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Submission TARPLETT-0490 (Online)

Submission By Robert Tarplett
AddressNorth Vancouver, BC,
Organization
Date20040526
CategoryElectoral system change
Abstract
While a mixed system of the alternative vote [AV] and Prop-Rep is not a perfect system of electoral democracy, it is far more democratic and representative of voter wishes than the present system of elections. [2 pages]

Submission Content
I was fortunate to attend the Assembly hearings at the Wosk Centre in Vancouver a few weeks ago to listen to the presenters and  to the discussions.
 
I was concerned that the prop-rep process (alone) was going to be hijacked by the political parties and special interest groups through the provision of lists of candidates to be put forward to represent political parties based solely on the total votes that each party achieved in the election with no (direct) vote input from the electorate -- shades of Soviet Russia!
 
I do NOT believe on quotas of any sort be it in politics or employment. Both should base the criterion for selection solely on merit, experience and expertise, capability etc. NOT on either minority or gender status!
 
The second major problem I see on the political horizon is that the listed candidates will not have actual electoral combat experience on the hustings with minimal if any financial risk that normal candidates have in campaigning! This would cause major resentment not only in the electorate  but other candidates who had worked hard and risked  their own finances, -- as has happened recently when  PM Paul Martin appointed 6 Liberal candidates to replace local nominees who had worked extremely hard to gain memberships. This style of corrupt party politics has absolutely no place in a real democracy!
 
How to ensure that the BC  electorate gets both the candidates and parties they want to represent them?
 
The answer lies in the Mixed system of election by:
1. The alternative vote [AV] with preferential ballots for the candidate of choice in 60 of 80 seats in the legislature with the minimum to elect a successful candidate as MLA - not less than  50% of all first preference votes cast per riding. In the even that the candidate with the most votes still did not achieve the required 50% total votes cast, the second preferences of the least successful candidate(s) would be distributed until one of the remaining candidates gained a majority. For the main body of the legislature based on candidates (rather than party) the 60 proposed ridings would  have to be realigned, based primarily on population - 70,000/riding (+/- 5000) for a total of 4.2million BC population.
2. For the Prop-Rep election by political party, it is suggested that the province be divided into 10 (ten) electoral regions of 6 ridings each. Each region would then elect 2 (two) candidates to represent the political parties of choice by priority 1-5 on a second ballot slip, 1 being the first party of choice etc. The voter would then select the order of party by choice.  The party with the largest number of 1st choice selection would get at least one seat, followed by the other parties in priority of choice selection, based on the total votes cast in each of the 10 regions.
The overall party selection could indicate that incumbent party A with 50% of total prop rep votes would have 10 of the remaining 20 seats.  Party B with  30% gets six seats while Parties C and D receive 15% and 5% of the overall votes cast, garnering 3 seats and 1 seat respectively!
 
The regional process would enable the political parties elected by prop-rep to be represented by the local candidates who had the top voter rating in the region for that party (based on the party list) rather than have someone parachuted in from the lower mainland at the expense the democratic wishes  of local voters such as in  Peace River or the North Coast!
 
The party candidate (from the list) with the highest number of choice of votes across the 6 ridings in a particular region would be the candidate to represent the party in the Prop-rep seats. This process of selecting from candidate lists would hopefully eliminate the other odious practice of vote stacking at nomination meetings!
 
When a candidate is elected by the alternative vote process, his or her name is automatically deleted from the party lists for the prop-rep election, prior to the Prop rep stage of elections, to select the priority of parties and their candidates for the remaining 20 seats in the ten regions.
 
While this mixed system of alternative vote and Prop-Rep is not a perfect system of electoral democracy, it is far more democratic and representative of voter wishes than the present system of elections by which a party can get elected with less than the acceptable (50%) majority of votes, because of vote splitting and the  blatantly corrupt nomination process to select a party candidate!
 
The choice of the party is not necessarily the choice of the electorate in the riding, so a political party may potentially lose essential votes for election because of poor selection in the nomination process,  or that a candidate of preference by the electorate has to be sacrificed on the table of political expediency in order to prevent the other party from gaining a majority! This is why the mixed Prop Rep/AV system of elections can achieve both party and candidate of choice and true representation of parties and seats in the legislature.

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