On 14 Mar 2003 at 16:02, S.V. van Baardwijk-Holten wrote: > On Wed, 12 Mar 2003 23:45:36 -0600, Dan Minette > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > Germany has proportional representation. If there are two big > > parties, each with 47.5% of the legislature, then a party with 5% > > can claim a pretty high price to make one of the two parties the top > > dog. > > > Not really. It is all a matter of give and take. One major advantage > of this system is that it forces parties to work together and find > compromises. But if no compromise can be reached a minority government > is also a possibility and then there is the multi-party majority.
*nods* > In the past it has been shown that making the 5 percent hurdle can be > a pretty big hindrance for parties to overcome. If they don't get at > least 5 percent of all votes they are not represented. This makes for > a very cleaned up form of representation and prevents nutter parties > from being represented. In Germany, I believe when it was written it was specifically meant to stop Neo-Nazi groups from getting parliament seats under the partial-list system, but it IS generally applicable. > I had to write a paper once on all the pros and cons I could come up > with for different types of representations. It turns out that for all > types of representation systems it is possible to come up with > scenarios where the representation unfair in respect to the voting > result. Actually neither of our current systems is good when you > compare it to the direct representation like f.i. that of the ancient > Athenians. Then again in ancient Athens only free _male_ citizens had > a vote .... :o) If you have it arround I'd love to read it. I am currently pretty frustrated by the UK's "First Past the Post" system - at no time because of demographics (I've still voted, but...) has my vote counted (I've always supported the minority candidate, it seems. Because I don't like ANY of the three major parties, I vote on personalities of the individuals involved). Andy Dawn Falcon _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
