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8.2.2 Proportional Representation and Political Parties




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This article is from the soc.culture.australian FAQ, by Stephen Wales with numerous contributions by others.

8.2.2 Proportional Representation and Political Parties

I am from Tasmania, the home of Hare-Clark. In addition to having
arguably the fairest method of counting, several different ballot
papers are printed, with the candidate's names rotated on the ballot
papers, so that the "donkey" vote does not work in favour of any one
party or individual. Candidates can be grouped on the ballot paper by
party.

One of the more interesting things which I have seen over the years
while scrutineering at various elections and analysing results has
been the effect of multimember constituencies on political parties. If
you think about it, it is possible to have a major spill of elected
politicians, without changing the party which is in power. This has
happened more than once. Recently, the person who precipitated a
change of leadership within a particular political party was not
elected, even though the party was came to power.

It has also spelt the end of imposed candidates. Political parties
have a harder time, in fact an almost impossible task, to win all
seats in a multimember constituency. They are forced to present a
range of candidates, to maximise their vote. It is not always their
number one choice who is elected. Political parties see this as voters
being capricious, but, hopefully, they are comparing realities.

The how-to-vote card is dead. They do not work. The only way this
survives in any form is in the senate vote-by-party option.

A final interesting note. One candidate I knew, campaigned on the
basis of asking for the number 2 vote. His line was, look I'm not
going to insult your intelligence by telling you not to vote for the
person you want to, but consider me for number 2. Umm, he did not get
elected, but if he'd not been carrying some personal handicaps, I
think it would have been a very effective pitch.

 

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