Referendum post-mortems continue, and first-past-the-post supporters crow about 鈥渧ictory,鈥� but one thing is certain with the outcome 鈥� sa国际传媒 and its democracy lost.
Proportional representation provides all voters an effective say in election outcomes. Sadly, this is not the case today, when a supposed 鈥渕ajority鈥� government can be formed with less than 40 per cent of the votes, while up to half the votes cast don鈥檛 influence the election outcome. This democratic deficit remains, but many FPTP supporters are only interested in preserving the status quo and the advantage gained for their party. Typically, FPTP results in smaller parties being marginalized, which is the whole point for many FPTP advocates.
The NDP government screwed up royally and deliberately 鈥� clearly it didn鈥檛 want this referendum to succeed. Greater Victoria strongly supported PR, due to strong education efforts conducted by advocacy groups in the region.
The NDP failed miserably by not providing an effective educational campaign throughout the province. That, along with its ridiculously confusing rollout of proposed PR systems, baffled many and, susceptible to deliberate misinformation propagated by the No campaign, they simply chose the status quo. Polling also shows young voters strongly favour PR, but fail to vote, thereby allowing FPTP to persist.
Voters鈥� rights are inherent, and the pursuit of PR will continue. Other provinces are now looking at PR and might lead the way with democratic evolution and in the future, sa国际传媒 too may follow. Let鈥檚 hope so.
听
Mark Jeffers
Victoria
