Here's what Dummett said, referring to IRO (referred to as "AV" in Britain and therefore in Dummett's book): "It [AV, IRO] may easily result in the election of the candidate who is last but one in the Condorcet ordering, being preferred by a majority to only 1 other candidate. Quite a small number of voters may serve to determine which candidate is eliminated at each stage; this has disproportionate effect on which votes are redistributed and hence on the subsequent course of the assessment process. This is the reason for its erratic character, which makes it impossible to discern anything fair about it." Quoted from Dummett, in _Elements of Electoral Reform_, an important book because it devotes at least 2 chapters to IRO--that's important because of IRO's popularity among electoral reformers. Mike
