Yes, it is a fact. Generally, less than 20% of the electorate claims to vote for their candidate as opposed to the party. What does this tell us? People generally vote for parties, and few vote for candidates.
So some voters vote for a party exclusive of the candidate. Other voters will vote for a candidate
and the party. Still, others will vote against something that annoys them, or they will vote
against a party that they support as a form of protest. Whatever the reason, MMP does not make for more informed voters. No system can pretend to do that. As I asked earlier, does voting for a party exclusive of the candidate mean that a voter automatically knows the party platform or where it stands on specific issues?
How is it 'even more controlling?' What is this great difference in nominating candidates on a per riding level and doing a province-wide nomination? How does this radically change anything?
As I stated earlier, MMP
amplifies the centrality of the parties.
I actually do not have a problem with the present system because of this. Party discipline is problematic, but weak party discipline drastically increases the power of lobby groups, which are generally completely unaccountable to the electorate.
See
cacruden's comment.
An assumption. In what way could they further reduce the influence of local ridings (as if there was any real influence at the moment) and has this been borne out in countries utilising MMP? The only reduction in influence would be the slight increase in the size of local ridings; on the other hand, people can vote for their local candidate even if they prefer another party.
A slight increase in the size of local ridings,
and a reduction in their overall numbers. Don't think that all MPP's are team players. While
some will have the opportunity to be
at large (beholden to only the party), others will have to face the music of the people who voted for them directly - and can easily vote against them. That should make for different perspectives. Internal politics could easily emerge between those who must answer to a constituency and those answering only to the party insiders.
And stop with the
other countries. We aren't them, they are not us, and Ontario is not a country. Canada's issue with proportional representation can be answered by way of Senate reform. The wraggling to do
that ought to be real fun.
Indeed, you have a vote, I have a vote. But if the candidate in my riding doesn't win--even if they got 33% vs. your 34%--my vote is worth 0%, and the 34% of your vote is worth 100%. And of course, this result creates completely phony majorities in parliament in which the party that the minority voted calls the shots as if they received majority vote. I'm still boggled that someone would consider this preferable to MMP which by and large eliminates these flaws.
Voting is not synonymous with democracy, but it's obviously an important component of one. Arguing that, hey, this isn't all that important anyway is a confession that our system is far from the best.
I don't think handing off more power to the political parties makes for better democracy - and that's really what this version of MMP is all about - handing off more power to political parties.
I don't see the so-called phony majorities as failures in government. Most people don't understand how government works, and so assume that the appearance of MPP's - and their numbers - is all there is to governing, policy development, the formulation of legislation and the passage of bills. It ain't. That being said, we are being asked if we want to weigh our voting ever more towards the whims of political parties - not exactly outstanding exhibitors of democracy - because people tend to vote for parties rather than people.
The reason why you are boggled, salvius, is because you assume that the
only way to go is this version of MMP. Let me state clearly: I am
not opposed to electoral reform, I am opposed to
this version of electoral reform. I didn't pick it, some unelected group did. They recommended it, not me. I did not like it from the get-go. So now I dissent and will vote against it because I think it's a bad idea for all the reasons that I have outlined earlier. I'll live with FPTP for now, with all its flaws. I know how it works.
