electoral systems reform process in the early decades of the twentieth century

 electoral systems reform process in the early decades of the twentieth century

The study of the electoral systems reform process in the early decades of the twentieth century and the embracing of proportional representation by some nations have been in the middle of comparative research lately (Leemann & Mares, 2014, 461). Although electoral refinement persists to be a live issue in Canada at both the provincial and federal levels, there has been a slight meticulous and methodical work on what proportional representation would signify for Canada’s party system as well as the formation of governments (Lavergne, 2017, 1). Proportional representation is an electoral system whereby the allocation of seats in parliament should be equivalent to the cast votes. For instance, if a particular political party has attained a 30% of the total votes cast, 30% of the number of seats allocated in the House of Representatives should be from that particular party. The electoral system used in Canada is known as “first past the post” system. In this system, the elected candidate is the one who gets the most votes in an election. However, Canada should adopt a proportional representation electoral system. First, this system allows representation of all parties in the House of Representatives in proportion to the percentage votes cast for a specific party meaning that all cast votes will contribute to the result, which prevents false majorities or plurality. Secondly, proportional representation restricts the growth of regional fiefdoms. Regional fiefdoms refer to situations where a particular party has all representative seats in a specific district. Proportional representation discourages local fiefdoms since a minority party is also offered positions with proportion to its percentage votes cast.

Plurality in the electoral system refers to the circumstance whereby a candidate or a particular political party attains more votes than others involved do. Still, it does not reach the required majority votes. Thus minority parties are made to choose between the first two parties with the many cast votes to help one of them achieve the necessary majority. This is exceptionally experienced in the first past the post electoral system. The proportional representation system discourages plurality since it reduces the disproportion between a political party’s share of cast votes and a share of the number of seats in the parliament (Peelish, 2016, 29). In this system, all participating political parties are allowed to have a certain amount of seats in the House of Representatives proportional to their percentage votes.

Prevention of plurality of false majorities, therefore, is a primary reason why Canada should adopt a proportional electoral system. The proportional representation electoral system prevents the circumstances of having false majorities in an election as opposed to first past the post electoral system. This is because by using the FPTP electoral system, the minority political parties are not represented in parliament, meaning that there is no representation of the views of the minors in the House of Representatives, which is not fair. All electorates have the right to be represented in the parliament, and that requires a system like proportional representation. This equality in representation will help ensure that the views of all voters are listened to and not only those that come from the majority party. Proportional representation, therefore, enables the minority party to be decisive in parliament, thus obtaining a disproportionate advantage. It is argued that by using the proportional representation system, the decisions made in the parliament have a higher chance to be more inclusive of the public as compared to other electoral systems.

The other reason why Canada should adopt the proportional representation system is to prevent cases of regional fiefdoms. Provinces that have no significant local concentration are often disadvantaged when it comes to representation in the parliament. Proportional representation restricts such cases whereby one political party holds all parliamentary seats in a district or province. The main reason as to why there will be one party carrying all seats in parliament is that the minority party is not offered a chance to have representatives in parliament. The majority system is one of the main reasons that lead to the emergence of regional fiefdoms. This is a disadvantage to the voters who belong to other political parties because they will have to be represented by people from parties that they do not support. This disproportionality in elections has led to a lower voter turnout recently in the countries that use the first past the post (FPTP) system of elections, including Canada, the United Kingdom, and the US.

The adoption of proportional representation by Canada will be of great significance, especially to the minority electorates. It is seen that the minority party is the one that is most disadvantaged when other electoral systems are used. A fair electoral system should offer equality to both the majority and minority, which includes providing seats for all parties in the House of Representatives. This ensures that the views of all electorates are listened to through their representatives since these political parties represent the voters. Also, all parties are involved in decision-making. Unlike other electoral systems, proportional representation fulfills the inclusion principle, which is very important, especially in divided societies.