Complaint about the MMP Debate

[c9]

A popular complaint about MMP is that it will give too much power to the political parties. The basis for this complaint is that 39 seats out of 129 will be determined by the popular vote for the parties and taken from a party list, and the parties will control who gets on the lists.

While this is accurate, it's almost identical to what happens today. Parties can appoint anyone they want to any riding, parachuting in candidates who just want a "safe seat".

As a comment I read states, "Complaining about MMP because it gives parties control over who is a candidate is like complaining that under MMP the ballots will be made out of paper."

Comments

Re: The only problem I have with Ontario's MMP system

[c9.livejournal.com]

Very true, the regional divisions could be an issue. I have concerns about your idea of using 50% list seats though. The big draw to MMP for me is the chance to slightly adjust FPTP's failings. It's still possible under the MMP proposal to win a majority through regular FPTP seats (just win 65 of the 90). Under a more PR-heavy approach (which several countries do use) this would not be possible, and I think it should still be possible.

I like the idea of introducing MMP as a slight change to our current system, because a) the election results won't be dramatically different and b) we can then consider further changes in future if we think we still need to improve.

A challenge with using regions / riding groups is that the system becomes more complicated and harder to understand. If the system is hard to figure out, people may not trust it as much, or may feel like they have no control. "But everyone in my riding voted Liberal, why did the local Green get a seat??"