Quote:
Originally Posted by Itshim
It is rare for any vote to have the majority of the voting population support  ie over 50.1% of voters supporting it . Perhaps of those that vote yes but total that could no  |
Quorums are tricky because they incentivise disengagement as a campaign strategy and disenfranchise those who genuinely intend not to participate (because their lack of participation becomes de facto support for the status quo). Supermajorities are anti-democratic because they permit a long-standing, significant majority for a cause to nevertheless fail to deliver the settled view of that majority, for lack of the support of an arbitrary number of people. They’re also meaningless in the Westminster parliamentary system because any referendum can only ever be advisory, and ultimately any legally binding decision is always taken by 50% +1 of the votes in the House of Commons.