10-19-2015, 09:56 AM
STV is an appealing option for non-party elections, like municipal ones. Because there are no "alliances" or parties, everyone who can vote for Mayor gets to voice their first choice, and if no one has a majority, then we remove low-hanging candidates until someone has half the vote. No votes are wasted.
In a national campaign, it pains me to think that the Green party as a whole received 3.91% of the votes. As they have a platform that is the same whether a voter supported them in BC or Nova Scotia, they received support of Canadians equivalent to 12 seats in a 308 seat House, but elected only 1 MP, meaning over 90% of those voters don't have equivalent representation.
Right now, both the NDP and the Liberals support some form of electoral reform, with Liberals supporting STV, and NDP supporting MMP. Both are already talking about not supporting Harper, which inevitably means working together in some fashion, which is the general approach to non-majority multi-party systems. This should help lay groundwork for change, and I would hope that if the Liberals supported MMP, they'd find a willing partner in the NDP (who, ironically, seem poised to receive far more seats under FPTP than if this was an MMP election).
In a national campaign, it pains me to think that the Green party as a whole received 3.91% of the votes. As they have a platform that is the same whether a voter supported them in BC or Nova Scotia, they received support of Canadians equivalent to 12 seats in a 308 seat House, but elected only 1 MP, meaning over 90% of those voters don't have equivalent representation.
Right now, both the NDP and the Liberals support some form of electoral reform, with Liberals supporting STV, and NDP supporting MMP. Both are already talking about not supporting Harper, which inevitably means working together in some fashion, which is the general approach to non-majority multi-party systems. This should help lay groundwork for change, and I would hope that if the Liberals supported MMP, they'd find a willing partner in the NDP (who, ironically, seem poised to receive far more seats under FPTP than if this was an MMP election).