Submission ALTA-0684 (Online)
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Submission By | A Alta |
Address | Vancouver, BC, |
Organization | |
Date | 20040617 |
Category | Democratic elections, Democratic government, Electoral system change |
Abstract
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Some suggested reforms for the electoral & governmental
process (both Provincial & Federal). [2 pages]
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Submission Content
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Some suggested reforms for the electoral & governmental
process (both Provincial & Federal):
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Eliminate the Senate, along with all associated staff &
offices (& pension off the current Senators).
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Eliminate the Governor-General & Lieutenant-Governors, along
with all associated staff & offices.
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Prime Minister to be selected as today (leader of the party
winning the most seats in the elected Legislature -- in case of a
tie, the party winning the most total votes provides the Prime
Minister; in case of a tie in total votes, which is
possible but exceeding unlikely, the 2 prospective Prime Ministers
flip a coin on live prime-time television for the position).
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Create LARGE electoral districts (say, at least 10 seats each)
strictly according to population (one adult Canadian citizen = 1
vote).
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Each party campaigns in an electoral district with one or more
candidates (up to the maximum # of seats for that riding), ranked
in order by the party using whatever method they choose (this
ranking to be made public BEFORE the election).
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Each party is awarded a pro-rata # of seats in each electoral
district based on their percentage of the total votes in that
electoral district.
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The seats won in an electoral district are awarded to a party's
candidates in the order that they were ranked by the party prior to
the election (if a party wins 6 seats, & had 10 candidates,
then that party's top 6 ranked candidates gain seats in the
legislature, the other 4 do not).
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Part-seats are rounded (i.e., with 10 seats, 44% of the vote in
an electoral district = 4 seats, 45% = 5 seats).
(this could result in some variance in the # of seats awarded)
(where too few seats are awarded, as when 3 parties with
32½% & 33½% & 34% of the vote get 3
seats each, award the remaining seat(s) to the party(s) with the
most votes, the 34% party getting 4 seats -- this situation can be
expected to happen fairly frequently where more than 2 parties are
represented, but never where there are only 2 parties).
(where too many seats are awarded, as when 2 parties with 45% &
55% of the vote get 5 seats & 6 seats respectively, then remove
a seat from the party(s) with the least votes, leaving 45% with 4
seats & 55% with 6 seats -- this kind of numeric oddity is not
likely ever to happen in practice since it requires getting a % of
the vote that ends in exactly 5% [i.e., 15%, 35%, etc.], but it
should be provided for in the rules of election.)
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Elections are held on a fixed date in the Spring of every 4th
year -- say the 4th Friday of April every 4th year starting in
2006. The exception to this is if a government loses a
"No Confidence" vote in the legislature (this should only occur
during a minority government, or if some of the government's
members vote with the opposition party(s) -- in this case the other
party(s) should be given a chance to put together sufficient votes
to form the government, or failing that, a special election should
be held immediately, subsequently followed by a regular election 4
years later, in April.
Thank you for shepherding this process.
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