By
James Bredin
Proportional representation (PR) is a voting system that assures the overall results are proportional to the votes. It is the principle that any group of like-minded voters should win legislative seats in proportion to its share of the popular vote. Under the present systems in many English-speaking countries, large sections of the voting public are not represented where decisions are made. Elections need to be held on a level playing where people feel they have some influence where it counts.
The US system of only two political parties (Democrat or Republican) restricts the voters from having a third choice. In this system only those who vote for the winning candidate get representation. Everyone else -- who may represent 49% of the electorate -- don’t count – tens of millions of votes wasted. They are not represented.
In the similar Canadian system of winner-take-all, there may be many political parties. If there are 2 candidates running for office, up to 49% of the electorate may not be represented (As in the US). But then it gets worse. If there are three candidates, the winning candidate only needs 34% of the overall vote to win because the opposition is split in two. Therefore if only 34% of the vote is needed to win, the other 66% of the voters – the majority – are losers. Therefore the majority of the voters are silenced. If there are 5 candidates, the winner only needs 21% to win. Therefore the vast majority of voters (79%) are not represented.
This could be an argument in favor of the US system of only two political parties or it could show that both countries need proportional representation so that a larger proportion of the people can be represented in the halls of power.
Some of the 41 countries that already have proportional representation (PR): Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Japan (semi-PR system), Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland.
All of these countries are relatively small where people have a closer link with their capital and their federal politicians – unlike Washington or Ottawa -- thousands of miles from many many voters.
Some of the countries without proportional representation (PR): Britain, Canada (Where the winning Liberals represent 1 in 4 Canadians), Ethiopia, France, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, US. If the majority or a very large proportion of the public is not represented in the halls of power, they can be led blindfolded by the media and those in power into issues that could influence their daily lives in a hundred ways – war, peace, balanced budgets, control of national debt, gun control, prisoners’ release, immigration reform, affirmative action, political corruption, spending and political give-away policies. The level playing field of proportional representation allows a larger proportion of the public to influence those who make the decisions. It reasserts among the people that they do have power and the country is not run by special interests for vested interests. There are several forms of proportional representation; some are based on voting for political parties and others for candidates. They all represent an improvement on the present winner-take-all systems. Countries without proportional representation should have a binding referendum about this issue. We need more democracy. We need to be represented where it counts. We need to see through their propaganda, that they are not omnipotent and everything is great. Unfortunately opposition to this idea, both the US and Canada is organized, strong, vociferous and in power. Only time and events will show us if this will change.
Sunday, January 19, 2003
This is the time and temperature
in Toronto right now….
