Electoral Reform

Welcome to my personal blog where I say fuck and shit and other suck profanities.

This is simply a way for me to blab about this before I turn it into a nice post for my official blog, so expect this to be quick and dirty.



So plan:
add back 1/6th of the seats
with a total cap of ridings
parallel system


you are likely saying "what the fuck" at this point, so let me explain


"add back 1/6th of the seats"
Ontario has 122 seats. 1/6th of that is 20. So we "add" 20 seats "back" to the legislature, for a new total of 142. These 20 seats are the special seats.

"with a total cap of ridings"
We have 122 ridings that means our "cap" is 122.

"parallel system"
This means our special seats are distributed in a parallel system, proportional representation.


Ontario is actually a bad example, as unusual things don't happen here too often.

Lets look at BC in 1996.

39 - NDP - 39.45%
33 - LIB - 41.82%
2 - REF - 9.27%
1 - PD - 5.74%

We have 13 PR seats.
5 for the NDP
6 for the Liberals
1 for Reform
1 for the PD

totals:

44 - NDP
39 - LIB
3 - REF
2 - PD

NDP would have exactly half the seats, and require PD support to form a government.


Note: the 1/6th is adjustable, so if you find it's not 'strong' enough to achieve your goals, reduce it.


Now lets look at PEI in 1993.

31 - LIB - 55.1%
1 - PC - 39.5%
0 - NDP - 5.4%

PR seats:

The Liberals would get (STOP!) We hit the cap. Remember the cap is equal to the number of ridings, 32, so the Liberals can not win their "fair share" of PR ridings. Rather, they win 1. This leaves 4 to distribute between the PC Party and the NDP. Due to the math, the PC Party would win all 4. Results:

32 - LIB
5 - PC

The cap will always ensure there is a minimum size the opposition can take, and the cap is one of the ingenious parts of the plan. You will never see a legislature without a real opposition with the cap in place.