3. Ways to elect Members of Parliament
Electoral Systems
Ways to elect
Members of
Parliament

4. First Past The Post Must receive more votes than the other candidates.
Need not have 51% of the Popular vote.

6. Liberal Conservative
British Columbia
A. 100 Voters
B Voters
C. 100 Voters
Alberta
A. 100 Voters
B. 100 Voters
C. 100 Voters
Quebec
Liberals: 3 Seats with 593 Votes. Total 593/800 = 74% of Votes
Conservatives: 4 Seats with 207 votes. Total 207/800 = 26% of Votes

7. An Example You can look at an election result in two ways.
1. How many people voted for you.
2. How many people did not vote for you.

8. 2000 Federal Election Candidate Votes Herb Dhaliwal, Liberal 17,705
Ron Jack, Canadian Alliance 15,384
Herschel Hardin, NDP 3, 848
Dan Tidball, P.C. 2,649
Others 1,880
Herb Dhaliwal won: 17,705 /41, 466 Votes = 41% of the vote. OR
23,761 did not want Herb Dhaliwal as their MP % of people did not want Herb.

9. WHY/WHY not FPTP BENEFITS DISADVANTAGES
1. Very Straightforward 1. At odds with popular vote
2. Usually stable Majority Gvnts. 2. Does not allow fringe parties
(business likes this) to gain representation.
3. Traditional Accentuates regionalism.
4. Coherent opposition (Page 255 example)
5. Benefits broadly based parties
6. Excludes extremist parties 4.Regionalism
(unless they have regional strength) 5. Large number of wasted votes
7. Constituents have local representative
8. Can choose a person, not a party.
9. Room for independents

10. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
This is the system used in Italy, Holland and Israel.
Each party has a list of candidates.
Voters vote for a party as opposed to a person.
The percentage of votes a party gets in the election translates into the number of seats they win.
For instance in a 100 seat legislature the Greens get 38% of the vote: They get 38 seats.
And the first 38 candidates on the list get a seat.

11. WHY/WHY NOT PR Benefits Disadvantages
1. Every vote counts 1. Minority/Unstable Governments
2. Parties get represented No link between MP and Region
3. Leads to power-sharing 3. Crazy fringe parties
4. Less regionalism 4. Hard to get a majority

12. CLASS DISCUSSION Which system is best?
Historically, which works better?
What is regionalism and how does it impact voting?
What do you see as the main issues for/against each type?