With the sa国际传媒 referendum on electoral reform now underway, it鈥檚 concerning to see the negative, fear-mongering rhetoric of those opposed to implementing a fairer system of elections for sa国际传媒
Proportional representation is long overdue for elections, which continue to see declining turnout as voters are turned off by a process that increasingly ignores their wishes. First-past-the-post is an archaic system, ill-suited to a modern democracy with ever-increasing diversity.
The hyper-partisan statements by opponents to PR harken back to the history of women鈥檚 suffrage and the outrageous attitudes and conduct of those opposing universal suffrage. It鈥檚 a suitable bit of our past history worth pondering. In a real way, PR seeks finally to allow all to have an effective vote to elect a representative who embodies their values and viewpoints. All of us deserve representatives for whom we voted.
The anti-PR voices are desperately seeking to block the change by any means, despite numerous polls and commissions saying it鈥檚 what a modern democracy has to do to evolve. Depicting jackbooted soldiers marching in the street in their campaign to oppose PR is shameful conduct, perhaps copied by seeing it used more and more in democracies threatened by fear-promoting demagogues who seek to undermine truth and reason.
Ultimately, though, voters should be skeptical of all politicians, seek out impartial, factual information and use critical thinking to assess the various claims being made about electoral reform.
Diane Guthrie
Victoria
