FPTP vs MMP

JoeHill joehill-R6A+fiHC8nRWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org
Tue Oct 9 17:41:03 UTC 2007


Colin McGregor wrote: 

> A secondary related (but still significant) concern is
> that it takes power away from the people and gives it
> to the political parties. Let us assume you have a Ms.
> X who is seen by the VERY vast majority of people as a
> total dirt bag. Let us also assume that Ms. X is loved
> by the power brokers of party Y (ie: she knows where
> ALL the political bodies are buried (she helped bury
> many of them) and is an effective fund raiser). Well
> under FPTP Ms. X is most unlikely to get to the
> legislature, but under MMP, the party can put her into
> office and the general public can not say boo about it
> all. 

You mean _unlike_ someone like Sheila Copps? Stockwell Day? Or the dozens of
people who are parachuted into ridings because they know their party has not
lost an election there since Confederation?

I've read this exact point (and I mean word for word) from a half dozen
different Conservative shills in the media, and not one has ever been able to
explain how someone who gets no votes can still sit in the legislature. As
before, if you don't like them, don't vote for them.

As usual with this kind of hysterical propaganda, the exact opposite is true.
Parties will be even less likely to keep running highly unpopular candidates,
since they will, under MMP, have to work a lot harder than they do now to
maintain any kind of significant presence in the Legislature.

-- 
JoeHill
++++++++++++++++++++
 "Listen, Bender, where's your bathroom?" -Fry 
 "Bath what?" -Bender 
 "Bathroom." -Fry 
 "What room?" -Bender 
 "Bathroom!" -Fry 
 "What what?" Bender 
 "Ah, nevermind." -Fry 
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