FPTP vs MMP

[Evan Leibovitch]

Lennart Sorensen wrote:
>> I'd tend to expect MMP to give fringe parties appalling amounts of
>> power/control, as majority governments would be replaced by a need to
>> build coalitions where the last little bits to head in would get power
>> out of proportion to their representation.  That's the sort of thing
>> that has happened in places like Italy and Israel...
>>     
>
> OK, how many people are going to vote for one of those parties?  If 5%
> vote for them (which would surprise me), then they could get perhaps 5
> seats.  Maybe not irrelevant, but not a huge power either.
>   
Take a look around you. Small parties (such as Shas in Israel) have huge
amounts of control in coalition minority governments -- which will be
the rule rather the exception under MMP.

When the mainstream parties are weakened and fringe parties empowered
beyond their numbers as MMP would do, the very act of building a
government after the election can be a national nightmare. For an
extremely current and relevant example, look at what's happening NOW in
Belgium. They had their election in June and the parties STILL cannot
between them create a single coalition capable of leading.

That' s right. Belgium has had no government for more than 100 days, and
prospects for a quick settlement are 50/50. Similar has happened in
other countries which have gone to 'fairer' systems. Legislative
gridlock is practically invited in systems that require frequent
coalition building, as MMP will do.

The MMP system has its own inequities, which replace the inequities of
the FPTP system. In addition we have parlamentarians with accountability
only to the party and not the public, and a more complex election
process that offers neither quality nor stability of government.

- Evan

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