I must say that I appreciate the thoroughness and
carefulness with which you are approaching your task. The Assembly
has exceeded my expectations and so please continue in a manner
that brings the respect of your fellow citizens. The preliminary
statement is interesting and educational.
As I will be unable to attend the meeting in my
home area, I would like to add my own thoughts, which
support your direction of local representation and proportionality.
I do not favour a specific system although the system of two votes
- a party vote and a local vote - seems to work to meet both these
requirements [MMP]. I also feel strongly that there
must be a threshold percentage vote before a party
obtains representation. I would be very interested to know how
other proportional systems approach this, and assume that this is
part of your research. I understand it is very low in
Israel, for example, and that this leads to marginal parties
gaining disproportionate power. I would probably speak for staying
on a higher rather than lower threshold, in order to avoid, in your
words, excessive political fragmentation.
Thank you all for your time and
committment
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