cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/24368090

The seat make up would look more like the left if we had a more fair and accountable proportional representation over the obsolete first past the post.

  • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    No thanks.

    Israel and the EU are prop rep and they went hard right.

    Prop rep only looks good on a spreadsheet, it’s terrible when you consider power dynamics.

    First of all the parties have all of the power in a prop rep system. There really isn’t any point in even having seats other than to make it appear like a legislature instead of what it really is. A coalition formed in a backroom in when the parties in that coalition hold all of the power and the parties outside of it may as well not be there.

    The seats belong to the party, not individuals representing communities. Which means the MP can’t cross the floor if their party is going to screw over their community. They can resign but then the Party appoints someone else to sit in the seat and that person votes the way the party tells them to.

    The biggest problem with First Past the Post is the name. If you call it a Community Representation system (which is what it is) it sounds a lot nicer doesn’t it? You vote for a person to represent your community you put pressure on them to put pressure on their party and on Parliament to make the necessary compromises and concessions in the best interests of the community.

    Minority interests can more easily be ignored in a Prop Rep system than in a Community representation system. In a community representation system, a thousand votes in a riding can swing it and that means any party can lose seats if they ignore minority interests. In a Prop Rep system even an million votes from minorities are meaningless if the party they vote for isn’t part of the ruling coalition.

    Would you really want Canada being run by a coalition between the CPC and PPC where all power rests in the ruling coalition? Where the CPC has to give the PPC what they ask for to maintain power? This is the situation in Israel right now, and it may soon be how it is in the EU.

    If you want electoral reform maybe push for ranked choice voting instead of a Prop Rep system that’s currently failing in some very high profile ways in other parts of the world.