A Depressing Thought
I was just thinking about the possibility of the 'yes' vote coming in between 50% and 60% and it occurred to me how (darkly) fitting it would be for the first-past-the-post to win an absolute victory despite getting fewer votes than its opposition...
posted by Declan at
11:33 AM
5 Comments:
At least such a result would give impetus to a continued push for reform.
By
Anonymous, at 11:58 AM
Yesterday I proposed four BC Election 2005, polling questions for CFAX.
1. Are you upset that both NDP and Liberals, while the house was still sitting, and Green Party leadership form the outside, did not debate or pressure for an expenditure, proportional to the $5.5 million spent on the Citizens' Assembly process, to educate the public about the referendum question?
2. Do you think it was deliberate because the party elites, including the Green Party leadership, do not want to share power with the voters?
3. Do you think this was disrespectful to the voters of BC?
4. Do you think this was disrespectful to the members of the Citizens' Assembly?
By
Jen Fisher-Bradley, at 11:49 AM
The BC Liberals have not committed to further electoral reform if the BC-STV referendum fails, however Carole James, leader of the BC-NDP has. In this blog post, I quoted an April 6, 2005 Vancouver Sun column by Vaughn Palmer in which Carole James indicates that even with 48% support of BC-STV she would continue to purse electoral reform:
"Let's see if people vote in favour . . . . If people vote yes, we will implement that for the following election." But she rejected the view that STV was a take-it-or-leave-it proposition as far as electoral reform is concerned.
"If people don't vote in favour, but there's a very strong support for some kind of electoral reform, then I think it's important to . . . give the voters another option to look at," James said.
If support were in the range of, say, 48-52 per cent, she might bring forward a different electoral reform?
"Exactly," James said. "I think we have the opportunity, then, to say 'the voters have very strongly said they want something different.' They're not sure this is quite the right model, so then let's look at another model."
If you are afraid that BC-STV will fail, you should vote for Carole James and the BC-NDP because they are willing to look at a different model.
By
Dean, at 12:39 PM
"If you are afraid that BC-STV will fail, you should vote for Carole James and the BC-NDP because they are willing to look at a different model."
Or Green, or Democaratic Reform or most small parties, I suppose. The idea of trying to vote strategically to avoid having to vote strategically is one I find distasteful. Plus, I'm a little wary of leopards which promise to change their spots during an election campaign (if the NDP wanted electoral reform, they've passed up a lot of chances to bring it in).
anon - That's true.
jen - the lack of funding for a campaign does seem pretty poor. I think there has been a lack of respect for the work done by the assembly on a number of levels and that's certainly one of them.
By
Declan, at 1:04 PM
Declan, obviously you hate voting strategically, otherwise you wouldn't be an STV supporter. However, besides the Liberals, the NDP is the only other provincial party that has a shot at forming government. You complain about previous NDP governments not doing electoral reform, well Carole James wasn't the leader back then. Previous NDP leaders never made a pledge like this: "If people don't vote in favour, but there's a very strong support for some kind of electoral reform, then I think it's important to . . . give the voters another option to look at," James said.
If James becomes premier and doesn't follow through on her pledge then she is going be hammered in the press. She has gone on the record as saying if the referendum misses (for example it gets 48%) she will look at further reform. No other NDP premier has made such a pledge.
By
Dean, at 4:39 PM
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