A New Electoral System: Majoritarian Election of Candidates with Proportional Allocation of Seats. (original) (raw)

This is a proposal for a new electoral system that combines valuable features of the Single Member Plurality (SMP, First-past-the-post) system and of the proportional representation systems that ensure a closer correlation of each party's vote with its number of seats in parliament. The new system's distinctive feature is the separation of the process of electing candidates in constituencies from the process of allocating seats to parties, which passes to larger electoral districts (EDs). Such a separation allows candidates to be elected on a plurality/majoritarian basis from within a small single-member constituency, which forms part of a larger electoral district in which seats are allocated in a fairly proportional way to each party according to its total vote in the district, as opposed to in the constituency. Thus, constituency-based voters with a strong preference for one candidate will see their favourite win a seat, but the electorate of the wider electoral district will see their party preferences reflected in a fairly proportional manner in the district and consequently in parliament too. Such a system safeguards the constituency links of popular representatives but also ensures that the composition of legislative chambers fairly represents the preferences of the countrywide electorate overall. The political system thus benefits from having a more representative balance of parties in Parliament, and a more varied set of legislators speaking on behalf of increasingly diverse 21st century populations. This proposal for a new electoral system was devised in the context of the discontent manifested against the British SMP system, which led to a failed attempt at electoral reform in 2010, and is therefore designed for a transition from a single-winner majoritarian system to a more proportional one. But it could also be used to modify PR systems in countries where popular discontent reigns over their excessive - or conversely insufficient - proportionality and over allegedly weak links between representatives and constituents that lead to charges of a lack of accountability.