I have noticed that some of the other submissons advocate the
STV system for B.C. I do not think that this system
would work here
I much prefer the MMP system like the one in New Zealand. Under
MMP more women are elected. The two countries that use STV, Malta
and Ireland, have among the lowest women elected to Parliment
because of the competitive nature of the campagining
process--everybody is fighting against everyone else to get the
first rank, even among their fellow party candidates.
Women who often want more cooperative politics opt out of
running. This is shown by the fact that Malta and
Ireland have smaller percentages of women elected than we currently
have in B.C.
The MMP system is much simpler too, because, instead of having
to rank 5 or 6 different people, there are just two simple
votes--one for the party and one for the person who you want to
represent your electoral district.
In order for the STV system to be propotional, that is have the
percentage of votes for a political party translate into a similar
percentage of seats, the STV system requires large electoral
districts with at least 5 or 6 memebers representing that
district. Young people, like me, are often not that
political and would find it difficult to know enough
about 6 different candidates to be able to rank them
intelligently.
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