This brief letter is to add my wholehearted support to the concept
of a mixed member proportional representation [MMP] voting system
for electing members to the BC Legislature, with the addition of a
transferable voting system for the constituency
representatives.
Our present electoral system was designed for a previous
two-party age. It does not produce a truly representative assembly,
nor is each individual member elected by a true majority. Single
proportional representation systems have been shown to be great in
theory, but not to have worked so well in situations where there
are many political parties. The mixed member proportional
representation system, used in our sister country New Zealand, has
been shown to be very effective in providing a representative
assembly that is truly workable.
Our other sister country Australia uses a transferable vote
system [preferential voting, AV] which guarantees that
each and every member is truly elected by a majority of the
constituency. Since the Citizens' Assembly is taking a great amount
of trouble to get it right, may I suggest that the constituency
seats in a mixed member proprtional reprepresentation system be
elected by a transferable vote, so that the two basic shortcomings
of our present system can both be addressed - the lack of
representation and the lack of a majority vote for elected
representatives.
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