30.5.05

Pre-election coalition in Ireland?

Labour and Fine Gael are to open preliminary discussions shortly on a pre-general election policy pact, following the Labour Party conference's decision to back the strategy laid down by party leader Pat Rabbitte.
...
One Fine Gael frontbench member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "We are all agreed on childcare and keeping taxes low. And it is good to see Labour on that agenda. The divisions about the privatisation of Aer Lingus are over-stated, which is about getting capital to replace the fleet."

However, he said: "If partnership means what it says, that means that there will be give and take on both sides."

27.5.05

Berlusconi to get out of jail?

The opposition's response to the government's woes? It split. On May 20th, the Margherita (“Daisy”) party, Italy's second-biggest opposition movement, opted for semi-detached membership of the Union [centre-left electoral grouping]. It will back its candidates for the Senate and the 75% of seats in the Chamber of Deputies decided on a first-past-the-post basis. But it will run against them for the remaining 25% of seats in the lower house allotted by proportional representation. Mr Prodi [leader of the Union] called it “suicide”. Even if the Margherita is eventually wooed back to full membership, considerable harm will have been done to the centre-left.

26.5.05

Rung number one

Egyptians have approved constitutional changes that open the way for multi-candidate presidential elections.

According to official results 83% voted "Yes" to the changes, with 54% of registered voters going to the polls.

Next stop Azerbaijan?

Two principles seem to guide foreign policy of the administration of U.S. President George Bush – an intent to open up international energy markets and a desire to promote democratic values around the globe. These two notions appear to be on a collision course in Azerbaijan, an oil-rich state in the Caucasus where the risk of risk of political violence is growing.

This is what Pipelineistan is all about: a supreme law unto itself - untouchable by national sovereignty, serious environmental concerns (expressed both in the Caucasus and in Europe), labor legislation, protests against the World Bank, not to mention mountains 2,700 meters high and 1,500 small rivers. BTC took 10 years of hard work and at least US$4 billion - $3 billion of which is in bank loans. BTC is not merely a pipeline: it is a sovereign state.
...
To understand the scope and ambition of BTC, one must visit Villa Petrolea, the Baku headquarters of BP. The BTC's major shareholders are BP (30.1%) and the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR (25%), followed by Unocal (US, 8.9%), Statoil (Norway, 8.71%), Turkish Petroleum (6.53%), ENI (Italy, 5%), TotalFinaElf (France, 5%), Itochu (Japan, 3.4%), ConocoPhillips (US, 2.5%), Inpex (Japan, 2.5%) and Delta Hess (a joint venture of Saudi Delta Oil with American Amerada, 2.36%).

25.5.05

Oh, he's listening all right

The Prime Minister has replaced the pro-reform cabinet minister, Peter Hain, as chairman of the cabinet committee on electoral policy with Mr Prescott, in a move that infuriated MPs in favour of PR. Mr Prescott has made it clear to colleagues that there is no question of reviving PR for parliamentary elections.

PR demands delay Palestine elections

Palestinian parliamentary elections scheduled for July 17 seems set for at least a two-month delay, according to a statement by the Central Elections Commission (CEC) on Monday as President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly prepares to send back the amended elections law to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) demanding commitment to the formula of 50-50 percent to proportional representation and district voting.
...
The 1996 elections were conducted solely on a district basis. There were no national lists.

The 50 percent is the minimum accepted by Abbas for proportional representation.

24.5.05

Israeli closed lists corrupt democracy

This is in some ways probably the most democratic parliamentary system of all, providing representation more or less in proportion to the support political parties enjoy among the voters and assuring political representation even for small segments of the public. However, it means that voters vote for a party list, rather than for individual candidates.

In other words, besides the Knesset elections, an integral part of the democratic process in Israel is the composition of ordered lists of candidates by the parties competing for Knesset seats. The general public has no say in the make-up of these lists, even though they play a cardinal role in determining the composition of the Knesset and the working of the Israeli government in the years between elections.

This is left wholly in the hands of the political parties. Many years ago the lists of the two large parties, Likud and Labor, the ones most instrumental in determining the composition of the Knesset, were determined by "selection committees," but since then the process has been "democratized," the lists being determined by primaries held in the central committees or in the country at large. It should be clear by now that Israel's democracy can be seriously corrupted by faults and manipulations of this integral part of the political system.

23.5.05

It's not just about PR

The Government is keen to regulate voters' lives so that we don't, for example, smoke in the wrong place or exceed the open road speed limit by more than 10 per cent. But it does not like the idea of more electoral discipline to regulate its own behaviour.

It says that it believes in stability, continuity, fiscal prudence and accountability. So why do we have loose-cannon law governing our elections? This sloppy system is no longer good enough.

Nonsensical things they said...

