Transcript Document

ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
There are a number of electoral systems.
Canada’s is Single-Member Plurality (SMP),
more or less affectionately known as
First-Past-the-Post (FPTP).
First Past the Post
In horse racing the horse first
past the post wins the race
and the prize.
In the FPTP system, there is
one winner. The other
candidates get nothing.
That’s why FPTP is called a
winner take all system.
First Past the Post:
Winner Take All
In Canada, federal and provincial elections
use the FPTP system.
Canada did not choose to use FPTP. It was
inherited from the days of the British Empire.
FPTP is used mostly in the United Kingdom
and former British colonies and was only
intended to work in a two-party system.
Canada now has more parties.
Winner Take All
• In a winner take all system, like FPTP, the candidate
with the most votes is elected.
• With only two candidates, more than 50% of the
votes are required to win.
• If there are more than two candidates, a majority of
votes is not required to win.
What percentage does
it take to win a seat?
• In a multi-party country like Canada, a majority of
votes is not necessary to win a seat in parliament.
Mock Vote
based on the FPTP system.
Mark an X in the circle next to the candidate
of your choice. You may only vote once.
Johnson, Robert
Liberal
Jones, Frances
NDP
MacDonald, Keith
Conservative
Nelson, Jane
Green
Smith, David
Independent
Mock Vote Results
Total votes cast ….. 32
Johnson, Robert
Liberal
9
Jones, Frances
NDP
5
MacDonald, Keith
Conservative
The conservative candidate wins as
he has more votes than any other
single candidate.
BUT … is this a majority?
13
Nelson, Jane
Green
3
Smith, David
Independent
2
59 % of the voters wanted something
else, but got nothing.
What percentage does
it take to win a seat?
Riding of Sydney-Victoria, NS
2011 Federal Election
Conservative, 37.9%
Liberal, 39.9%
NDP, 19%
Green, 3.2%
What percentage does
it take to win a seat?
Riding of Sydney-Victoria, NS
2011 Federal Election
Liberal,
39.9%
A plurality
•
•
With 39.9 % of the vote,
Liberal candidate Mark
Eyking takes the
Sydney-Victoria seat.
Since the candidate
won with less than 50%
of votes, this is called a
plurality.
Wasted votes
•
•
The 60.1% of voters who
did not vote for the
winning candidate are
not represented in this
riding.
Did their votes count?
Wasted votes
• In the last federal election, 163 of Canada’s 308
seats (52.9%) were won by plurality, not majority.
Majority ridings
Riding of Winnipeg-Centre, MB
2011 Federal Election
Conservative, 27.6 %
Liberal, 11.1%
NDP, 53.7%
Communist, 0.6%
Green, 7.1%
Majority ridings
Riding of Winnipeg-Centre, MB
2011 Federal Election
NDP, 53.7%
Wasted votes
•
•
•
Even in ridings where the
winner won by a
majority, is it
democratic?
The 46.3% of voters who
did not vote for the
winning candidate are
not represented in this
riding.
Did their votes count?
Seat Tally
• In a First Past the Post system, the party with the
most seats forms the government.
• Remember: Only those
who voted for the
winning candidate in
their riding will have their
votes counted in the seat
tally.
Popular Vote
• The total percentage of votes for a given party is called
the popular vote.
• The popular vote accounts for all votes, including those
not for the winning candidate.
• In this riding, 60.1% voted for someone other than the
winning candidate.
Riding of Sydney-Victoria, NS
Conservative, 37.9%
Liberal, 39.9%
NDP, 19%
Green, 3.2%
Seat Tally
• Results of the seat tally in the 41st General Election,
in 2011.
Party
# of Seats
% of Seats
Conservative Party of Canada
166
53.9
New Democratic Party
103
33.4
Liberal Party of Canada
34
11.0
Bloc Quebecois
4
1.3
Green Party
1
0.3
Actual Election Results
• The popular vote compared to the seat tally in the
41st General Election, in 2011.
