Sunday, 28 November 2010

Single winner seats restrict democracy because only the big parties do well

If there is only one representative Member of Parliament advanced from each constituency, as with most forms of first-past-the-post being used around the world, then this gives great advantage to the main parties.

Generally, the main parties, be they of the 'left' or 'right' will dominate and in some cases, entirely monopolise between them the seats in parliament. It is only if there is a more proportional system that smaller parties can get a fair chance and this can be delivered by extending the number of MPs from each constituency from a solitary member to a plurality. The more MPs in each seat (from each constituency) the greater the degree of proportionality that will be delivered, which improves democracy.

1 comment:

  1. It's not just the small party voters who suffer. If you are a liberal voter in a conservative constituency or a conservative voter in a liberal constituency, you are not served by a winner-take-all voting system.

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