Yet after years of "me too" politics, it looks like voters will be presented with the clearest ideological choice in almost a decade.

In the red corner stands a party that is promising higher levels of social spending and debt repayment, and continuing high levels of taxation.

In the blue corner, there's a party promising large-scale tax cuts for every worker and a slightly more laissez-faire attitude towards paying for tomorrow. The cost could be slashed levels of social spending.

It's a stark choice, and one that may well emerge as the defining issue of the campaign. There will always be the MMP sideshows such as whether ACT makes the 5 per cent threshold, whether Winston Peters will have a role holding the balance of power, and what will happen to that nice Peter Dunne. But this election looks like becoming a two-horse race the likes of which New Zealand hasn't seen since the introduction of proportional representation.

22.5.05

Depressing commentary

Like a “leader”, a decision is rarely susceptible to being constructed out of segments.

Most (not all) decisions are binary — yes or no; do or don’t — and cannot proportionately reflect the conflicting preferences of those who make them. Landmark decisions are typically of this nature. Making war; introducing ID cards; privatising or nationalising; creating a national health service; taming trade unions; opening (or closing) nuclear power stations; imposing a congestion charge; abolishing slavery . . . are boxes we either tick or cross. To do either is immediately to “disenfranchise” every elector who wanted otherwise. After June 5, 1975, 29 million referendum votes against joining the Common Market were (in the language of electoral reformers) “ignored” because there were 40 million in favour.

Some decisions can proportionately reflect the preferences of those who take them. A bag of pick ’n’ mix sweets, the composition of a committee, a list of beneficiaries for lottery largesse . . . such choices, which typically have multiples for answers, can be 37 per cent Labour, 33 per cent Tory etc. But key government decisions are not usually of this kind.

20.5.05

FPTP kills our future

Turnout among 18- to 24-year-old voters in the general election dropped two per cent compared with 2001, according to research company Mori.

Exit polls indicated that 37 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted on 5 May compared with an overall turnout of 61 per cent. The statistics also show that 18- to 24-year-olds were the only age group where turnout fell.

Electoral reform in Palestine

In drafting legislation for the elections, the current Parliament has debated registration procedures, a quota for women, and the age of eligibility for candidates. But the most contentious issue by far has been the mixture of proportional representation and district voting. While the 1996 elections were conducted solely on a district basis, it seems likely that now some seats will be apportioned according to a party's share of the national vote while other seats will go to the top vote-getters in 16 multi-member districts. The precise balance has important implication for the outcome of the elections, and the players have staked out sharply different positions.
...
In March 2005, Palestinian parties met in Cairo and cut a deal to apportion the seats evenly between the two electoral systems. But parliamentarians then passed a bill that awarded only one-third of the seats according to proportional representation. Bowing to Abbas and the advocates of moving toward a system of full proportional representation, the Cabinet returned the bill to Parliament, asking that it be amended on its third and final reading. Responding to diverse pressures, the Parliament has stalled by submitting the matter to the legal committee, leaving the bill unpassed two months before the scheduled election. Whether Parliament gives in to Cabinet and party pressure or stands its ground, it must also amend the interim Constitution, since the number of deputies under either version of the electoral law is larger than that specified in the Constitution.

...and it's not just British Columbia

Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Quebec are all examining so-called proportional representation models that would allow individuals to cast two separate ballots -- one for a candidate in their riding and one for a political party.

Under such a system, if 40 per cent of the votes are cast for a particular political party, that party would get 40 per cent of the seats.
...
The Quebec government has tabled draft legislation to introduce proportional representation without a referendum, Prof. Cross said.

Ontario, another province planning to join the mushrooming movement for electoral reform, has made the least progress, he said.

Ontario Attorney-General Michael Bryant told reporters yesterday that he is keeping a close watch on what happens out west. "It was clearly a very positive experience for the citizens of British Columbia," he said.

PR referendum just misses in British Columbia

On Tuesday, British Columbians stunned Canada's political elite by voting strongly in favour of adopting a proportional representation voting system. While the Yes vote fell just short of the 60 per cent threshold set by the government, the implication is clear: Significant amounts of Canadians are ready to scrap our dysfunctional first-past-the-post system and adopt Canadian versions of proportional representation.

18.5.05

Socialists and PR

Under this scenario, Dennis Skinner would be more likely to get on to the NEC, Ken Livingstone could eventually, like Oskar Lafontaine, be running the treasury.

American un-exceptionalism

But virtually every additional objection to PR, like those addressed here, is founded on the insulting theory that voters cannot handle the demands of making real choices. The typical winner-take-all advocate wants to keep things simple for the "poor bastards," who, left to their own devices, will keep electing unworkable governments and dangerous extremists. Empirical study and democratic principle condemn this charge. It is as objectionable as arguments against full suffrage.