Party
% of Vote
% of Seats
Conservative Party of Canada
39.6
53.9
New Democratic Party
30.6
33.4
Liberal Party of Canada
18.9
11.0
Bloc Quebecois
6.1
1.3
Green Party
3.9
0.3
Popular Vote
41st Federal Election, 2011
Green Votes Others
Bloc
Votes
Liberal Votes
Conservative Votes
NDP Votes
Popular Vote
41st Federal Election, 2011
Green Votes Others
Bloc
Votes
Conservative Votes
Liberal Votes
No Party Receives
a Majority of Votes
NDP Votes
Seat Tally Results
41st Federal Election, 2011
Bloc Seats
Green Seats
Liberal Seats
NDP Seats
Conservative
Seats
Seat Tally Results
41st Federal Election, 2011
Bloc Seats
Green Seats
Liberal Seats
Conservative
Majority Conservative
NDP Seats
Seats
By 12 Seats
Federal election results
2011
Not Proportional
Green
Votes
Others
Bloc
Seats
Bloc
Votes
Green
Seats
Liberal
Seats
Liberal
Votes
Conservative
Votes
NDP
Seats
Conservative
Seats
NDP Votes
Popular Vote
Seat Tally
Actual Election Results
• Seat tallies in First Past the Post have historically
not matched up with the popular vote.
Quebec Provincial Election, 1998
Party
# of Seats
% of Seats
% of Vote
Parti Quebecois
76
60.8
42.87
Liberal Party
48
38.4
43.55
Action-Democratique
1
0.8
11.81
Other
0
0
1.77
Actual Election Results
• Seat tallies in First Past the Post have historically
not matched up with the popular vote.
New Brunswick Liberal Sweep, 1987
Party
# of Seats
% of Seats
% of Vote
Liberal Party
58
100
60.39
Progressive Conservative
0
0
28.59
NDP
0
0
10.55
Independent
0
0
0.47
Where is the opposition?
Actual Election Results
• Seat tallies in First Past the Post have historically
not matched up with the popular vote.
35th General Election, 1993
Party
# of Seats
% of Seats
% of Vote
Liberal Party of Canada
177
60.0
41.2
Bloc Quebecois
54
18.3
13.52
Reform Party
52
17.6
18.69
New Democratic Party
9
3.1
6.88
Progressive Conservative
2
0.7
16.04
Other
1
0.3
3.67
Actual Election Results
• How many votes does it take to win a seat?
Bloc Québécois and Green Party, 2008
948,000 votes
= 0 seats
1.3 million votes = 49 seats
Proportionality
• First Past the Post provides direct local
representation. However, not everyone’s vote
counts.
• Each election, the seat tally does not reflect the
popular vote.
• This could change by simply adding an element
of proportionality.
Proportionality
• Proportional Representation is based on the
principle that:
The percentage
of seats a party
earns in
government
should reflect
the percentage
of people who
voted for
that party.
Proportionality
• 90 democratic countries use some form of PR
for their electoral system.
• Canada does not currently use proportional
representation, but there are several PR
systems that have been proposed.
Proportionality
There are three general forms of Proportional Representation:
Pure Proportional Representation:
Voters only cast votes for parties, and the proportions of the
votes are reflected in parliament.
Mixed Member Proportional:
Voters cast two votes: one for a regional representative, and one
for a party. Similar to FPTP, but with a correction to make seat tallies
proportional.
Single Transferable Vote:
Voters elect several representatives in each district, ranking
them on the ballot. Very few votes are wasted.
Mixed Member
Proportional
• The Law Commission of Canada has suggested
adopting the proportional system called mixed member
proportional (MMP).
• P.E.I., Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario have all
considered adopting MMP.
• The Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system is used in
several countries such as Germany, Scotland and New
Zealand.
Mixed Member
Proportional
MMP is a combination of:
First Past the Post
(our current system)
to fill the seats with
representatives.
and
Proportional
Representation
to correct for
disproportional
seat tallies.
Mixed Member
Proportional
Currently, all of the seats in Parliament are filled
using First Past the Post (FPTP).
In MMP, a section (around half) of the seats are
filled using FPTP, and the rest are filled from lists to
even out the proportions of seats so that they
reflect the popular vote.
Mixed Member
Proportional
The FPTP seats are
called Constituency
seats
The proportional
seats are called list
seats.
Mixed Member
Proportional
• What does this mean for voters?
• The voters that elected the winning candidate
have their votes counted in the constituency
seats.
• The voters who voted for other candidates will
still have their party votes counted toward the
list seats.
• These votes are no longer wasted.
How MMP works in
Scotland
• This is the Scottish parliament as of 2011.
Scotland
• Dots indicate constituency seats. Xs indicate list
seats.
• Some parties have many constituency seats and
thus need fewer list seats to achieve proportionality.
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QUESTIONS …