|
|
Article: Electoral reform lessons from abroad.
- Article from:
- Canadian Parliamentary Review
- Article date:
- December 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Canadian Parliamentary Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
It is commonplace for Canadians to cite our federal and provincial electoral systems as models that should be copied by others. There probably is not a parliamentarian, past or present, who has not told an audience of students about the virtues of our democratic process, and especially about the way in which our "first past the post" voting system helps ensure strong and decisive majority governments, thereby avoiding the instability of European multi-party systems and coalition governments based on proportional representation. However as few of the new democracies seem to be interested in adopting our electoral system, this article suggests we may want to pause and ...