[EM] British Colombia considering change to STV

[James Gilmour]

Raph Frank  > Sent: Sunday, May 03, 2009 1:51 AM
> I think a candidate list system is better though as it allows 
> more general inheritance ordering.  Ofc, it is always going 
> to be a tradeoff between precision and complexity (both for 
> the count and for the voter).
> 
> Closed party list
> Open party list
> Tree based lists
> Candidate list
> PR-STV
> 
> All, except PR-STV could be handled at the national level.
> Party list would allow a much smaller ballot.
> The 3 middle options would use the same "pick one candidate" ballot.

This analysis is simplistic and completely ignores the fundamental philosophical divide between voting systems designed to deliver
PR of registered political PARTIES and voting systems designed to deliver PR of what the VOTERS want (as expressed by the voters'
responses to the candidates who have offered themselves for election).  This is a matter of fundamental political philosophy - which
route you take determines the relationships between the elected members and the voters, between the elected members and their
parties, and between the elected members in the parliament and the executive (government).  Where should power lie - in the parties
or with the voters?  To whom should the elected members be really accountable - to the their parties or to their voters?

In some political cultures, having the political system centred around the political parties is not an issue (or does not appear to
be an issue) and party list PR systems are common such countries.  But other political cultures do not want the political system
centred on the political parties, although the parties are an essential part of the political system.  Some such countries do not
like party list PR (even if an unrepresentative government has forced it on them!!).

So the questions that must be answered first are not about the "degree of proportionality" or "the complexity of the ballot", or
even "the size of the districts", but about what the voting system is intended to achieve in terms of "representation".  Some will
be happy to go the party list route, but many others are not.  Lumping all the multi-member voting system together as though there
were all just different flavours of ice-cream is a flawed approach and it is unhelpful in the debate about how best to go forward in
different political cultures.

James Gilmour


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