First-past-the-post: a rogue’s practice?
How did ‘first-past-the-post’ voting – the common target of election reform campaigns in Britain, Canada and the US – get its famous name? “FPTP” is really just a plurality criterion: … Continue reading
Australia nears its centenary of ranked choice voting
Five seats in the Australian Parliament have been decided in a weekend of by-elections using preferential (ranked choice) voting. Across the United States and Canada, reform movements are calling for … Continue reading
Canadian parliamentary governments have a strange lack of voter backing
Last weeks’s provincial election for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario highlights a major problem with Canadian elections: the surprisingly low electoral mandates of almost all their national and provincial governments. … Continue reading
Mainers defend preferential voting … for now
Voters in the US state of Maine have today backed an unusual ballot to veto controversial electoral legislation of the state legislature, in doing so protecting a 2016 referendum vote … Continue reading
British Columbia electoral reform plan announced
The government of the Canadian province of British Columbia has announced details of a plebiscite to be held in November on the future system for electing the province’s Legislative Assembly. … Continue reading
Independent reviews of Australian electoral boundaries announced
Electoral boundaries for Australia’s national elections are being changed, and by a process entirely free of the gerrymandering that is afflicting elections in the United States, Malaysia and elsewhere. Australia … Continue reading
Malaysian government calls elections on grossly malapportioned boundaries
Malaysians will go to the polls on May 9 to try to elect a parliament, using what are probably the world’s most distorted electoral district boundaries. Malaysia has been governed … Continue reading
Hungarian government retains absolute control of parliament
Despite winning only 48% of the national vote overnight, Hungary’s dominant Fidesz party has again taken around 67% of the seats in the nation’s parliament. The two-thirds majority will allow … Continue reading
Gun reform cause: partisanship imposed by broken US voting system
The astonishing campaign by US school students to change gun safety law leads directly to calls for current legislators to respond, or be voted out of office. But one key … Continue reading
South Australian election historic, but for the wrong reasons
The unpredictable – some said “unwinnable” – election in South Australia has thrown up a result not at all favoured by the polls and betting markets; a majority Liberal government. … Continue reading
