Thread: And so the tide begins to turn
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Old 01-12-2009, 14:02   #52
Flyboy
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Re: General Election 2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by danielf View Post
It cuts both ways really. Under proportional representation small parties have a bigger chance of getting seats, and in a hung parliament (which is pretty much the norm under pr), they may be needed to make up the majority. They may be able to punch above their weight in the negotiations leading up to the coalition. Also, smaller parties can get popular more quickly, as there is less of a disincentive to vote for a smaller party. Unlike in the UK, they actually have a chance of getting a seat.

Either way, I think this issue of consent is actually quite important, as it means that more people feel represented in parliament. The biggest threat to any democratic system (imo) is people not feeling represented. Under pr, more than 50% of the people will have voted for one of the parties in power, something which is not (usually) the case in the UK.
If there is a hung parliament, it may give the government an opportunity to at l;eats start discussing the viability of PR.

However, PR would unfortunately allow the more extreme wings of party politics to gain representation in the national government, so I would treat the concept with some caution.
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