On Mixed-Member Proportional Representation
In March 2016, the Broadbent Institute released a report on electoral reform, “An Electoral System for All: Why Canada Should Adopt Proportional Representation,” and endorsed mixed-member proportional representation. It is in essence and in tone a polemic, so I shall rebut it here with a counter-polemic.
In our current single-member plurality system, voters cast their ballots for candidates in geographic constituencies and the person who wins the largest number of votes, though not necessarily a majority and often a plurality, becomes the Member of Parliament-elect. (I regard “first past the post” as irretrievably pejorative, and so does the Broadbent Institute, judging by how it employs the term). Under pure proportional representation, voters cast their ballots for political parties themselves, and the seats in the parliament are allocated in direct proportion to the popular vote that each political party obtained; MPs are then selected…
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