"Of the 16 elections that have taken place in Canada since 1957, eight have produced majority government and eight have produced parliaments with no overall majority. The average lifespan of a minority government is about 18 months, and the Conservative party's position in parliament in 2006 is weaker than any of these predecessor governments. The chances are that a reluctant Canadian electorate will have to go back to the polls before the end of 2007.
British media and political discussion of the German election in September 2005 saw a great deal of criticism of proportional representation in Germany - although the result reflected the wishes of the electorate and a broad-based government has now been formed. Can we look forward to discussion of the chronic instability of first-past-the-post in Canada after two indecisive elections in a row?"
Alex Folkes
Electoral Reform Society
Letter to the Guardian
Why does nobody pick on Canada's electoral system? Simple, it's called 'Minding your own biz' And that goes for all those who had a pop at the German electoral system to.
ReplyDeleteAll I was doing with this post was highlighting the inconsistency with which the British media will decry PR in other countries but not FPTP.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't (as I'm sure you understand) having a pop at Canada.
Oh lordy, PLEASE take a pop at Canada! A bunch of sanctimonious barstiges just got voted in on a slim margin.....enough to barely form a minority caucus! What can I say, they are Tories. Now that they have a chance to belly up to the trough, all I can say now to my new PM is "Hey Steven, now its all gonna be YOUR fault! Ha Ha!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that I actually voted (shudder) NDP....thats a poor copy of Labour by the way...and thank the gods above that my vote was wasted. The Grits nearly won through though....in spite of massive scandals, and would have won if they could have come up with a logical answer to the separatist party.
The Canadian government needs more people to critisise it....it reacts well to critisism. As should ANY well run democracy.
I'm sure you will have another election next year. What's the Liberal's position on electoral reform?
ReplyDeleteAs you voted NDP, was this a wasted vote or were you in a constituency where the NDP could win?