FAQ: Impacts on Political Parties
Are parties less important under
BC-STV?
Under BC-STV, governments will usually continue to be formed by
large parties, though perhaps in coalition with another party or
parties. During elections, candidates are grouped by party on the
STV ballot paper to aid people in selecting their preferences. A
key difference in a BC-STV election is that the system is
candidate-based, rather than party-based. This means that voters
choose which of the party's candidates they prefer to represent
them.
How many candidates will a party run in a
constituency?
Under the BC-STV system, parties will likely run only the
number of candidates they expect to win in a riding. The reason for
this conservative approach is that votes will be split among party
candidates and the party would not want to spread its voter support
too thin.
For example, if a riding had five seats and Party A ran five
candidates, voters who support Party A could end up distributing
their first preferences amongst all those candidates, giving a
candidate from another party, which ran fewer candidates, a larger
number of first preferences.
How do candidates get on the ballot?
Candidates representing a political party would secure a
space on the ballot via the current party nomination process;
however, more than one candidate per party may run in a district.
Independents would also follow current procedures for being listed
on the ballot.
Will there be more diversity in
the legislature as a result of BC-STV?
BC-STV is more likely to produce a legislature that
reflects the diversity of the province because political parties
have an opportunity to field more than one candidate. Parties will
be more likely to put forward a slate of candidates that reflects
the diversity of the constituency's citizens. And
importantly, it's voters - not parties - who choose
which candidates are elected from each party, so voters
utimately decide on the diversity of BC's Legislature.
|