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Article: Electoral reform is not as simple as it looks.
- Article from:
- Inroads: A Journal of Opinion
- Article date:
- January 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Inroads, Inc. 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)
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Richard S. Katz is Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He has published widely on electoral systems and on political parties. His most recent book is Democracy and Elections, published by Oxford University Press.
The spate of recent proposals for changing Canada's electoral system, including those in this issue, reflect a discontent with the Canadian electoral system for reasons apparent in the 1997 election results. The Liberals formed a majority government on the basis of only 38.4 percent of the vote, and only 18 MPs (of their 155 total) were elected west of Ontario, while nearly two-thirds of the Liberal caucus ...