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First past the post problematic

Citizen columnist Todd Whitcombe makes another attempt at defaming proportional representation with all kinds of numbers and hocus pocus. He wants you to think that proportional representation is the road to electoral hell.
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Citizen columnist Todd Whitcombe makes another attempt at defaming proportional representation with all kinds of numbers and hocus pocus. He wants you to think that proportional representation is the road to electoral hell.

He has all kinds of manufactured reasons, but what he doesn't tell you about his favourite voting system, first-past-the-post is it:

Gives false majorities.

Distorts the wishes of the majority.

Leads to parties acting only for their base of 40 per cent.

Means 50 per cent of votes are wasted. Under PR less than 10 per cent don't go to electing an MLA.

Leads to reduced numbers of people voting. Why vote if your vote will not count?

Promotes strategic voting, voting for the lesser of two evils.

Leads to Balkanization of the province, with large areas represented by only one MLA of either the governing party or the opposition.

Gives huge amounts of power to swing ridings. One swing riding can swing election results 180 degrees, meaning a small number of voters can have a big effect on who is going to form government.

Leads to parties putting most of their time, energy and promises into swing ridings and ignoring voters in safe seats.

Leads to policy lurch, from left to right and right to left, as one government repeals the policies of the previous government, wasting time, money and resources.

Leads to rancor and one-up-man ship in Victoria instead of the cooperation and collaboration with PR.

Leads to unstable governments, as small changes in the way people vote in swing ridings mean it only takes a relatively small number of votes to turf out one governing party in favour of another.

Allows far right and far left groups to hide in the midst of the big tent parties and exert an influence the voter can't see.

Means large numbers of voters have no effective voice in Victoria. Under FPTP, each riding has only one MLA and that MLA may not be from your party. He/she will not cross party lines to vote in your favour. PR ensures that most voters will have an MLA from their party either in the riding or district.

And finally, Mr. Whitcombe would like you to believe that your rural riding will be huge. Mr. Whitcombe, read Mr. Eby's assurance on this. And above all, be fair to your readers.

Daryl Sturdy

Vancouver