[EM] Proportional election method needed for the Czech Green party - Council elections

[robert bristow-johnson]

On Apr 28, 2010, at 2:19 PM, Peter Zbornik wrote:

> Condorcet methods have not been used in politics yet, I think.

Condorcet has not yet been used in a *government* general election.   
that does not mean it hasn't been used in politics.  it has been used  
in organization elections for a single winner.  i might consider the  
Czech Green Party to be an "organization".  you can choose to use  
whatever method you like without having to get a law passed as you  
would in a general election.

> Are there by any chance other methods to elect centrist presidents?

Condorcet *does* tend to favor centrist candidates because Condorcet  
makes good use of 2nd-choice rankings and people on the two extreme  
wings are likely to choose the centrist for their 2nd choice over the  
extremist on the other side.

but that is not a good reason to use Condorcet.  there are many  
reasons to use Condorcet but the main reason is simply majority rule:

     If a majority of voters agree that Candidate A
     is a better choice than Candidate B, then
     Candidate B should not be elected.

that's really it.  that's why Condorcet is the correct method over IRV- 
STV, Plurality, Borda, Bucklin, Range, Approval or whatever else they  
come up with.  it's simple, transparent, and directly compatible with  
the goals of majority rule.

despite Kathy Dopp's knee-jerk reaction against STV, it probably  
remains to be the simplest fair method to get proportional  
representation for the multi-winner Council seats.  IRV proponents  
like to extend STV to single-winner, but it's pretty well established  
that it's inferior to Condorcet.  sometimes they elect the same winner  
and sometimes they don't.  the problem is when IRV fails to elect the  
Condorcet winner - when that happens, a majority of voters agreed that  
Candidate A is a better choice than Candidate B, yet Candidate B was  
elected.

--

r b-j                  rbj at audioimagination.com

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."