I've looked through the information on line, and from my
understanding, both from the materials that are provided on the
Citizens' Assembly website and elsewhere. I think that a mixed
member proportional representation [MMP] system would be the best,
as well as quite straightforward. I think if more members were to
represent constituencies than were to be drawn from lists, it would
be possible to have good representation for the interests of rural
and urban communities.
I think that the current system has long since outlived its
usefulness; and I'm not convinced that the single transferable vote
[STV] system necessarily ends up with representative results.
Part of my concern about this is that the 'surplus votes' may not
reflect the overall tendencies of a constituency. I think there is
a potential that this could become a problem with the candidates
elected not closely matching their overall proportion, or rating,
in the vote, the 2nd ranks of the people who's votes were
considered 'surplus' to the first winner might be very different
than the 2nd ranks of the people whose votes elected the first
winner.
If the results were to be based on the first polling districts
reporting in, this might exacerbate the problem, as different polls
within a riding may have very different trends in how they would
rate their candidates. What brought this to mind for me was
watching the federal election, as different towns or neighbourhoods
within a constituency often voted very differently, with the result
that the lead see-sawed back and forth all night, as various
polling booths reported in.
Thanks for your consideration of this.
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