Nova Scotia election illustrates the need for a fair voting system and fair representation
August 06, 2003
August 6, 2003
Nova Scotia election illustrates the need for
a fair voting system and fair representation
While Nova Scotians yesterday gave relatively similar portions of the popular vote to each of the three political parties, the voting system produced a very different picture. "Once again, we can see the divergence between what voters say at the ballot box and what our voting system gives us," said Larry Gordon, executive director of Fair Vote Canada.
"As usual, the distortions are striking. The popular vote for the Conservatives was only four and a half percentage points higher than the Liberals, yet the Conservatives won more than twice as many seats." noted Gordon. "The Liberals attracted more votes than the NDP, but the NDP won three more seats than the Liberals. It's hard to accept this type of election outcome if you believe in democracy and that every citizen's vote should be equal."
Gordon placed the blame on our winner-take-all voting system. A winner-take-all voting system only produces political representation for the supporters of the most popular party in each riding. All the other voters, who are often the majority in the riding, do not gain political representation as a result of casting their votes.
"Most major democracies scrapped our type of voting system between 50 and 100 years ago," stated Gordon. "It's time for Nova Scotia and the rest of the country to do likewise."
Other provinces are already moving forward on voting reform. The Quebec government has already announced a more proportional voting system will be used for their next election. British Columbia is convening a citizens' assembly on voting system reform and will likely hold a referendum on a new system in May 2005. PEI has appointed a commissioner to consider alternatives such as proportional representation. Premier Lord has promised to study proportional representation. With an election pending in Ontario, both opposition parties support a referendum process on voting system reform.