Poli 305 - BC polítics 3 - Electoral system

The electoral system is the main mechanism where the voters register the Democratic will

We choose members of the legislature to be our representatives and they speak on our behalf in the legislature

Elections bestow legitimacy on the government. elections must be frequent enough that they can restore legitimacy to the government

• 1. Women: 1919
• 2. Ethnic Canadians: 1947
• 3. Japanese Canadians: 1951
• 4. Aboriginal people on reserves: 1960

55%

85

• 1. It is really simple. Doesn't take a lot of depth of understanding for the voter
• 2. It is easy to count the ballots
• 3. It can be counted really quickly and therefore the results come fast. decisions are often within 1 hour of the polls closing
• 4. SMP tends to form majority government which create stability.

• 1. It create artificial majority and is not representative of the population. government is often formed with less than 50% of the popular vote.
• 2.The system favors the winning party and exaggerate some the seats
• 3. It can reverse the Democratic will like in the election of 1996 where the NDP had 39.5% and the Liberals had 41.8% but the NDP still won
• 4. SMP can exaggerate or complicate regional differences.

In provincial politics there is no Senate to keep the legislature in check.

The Liberals won with 57.6% of the popular vote and got 77 out of 79 seats. there was almost no opposition in the legislature and the NDP lost party status.

• The NDP had 39.5% of the popular vote and won with 39 out of 75 seats
• the Liberals had 41.8% of the popular votes and lost with 33 out of 75 seats

Gordon Campbell pledged to call for an examination of the electoral system if he won and in 2001 he recommended to form a citizens assembly in order to examine the electoral system

• 1. People wanted a proportional system where 39 percent of the popular vote would lead to 39 percent of the seats in the legislature
• 2. They wanted to diminish the influence of political parties in the political system.

• 1. The districts would be multimember instead of single member
• 2. Each party would run several candidates in each riding so that the citizens would be able to choose their own candidate from within a party
• 3. The voters would choose the candidates on a ranked ballot in order of preference

When of water only marks one candidate in order to not give votes to other candidates in a preferential ballot system

• 1. Voters need to know the characteristics of around 30 candidates
• 2. STV still does not produce precise proportionality
• 3. Because of the complexity of the system, professional ballot counters are needed
• 4. Ballot counting can sometimes take weeks
• 5. British Columbians didn't like the non transparency of the system

• 1. It required a double majority or super majority of 60% support over the whole population of the province
• 2. It also required a 50% majority of electoral districts

It only receives 57.7% of the popular vote and received 77 out of 79 districts

• 1. That was proportionality and there would be subtle shifts but there may not be a shift in the composition of government
• 2. With ridings like Vancouver the majority of candidates would come from one part of the city such as the affluent Point Grey area.

Second referendum the vote was reduced to 39%

• 1. The ballot is divided into two parts. One part the voter chooses their prefered candidate to represent them in the legislature, the second part the voter chooses the party they prefer.
• 2. A certain amount of seats are reserved for candidates chosen from the party lists
• 3. Candidates are added to each party from the party lists in order to top up their seats to match the partys percentage of the popular vote

• 1. They are expensive and this is why they are included in provincial elections
• 2. Because there is a powerful sense of legitimacy, the legislature cannot easily overturn them without extreme public backlash Therfore they put a restraint on government.
• 3. The have the ability to use the majoritarian principle to suppress minority rights. Referendums are great for tax policy but can bring out the tyranny of the majority as it almost did when Gordon Campbell put treaty rights to a referendum