Doug's Blog

Remember These Days

Ok, I would like everyone to remember this last few days the next time electoral and democratic reform is discussed.  I have always been wary of adopting a form of election that would mean that seats would be assigned based on popular vote.  I represent 34,000 people that live in the constituency.  They know that I represent them and that they come to me with problems.  There is an accountability chain.  I am not sure about a system that would have seats awarded by popular vote with no direct accountability to any particular group for day to day issues.

Well, after watching these events of the last few days, I am also worried that have four or five or more parties may fragment the Parliament or the Legislatures so bad that we could always have a government made up of coalitions, that may or may not include the party with the most votes.  Indeed, we could come to a situation where alliances shift and change all of the time for political expediency and power, which means our government could change often, with or without frequent elections.  I am not so sure that is such a good idea.

It is very easy to criticize the British Parliamentary system, and it has its flaws no doubt, but is it really that bad?  Any other system we could adopt may solve some of the problems inherent in the system we use, but any other system will present other challenges that may be even worse.  Perhaps we should remember these days and remember that the system we have has 300 years of history behind it.  Should we adopt another, the events of this week, may become weekly events.