Electoral College usually coincides with a popular majority - rare it doesn't. FPTP allows massive majorities with 35+% of the popular vote - e.g. Blair in 1997 with about 43%. PR systems like STV as used in the Republic of Ireland usually create a stable government that also usually prevents the tyranny of the minority often seen in the U.K. - for example Thatcher's tearing up of the British social fabric with nothing approaching a popular mandate.Our FPP electrol system isn't perfect but you get a winning majority candidate. Far better than PR or that crazy US Electrol College system.
Electoral College usually coincides with a popular majority - rare it doesn't. FPTP allows massive majorities with 35+% of the popular vote - e.g. Blair in 1997 with about 43%. PR systems like STV as used in the Republic of Ireland usually create a stable government that also usually prevents the tyranny of the minority often seen in the U.K. - for example Thatcher's tearing up of the British social fabric with nothing approaching a popular mandate.
They could shove a red flag up a Donkeys backside where i live and it will get voted in... Not sure why because their record in the City is lamentable.....
Trump and Bush Jnr both lost the popular vote but somehow won the US Presidency! How's that right!
PR is also slightly unfair in MPs are allocated on you that didn't win locally. Not sure that's fair either. I'm not sure NÍ is a beacon for a stable parliament either, How many elections have you had of late?
Bit rich the last bit too, between 1964 and 1979 227 pits closed (labour years) and between 1979 and 1990 (Thatcher years) only 154 shut! Many reasons for many industries imploding not all can be pinned on the encumbent governments
#1 & #4 do seem to go hand in hand and introducing compulsory voting must have an option for "none of the above" for it to work. That said, I doubt if mandatory voting will translate into a more politically engaged electorate. How do you start the process of registering the eligible members of society who choose to ignore their civil duties and/or have fears over the use of data and of Government Big Brother activities? And when you have them registered, how do you punish the voters who don't vote in a mandatory system?Having the ability to vote is not something that should be disregarded lightly. I would stand for a policy that:
- Made voting a legal requirement for those that met the legibility criteria, that carried a financial penalty for those people that did not vote
- Change the way postal voting works, to reduce the ability for postal voting fraud (numerous ideas, too much detail for here).
- Ban the use of party names on ballot papers - only the name of the candidate being permitted (to drive better local engagement - people would at least have to know the name of the person standing for the party of their choice, which means those people standing for election will have to make their voice heard locally in the run up to the election), and
- Have a formal abstention box on the ballot paper, so that you could abstain without spoiling your paper. The abstentions could not "win", but it would be useful for analysis post-election. And if we make it a legal requirement to vote, give people the choice of "none of the above".
They wouldn't though. If they won, they would rely on their (what is currently shadow) cabinets. The likes of Diane Abbot - oh, wait.I wouldn't trust Corbyn or Farron with the responsibility of making a cup of tea, let alone run a country!