How the AV referendum killed the republican movement
In an earlier post, I wrote that referendums aren’t very useful means of deciding key policy issues and that the entire referendum campaign on the Alternative Vote has been rather disgraceful. This...
View ArticleNicked – the musical (revisited)
Back in February, I wrote about a musical being produced in the UK based on the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition. Entitled Nicked, it was staged in Suffolk on 30 April, as part of the HighTide Festival....
View ArticleArtificial preferences
There continues to be interest among many Canadians in the Alternative Vote (AV). Most recently the Liberal Party of Canada adopted a resolution calling for the implementation of a preferential ballot...
View ArticleThe length of two swords
Recently, the brilliant UK actor Philip Glenister (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, State of Play, Mad Dogs, Hidden, etc.) was interviewed on the Andrew Marr show in connection with his latest role, that...
View ArticlePreferential voting isn’t the solution some think it might be
There have been a growing number of columns and articles in various Canadian media over the past few months bemoaning the state of our parliamentary democracy and proposing various changes which might...
View ArticleThe preferential ballot favours the party with the most first preference votes
I have written several posts looking at the growing popularity of the preferential ballot/the alternative vote (AV) here in Canada – see this recent one, for example. I even attempted a redo of the...
View ArticleOn misunderstanding ranked ballots
Recently, the Government of the Province of Ontario, Canada, announced that it would consider legislation that would allow municipalities in the province to use ranked ballots (aka the alternative...
View ArticleReport of the Electoral Matters Committee
The Parliament of the Australian state of Victoria’s Electoral Matters Committee released the report of its Inquiry into the future of Victoria’s electoral administration. It’s a lengthy (144 pages)...
View ArticleRanked ballots won’t elect “grey” candidates
I have written a large number of posts about preferential voting (aka ranked ballots or the Alternative Vote) over the course of this blog’s existence. During the UK campaign leading up to the...
View ArticleSetting the record straight on preferential voting – again
Evan Solomon’s recent article in Macleans looking at the electoral reform promised by Canada federal Liberal Party contains a number of rather bombastic statements that demonstrates, yet again, the...
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