
> > seat constituencies.
> 
> It practice that seems to set the limits
> to max 4 and min 2 parties/groupings per
> constituency represented in the Dáil. 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Members_of_the_30th_D%C3%A1il>

When the Dáil was created, Ireland elected 120 members from 26 constituencies (electoral districts) returning from 4 to 8 (YES, 8)
members (average district magnitude was 4.62).  Ireland's politicians divided the larger constituencies (especially in 1973)
because they thought it would favour their re-election, so that the Dáil now has 166 members elected form 42 constituencies (average
DM = 3.95).


> > > One could also develop rules that would
> > > make the system more proportional at the
> > > country level
> > 
> > I think care needs to be taken here, as votes for a
> > candidate are not necessarily the same as votes for a party.
> > (The tree system can resolve this).

This issue has been raised again in Malta, and there was an interesting paper on possible solutions in the January 2009 issue of
Voting matters:	
  http://www.votingmatters.org.uk/ISSUE26/I26P1.pdf


> Yes. One could try to limit the number of
> candidates to keep voting easy from the
> voter point of view and to keep the size
> of the ballots sheets manageable. 

But be aware that in Malta, where they fill casual vacancies by counting the original ballots again, it is not uncommon for the two
main parties to nominate up to 12 candidates for some of the 5-member electoral districts.  Another feature of election law in Malta
that results in longer lists of candidates is that they allow one person to be nominated in several electoral districts.  If elected
in more than one district, that candidate can decide which district to represent, when there would be an instant by-election to fill
the casual vacancy so caused (when the ballots would be counted again).


> > I think a mix of 5+ seater PR-STV seats and a quality national level
> > system (say candidate list or tree list) might be a good compromise.

See also the article in Voting matters, linked above.

James

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