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<div> From: abd@lomaxdesign.com<br>
> At 06:00 AM 3/5/2007, <span class="correction" id="">Jobst</span> <span class="correction" id="">Heitzig</span> wrote:<br>
> >Do you mean to say that the will of a consistent faction of 49% of the<br>
> >electorate, who will never get their way under a <span class="correction" id="">majoritarian</span> system,<br>
> >is "noise"??<br>
><br>
> No. But that condition is essentially impossible. There is *never* a<br>
> consistent faction of that size in a <span class="correction" id="">majoritarian</span> democracy, indeed,<br>
> I think I wrote, there is no faction of *any* size of which this is<br>
> true, since the vast majority of choices made in real societies enjoy<br>
> almost total consensus.<br>
<br>
It happened in Northern Ireland. The nationalist faction is around<br>
45% of the population. They want <span class="correction" id="">NI</span> to be part of the Republic. The<br>
other faction is the <span class="correction" id="">unionist</span> faction. They wanted to remain part<br>
of the UK and represented around 55% of the population.<br>
<br>
In fact, the original split of the island into <span class="correction" id="">NI</span> and the Free State (as<br>
the Republic was then), was designed to give the <span class="correction" id="">unionists</span> as much <br>
territory as possible, while still giving them a majority.<br>
<br>
This was the single most important issue in every election, and the<br>
<span class="correction" id="">unionists</span> won every time. The end result was that the UK government<br>
decided to administer <span class="correction" id="">NI</span> directly, due to civil disorder issues. The<br>
<span class="correction" id="">unionists</span> went from having a <span class="correction" id="">permenent</span> majority to being a relatively <br>
small party in the UK parliament. This highlights the problems with <br>
ignoring a large segment of the population.<br>
<br>
The peace process is an attempt to restore local government in <span class="correction" id="">NI</span>.<br>
The rules that they intend to use are not rule by majority. <br>
They use PR to elect the assembly. Each candidate must say if they<br>
are a nationalist, a <span class="correction" id="">unionist</span> or neither. No bill can be passed by<br>
the assembly unless it majority support from both the nationalists<br>
and the <span class="correction" id="">unionists</span> (and probably overall majority support). This is<br>
obviously subject to abuse. Once, some of the independents <span class="correction" id="">redesignated</span><br>
themselves as <span class="correction" id="">unionists</span> so that a bill could be passed.<br>
<br>
The executive is headed by a First Minister and Deputy First Minister.<br>
The larger faction picks the First Minister and the smaller faction<br>
picks the Deputy First Minister. (I am not sure how non-aligned<br>
members are involved, perhaps they are ignored).<br>
<br>
The ministries are then shared using the <span class="correction" id="">d'Hondt</span> system. This gives<br>
larger parties an advantage, due to the bias in <span class="correction" id="">d'Hondt</span>, but<br>
also because they get first choice, so can get the better/more<br>
powerful ministries. However, it means that executive power is<br>
shared between the two factions in proportion to their number.<br>
<br>
I think their solution is also problematic due to <span class="correction" id="">institutionalising</span><br>
the <span class="correction" id="">factional</span> divide. A better solution would be to pick the First<br>
and Deputy First Minister by <span class="correction" id="">PR-STV</span> (or maybe sequential approval).<br>
<br>
The assembly could then by majority vote make one of the 2 winners<br>
the First Minister and other the Deputy. If both of them had veto<br>
rights for bills, then each faction would effectively have veto rights<br>
without having to specifically split the assembly between factions.<br>
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<div style="clear: both;"><span class="correction" id="">Raphfrk</span><br>
--------------------<br>
Interesting site<br>
"what if anyone could modify the laws"<br>
<br>
<span class="correction" id="">www</span>.<span class="correction" id="">wikocracy</span>.com</div>
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