Title: Proportional Representation: Redeeming the Democratic Deficit
Abstract: ABSTRACTThe primary standard of democratic governance in modern societies is a system of free, fair and open elections in which the people elect representatives who govern with their consent expressed through an election process. Parliamentary or presidential systems are judged, in part, according to the degree to which elected governments are accountable to the people. In most parliamentary systems, governments are formed by elected members of political parties which may exercise authority on their own if they win a majority of the seats in a legislature. In presidential systems with a clear division of power between the head of state and the legislature, matters are more complicated; however, the general principle is that democratic governments are ultimately subject to the people's will. Unfortunately, electoral systems have evolved in a way that often permits artificial majorities in which parties with a mere plurality of votes are entitled to rule as though they had the support of most voters. As well, small but significant parties are often severely underrepresented in electoral outcomes that discriminate against those which are not top contenders but nonetheless embody legitimate interests. To ensure that all viewpoints are properly represented in government and that opportunities exist to permit third-party choices to count at election time, most liberal democracies have adopted some form or proportional representation. The purpose of this article is to justify proportional representation in principle and to construct an argument in favour of this innovative democratic process being adopted in Canada where the absence of proportional representation creates electoral distortions of the popular will and denies access to government to important political parties with legitimate democratic concerns.Keywords: proportional representation, electoral reform, voting systems, mixed-member- proportional, single-transferrable-voteIntroductionDemocracy can be defined as a system of government in which the power is exercised directly by the people or, as in the Canadian system and other liberal democratic systems of government, by elected representatives who exercise political power on behalf of the people. In Canada, the citizens elect their representatives expecting that the will of the majority of the people will be translated into law and implemented by government through legislation and policy implementation in constitutionally designated areas such as social programs and public services, resource extraction, industrial development and international trade, fiscal and monetary management as well as environmental protection, foreign relations and national security.The Oxford Dictionary states that the term 'Majority' appears to be more clear -cut than 'people'; it means 'more than half' (McLain: 129). Historically, not all people were allowed to vote and so even the definition of democracy has evolved over time. According to various Canadian citizens' political advocacy groups, there is a need for further evolvement and improved democracy through electoral reform. One such group that focuses on the majority aspect of election outcomes is Fair Vote Canada. They represent Canadians from several political parties and some from no political party affiliation who take issue with the Canadian voting system because it can result a government that does not accurately reflect the voting intentions of the people. Fair Vote Canada's mission is to advocate for change to a system that uses proportional representation (PR) so that the will of the majority of the people will be better reflected.Canada is one of the few economically advanced liberal democracies where the electoral process does not include PR at the highest levels of government. Canada, United States, and England use a system called single-member plurality (SMP), colloquially known as first-past- the-post (FPTP) or winner take all. …
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 4
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot